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Demolition Begins on Essex Crossing Site 2

Ed Litvak
March 17, 2015

Demolition began yesterday on the vacant Essex Street Market building on the south side of Delancey Street and is continuing today. A short time ago we stopped by the site, the future home of a 24-story mixed-use building — the centerpiece of the big Essex Crossing development project.

Four buildings made up the original Essex Street Market, part of Mayor Fierello LaGuardia’s campaign to rid New York of street vendors in 1940. All of the buildings will eventually be torn down, but the current market at 120 Essex St. will stay open for business throughout construction.

Work crews are starting on the south side of the building. They’re whacking away at the roof and the top part of the facade. The demo project is expected to take 4-6 weeks.

Over the years, we’ve had a few opportunities to snap interior photos of Essex Market Building D. See the sign below that reads, “Orchard Essex Meat Market?” We’re told it was removed some time ago and will be featured in some way when the new Essex Street Market opens on this site a few years from now. It will obviously need some restoration. The neon hasn’t worked in years. This building hasn’t been an active market since the mid-1990s, when the city consolidated operations across the street.

Warhol Museum Pulls Out of Essex Crossing



Ed Litvak
March 21, 2015

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is reporting that the Warhol Museum has dropped plans to establish an annex on the Lower East Side as part of the Essex Crossing development project:

Eric Shiner, director of The Warhol, said in a statement Friday night that “The Andy Warhol Museum, which had been exploring its participation in the Essex Crossing development in lower Manhattan, has determined that it will not proceed with the project. Despite the efforts of both the museum and the developers, an internal study of business and other operational considerations led the museum to this decision. “The Warhol will continue to participate in programs, exhibitions, and special projects in New York City through its longstanding collaborations with a variety of New York-based arts organizations.”

The 10,000 square foot museum was supposed to serve as a major attraction for the large residential and commercial project on the former Seward Park urban renewal site. The developers, Delancey Street Associates, had agreed to pay the building costs for a stand-alone facility on site 1, with entrances on Essex and Ludlow streets. Groundbreaking was scheduled for late summer.

In a statement, Risa Heller, a spokesperson for the developers said:

For the past two years we have worked closely with The Andy Warhol Museum to find a way to bring Andy home to New York’s Lower East Side. We have dedicated tremendous time and resources and offered them a very generous multimillion dollar package to make this work. We found out today and are surprised and disappointed that they are unable to see this through. We are hard at work looking for another exciting use for this great space.

Site 1 also includes a separate residential and commercial building, including 55 condominium apartments and a below-grade bowling alley entertainment complex. It remains to be see whether the setback will delay the start of phase 1 construction was set to begin several months from now on site 1, 2, 5 and 6.