Workers have been removing mechanical parts from the roof of the former Gristedes building at 96th Street and Broadway in preparation for a full demolition, according to a tipster who sent the photo above. Scaffolding has been set up around the building.
The demolition permit for 2551 Broadway was approved last year by the Buildings Department and Extell Development reportedly plans to build a “mixed-use” condo tower on the property. Extell bought air rights from nearby buildings to allow it to put together the development, the Real Deal reported in 2017.
“The assemblage Extell is gathering at the southwest corner of West 96th Street and Broadway would span well over 200,000 buildable square feet and result in a total of more than $100 million in purchases, sources said.”
It’s not yet clear how tall the new building will be.
How the building looked in 2017.
Does anyone know if the McDonald’s next door is safe? It is in a separate building, but the same height as the former Chase/Gristedes building. Do we know whether the air-rights were purchased?
“Does anyone know if the McDonald’s next door is safe?”
Sorry, eating the artificial junk they sell is not safe.
Looks like a nice building aside from the unmentionable grocery store at street level. It’s sad they can’t build on top of it and keep that lovely brickwork. Perhaps it’s not feasible from an engineering standpoint. Still unfortunate.
A few comments on this site.
1) The family that owned this location and the Radio Shack/Europan on 93rd made a killing on the sale $$.. Love the hold for decades and sell mentality.
2) This site is an eyesore . Can;t wait for a new building to go up. I’d imagine this will take 2 years
3) Guarantee the only retail to afford the space once completed will be a national chain
I hope they bring back Fowad.
As the 808 Columbus Ave cluster of buildings how well having big box stores as tenants in their buildings is working out for them. Disaster. They must be losing a fortune.
Chances are if a developer is constructing a high rise with retail space on the ground floor this space is already configured for a big chain store.
I doubt many developers are constructing retail space for small mom & pop shops. These stores tend to be located in old buildings.
Anyway, glad this building is going up. The area around 96th Street is nowhere near as bad as it used to be but it’s still a bit dingy. Hopefully this new building will help revitalize area.
Extell again?!? Those creeps are evil. Same ones who did the Ariel East & West (tall glass towers at 99th/100th), and who came very close to killing pedestrians when the Caterpillar atop the former 99th Street Gristedes on the West Side of Broadway unexpectedly collapsed the old building. Extell will no doubt erect another glass monstrosity, regardless of resident complaints about the character of the buildings around it.
To be factually accurate they did not collapse the building. One wheel of a backhoe went into a void that was not on the site plan given to the builder by the city. May have been an old private latrine/garbage pit in the back yard of one of the buildings that they were taking down by hand. The backhoe then tilted at an odd angle and the boom of the back hoe struck the scaffolding on the B’way side of the site, some of which collapsed on to the bus shelter. The bus shelter did not collapse but was partially buried under the scaffolding. A Nanny and a baby in a carriage were in the bus shelter and dug out in minutes, both were shock up but had no serious injuries.
As some one who looks out on them eveyry day I wish they had been able to take the Metro as well. This old theatre is now in very bad shape. It was guttered to the four bricks walls when Urban Outfitters was coming in, then our local self appointed community leaders got involved repeatedly extending the project because of the theaters landmark façade. Pls note only the pink terra cotta is not the building. The wooden roof truss are now sagging more and more with each winter storm as is the marque. The marque is not supported by additional steel post but it is still rotting through. Ever once in a while the building next door nails on another piece of plywood to cover up another part that has rusted thru and then spray-paint it battleship grey to make it look like the metal façade. This way they hide the rusted out parts from public view. The roof gets “saggier” is that is a word, with each heavy snow load. I fully expected for it to fall in someday soon
Why is this being allowed!
Didn’t those A/C roof units deserve landmark status??!!
Are they taking down the old power plant next door on 96th, it hasn’t been in use in baout 50 years.
No, former IRT power plant isn’t part of this project.
There have been various efforts to get 264-66 West 96th Street landmarked, but so far nothing has happened (IIRC).
Efforts were also underway at some point to turn the place into “affordable” senior housing or some other community use, but that hasn’t happened either.
Does the Community Board have info on how many stories? Curious to know zoning heights on our side streets and on the avenues.
McDonalds building has some available FAR, but there is more in the lots heading west down 96th ST.
Will the taco truck have to relocate?
It would be nice to have a public indoor space in there like the Deutchebank space on Wall Street or the David Rubenstein Atrium.
Pigeons have already set up camp on top of the 96th Street side scaffolding. There was also a flock of them under the scaffolding this morning. Would be nice if they could put spikes on the top of the scaffolding so the pigeons relocate.
This is the best news the neighborhood has seen in quite some time. This is a key corner and the new development will do wonders to revitalize the area.
Looks like this building is made up of the shuttered Gristedes, the Chase Bank on the 2nd floor, and the old RiteAid location which has been closed for 15 years or so. Not a huge loss, since that corner has had a seedy feel for a while now. Still, I’m no fan of Extell or the proliferation of glassy high-rises. I wouldn’t be surprised if Chase reappears on the street-level once the new building is finished.
Ariel East & West may be ugly, but they improved the area. This parcel is a seedy eyesore and whatever Extell Corp builds there will help.
But it’s a shame that the city won’t let them incorporate the IRT powerhouse next to it. Would love to see the remaining two crappy buildings get replaced with something nice as well.
No one is going to touch that former IRT powerhouse due to environmental concerns. IIRC ground underneath is contaminated which would require remediation. This can be done (plenty of properties along East River in Williamsburg and Greenpoint come to mind), but is costly and time consuming.
However leaving that powerhouse as is and hopefully one day landmarked serves both Extell and buildings on other side purposes; they won’t see their lot line windows/views obscured because that powerhouse stands in the way.
Hope you’re right about a possible landmark status for the IRT powerhouse. Under all that grime is a beautiful piece of architecture. I’m guessing the city won’t want to landmark it because they’d have to maintain it as the owner. I also read that developers have tried to buy it but Gale Brewer demanded they replace it with low income housing, a shelter, or some such. It’s a big concern for the neighborhood as there’s so much of it already.
I would like them to gut the gristedes at columbus and 85th next and replace it.
Let’s have something smart and effective here. Not a tiny tower with solely luxury apartments, but a skyscraper here wouldn’t fit either. Something in the middle ground – 27 stories, 312 feet, 108 apartments, 23 affordable, have another supermarket or something in retail. Something like that. We need more development – more effective development at that. We cannot have these tiny projects that provide under 80 super expensive apartments keep sprouting up all over the neighborhood.
And can that Popeye’s on 95th Street please open soon?
To those who think another high-rise building is good news:
1) Not for those of use who live nearby and will have to deal with an ugly construction site for up to 2 years.
2)Most of the people who move into the new building will presumably take the subway to work. So an already crowded platform and subway trains will get more crowded. Oh, joy!
You must be new around here. Welcome to NYC.
Where will the roaches eat now that GROSStedes is gone?!
Would be nice if as part of the construction they could reopen the subway entry on that corner.