[NYguy]

http://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/2013...#ixzz2SEXklarD

48-Story Tower Will Rise on Fulton Street This Summer








Developer Lightstone Group is planning a 48-story mixed use building on Fulton Street. Construction is slated to start this summer.
Pictured on the right is a 61-floor version of the building, which developers have said they do not want to pursue.


May 3, 2013
By Irene Plagianos

A new 48-story residential and commercial building will rise on Fulton Street this summer, the developer revealed this week. The 463-unit tower, situated between Nassau and Dutch streets, will soar above a block populated with mostly low-rise shops and apartment buildings, replacing a row of smaller buildings that will be torn down, representatives for developer The Lightstone Group told Community Board 1 Wednesday evening.

The existing five and six-story apartment buildings that will be demolished — from 112 to 120 Fulton St. — are home to chains including Radio Shack and Five Guys Burger and Fries, as well as several mom-and-pop shoe, clothes and jewelry stores.

The Lightstone Group plans to offer 93 apartments, or 20 percent of the units, as affordable housing. They will give preference to tenants who are residents of Community Board 1 in Lower Manhattan, said Meir Milgraum, Lightstone’s director of acquisitions and development. The project requires a zoning change to allow for the affordable housing. CB1's Financial District Committee offered advisory support for the change on Wednesday — though residents did voice concerns.

The narrow street has seen substantial construction in the past couple of years. Just two blocks up, the massive, $1.4 billion Fulton Street Transit Center at Broadway remains in the works, saddling locals with years of construction-related street congestion.

“I know you’re a business man, but we’ve lived through continual construction for a very long time and it’s been incredibly difficult,” said Jonathan Heuser, the president of the condo board for 119 Fulton St., a five-story building that sits right across from the future construction site. “We just hope you’ll be sensitive to that while you move ahead with the project, and we all hope that eventually all this construction will be an improvement for the neighborhood.” Heuser said he knows of several renters who have already decided to leave the block, after hearing about a possible high-rise on the way.

As for the tenants of the soon-to-be-demolished buildings, several said those were just the breaks of being a renter in the city. “I really like my apartment, but what are you going to do,” said Manny Colon, a renter in 112 Fulton St. who’s lived in the building for five years. “We’ll just try to find someplace else.”

Several of the mom-and-pop stores on the block are now plastered with “Going Out of Business” signs. “Rent is crazy Downtown — I don’t know if we’ll be back,” said Dan Reda, owner of “urban wear” store “Stylz” at 114-116 Fulton St. His lease is up at the end of June, and he was told it won’t be renewed. “I’ve been here for eight years — I don’t know what’s next,” he said.

The new development will also include nearly 20,000 square feet of retail space, but Lightstone’s Milgraum said the current tenants aren’t being given any preference for space in the complex. He also wouldn’t spell out how much he’d charge for the apartments, or commercial units. “It will be market value,” Milgraum said. “We’re going to rent for however much we can get.”

The construction is expected to take two to three years, and Milgraum said he would actively work with the community to make it as smooth as possible.