Our ongoing obsession with 49 East Houston Street—architect Arpad Baksa's big red hangover—is unending. Blame all the wacky elements involved: the seven stories of cantilever action over its neighbor at 51 East Houston Street; the razing of the cute little one-story storefront that housed nonprofit group Times Up!; the proximity to the rising awesomeness at 290 Mulberry Street. Yeah, this is a fun one. Now, in a piece explaining how a nonprofit group originally wrangled the prime real estate, the Village Voice's Runnin' Scared blog put up some sketches of the building that show the many setbacks and terraces in greater detail, as well as the proposed rear yard and balconies. If only Tetris rules applied to real life, then the first four floors of this entire block would now disappear, and Nolita would have a far better soundtrack.
· From Community Group to Condo: The Saga of 49 E. Houston and Times Up! [Runnin' Scared]
· East Houston Tumor To Be Red, Tiered and Terraced [Curbed]
· A Tumorous Neighbor for SHoP and Kopp [Curbed]
SHoP Architects' 290 Mulberry is one of a small crop of very intriguing new Nolita developments, and while a lot of the attention lately has been focused on its new red neighbor, the gang at Core Group Marketing knew precisely how to win us back: release the penthouse listing, with brand new renderings. Yes, we've had some looks into the wavy brick (not metal!) building before, but not of the $7.5 million, 2,613-square-foot duplex crown with private roof deck. From the copy: "Eight private exits to three separate private terraces, twelve oversized windows, three levels with 360 views everywhere and a 30 tall south facing atrium in glass." Um, yes please?
· Listing: 290 Mulberry Street [CORE]
· SHoP Piling On the Bricks at 290 Mulberry [Curbed]
· 290 Mulberry [Official Site]
Pity the poor residents of 51 East Houston Street. A bit of digging around reveals that the owner there goes by the mysterious name of Sultan's DaVinci Ltd. When we posted the news about the tumorous growth rising over that little walk-up some readers couldn't believe their eyes. But one guest commenter had no doubts and kindly directed us to the Arpad Baksa Architect website for a look at what's to come. And then the mystery deepened.
It's the same old story: grassroots alternative transportation group gets forced out of its building to make way for luxury development. But in the case of Times Up!, the activists are holding out hope that they can one day return to 49 East Houston Street, which will become a crazy cantilever. The original building owner, who has an option to buy back the ground-floor retail space, is kinda playing along, but: "If the neighborhood continues to gentrify wildly, that may be more difficult. I'm not getting that space back for 2 years, and since my expenses will be higher, rent will be much more expensive, and might be too rich for them." Duh. [Runnin' Scared]
East Houston between Mott and Mulberry in Nolita is growing a tumor, right in the shadow of the undulous new SHoP tower rising to the west and just around the corner from a little bit of fun going up at 277 Mott. The new growth is from architect Arpad Baksa and will rise at 49 E. Houston, formerly a one-story bike shop that is currently undergoing demolition. The new plan calls for a "Residential Apt House" with 14-stories and -- hold on to your seats -- 41 units! But that's not the half of it.
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