A 14-story, blue-glass-clad residential condominium building is planned for 127 Seventh Avenue on the southeast corner at 18th Street in Chelsea by Lemadre Development LLC, of which Mark Ravner is a principal and which recently purchased the site last July for about $25 million from Rose Realty Group LLC of which Alfred Caiola is a principal.
Mr. Ravner told CityRealty.com today that Ismael Leyva is the architect, but Mr. Ravner was in a meeting and could not provide other details such as the number of apartments and the construction schedule.
Another spokesperson for the project, however, subsequently told City Realty.com that foundation work is underway and that the building should be completed in the fall of 2007. He said that the building will have 39 apartments and a swimming pool in its basement.
According to a rendering, shown at the right, of the building on the website of Robert K. Futterman & Associates, a retail real estate brokerage concern, the building will have several setbacks beginning at the 8th floor.
The building, which has 81 feet of frontage on Seventh Avenue, is highlighted with stainless-steel bands and piers that run down from the roof and setback corners in three, symmetrical, "U"-shaped configurations centered on the building's corner at Seventh Avenue.
According to records on file with the city, about 13,600 square feet of unused development rights at 163 East 17th Street have been transferred to this site, which is also known as 133 Seventh Avenue and 168 West 18th Street.
The building will replace a four-story, red-brick building that formerly housed a Sunday school and then a horse stable and then Le Madri restaurant, which left the premises in 2005.
In June, 2005, the Council of Chelsea Block Associations and Community Board 4 proposed that the building be designated as a landmark but the Landmarks Preservation Commission declined to calendar a hearing on it.
An article by Albert Amateau in the March 15-21, 2006 edition of The Villager noted that "a marble stone set in the face above the first floor had the words 'Mission School' on the first line and a second line with the barely readable words 'Presbyterian church 5th Av 12th St.' with a date on the last line that appeared to be 'AD 1874.' His article also stated that "a history of the First Presbyterian Church at Fifth Ave. at W. 12th St. indicates the church operated a mission school from 1868 to 1885 but does not say where."
A photograph accompany the article showed the building with a protruding center bay with two arched inner bays, a sculpture of a horse's head above them, and a crenellated cornice with a center pediment.
Mr. Ravner told CityRealty.com today that Ismael Leyva is the architect, but Mr. Ravner was in a meeting and could not provide other details such as the number of apartments and the construction schedule.
Another spokesperson for the project, however, subsequently told City Realty.com that foundation work is underway and that the building should be completed in the fall of 2007. He said that the building will have 39 apartments and a swimming pool in its basement.
According to a rendering, shown at the right, of the building on the website of Robert K. Futterman & Associates, a retail real estate brokerage concern, the building will have several setbacks beginning at the 8th floor.
The building, which has 81 feet of frontage on Seventh Avenue, is highlighted with stainless-steel bands and piers that run down from the roof and setback corners in three, symmetrical, "U"-shaped configurations centered on the building's corner at Seventh Avenue.
According to records on file with the city, about 13,600 square feet of unused development rights at 163 East 17th Street have been transferred to this site, which is also known as 133 Seventh Avenue and 168 West 18th Street.
The building will replace a four-story, red-brick building that formerly housed a Sunday school and then a horse stable and then Le Madri restaurant, which left the premises in 2005.
In June, 2005, the Council of Chelsea Block Associations and Community Board 4 proposed that the building be designated as a landmark but the Landmarks Preservation Commission declined to calendar a hearing on it.
An article by Albert Amateau in the March 15-21, 2006 edition of The Villager noted that "a marble stone set in the face above the first floor had the words 'Mission School' on the first line and a second line with the barely readable words 'Presbyterian church 5th Av 12th St.' with a date on the last line that appeared to be 'AD 1874.' His article also stated that "a history of the First Presbyterian Church at Fifth Ave. at W. 12th St. indicates the church operated a mission school from 1868 to 1885 but does not say where."
A photograph accompany the article showed the building with a protruding center bay with two arched inner bays, a sculpture of a horse's head above them, and a crenellated cornice with a center pediment.
Architecture Critic
Carter Horsley
Since 1997, Carter B. Horsley has been the editorial director of CityRealty. He began his journalistic career at The New York Times in 1961 where he spent 26 years as a reporter specializing in real estate & architectural news. In 1987, he became the architecture critic and real estate editor of The New York Post.
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