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Four towers by SHoP, Dattner, Handel, and Beyer Blinder Belle to break ground at Essex Crossing

Four towers by SHoP, Dattner, Handel, and Beyer Blinder Belle to break ground at Essex Crossing

Essex Crossing has been over four decades in the making, and now the plan to turn the six-acre swath of land in Manhattan’s Lower East Side, known as the Seward Park Urban Renewal Area (SPURA), is gaining traction. The development team, Delancey Street Associations, along with the four participating architecture firms—Handel Architects, Beyer Blinder Belle Architects & Planners, Dattner Architects, and SHoP Architects—just revealed the latest renderings for the project’s first phase.

This first phase, consisting of four of the total nine sites, will provide 1,000 units of affordable, market rate, and senior housing in addition to a mix of residential, retail, and community space, including the relocated Essex Market, a bowling alley, the Warhol Museum, and a rooftop urban farm.

There will, however, be no parking so residents will have to get familiar with their public transit options. This, according to Curbed, concerned community board members the most. The developers explained that after talks with the DOT, they determined that with the congestion around the area of the Williamsburg Bridge, it wasn’t safe to include more parking. One person at the meeting suggested increasing bus service to alleviate overcrowding. Other issues, such as accessibility to public amenities and bike storage, came up as well.

The architects at a press preview cited the tenements as fodder for their designs with the goal of making the buildings contextual within the mostly low-rise neighborhood.

The project has already gone through Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP) and is expected to break ground by Spring. If all goes according to plan, the buildings will be complete in roughly three years from the start of construction.

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