21-Story Condo Building To Replace Historic 5th Ave Apartments

GREENWICH VILLAGE, NY — A five-story apartment building near Washington Square Park is set to be replaced with a 21-story condo building, according to plans the developer recently filed.

Madison Realty Capital wants to build a 21-story building with 18 units at 14-16 Fifth Ave., currently the site of more than century old buildings, permits filed to the Department of Buildings show.

The plan has to be approved by the Landmarks Preservation Commission since the lot is in the Village's historic district, and the community board will review the plan as well.

But in anticipation of the developer's plans, the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation is waging a battle against the developer's latest proposal.

The group's director, Andrew Berman, called the plans an "insult to Greenwich Village and New York City."

"The application for a tower of these proportions in a historic district is unprecedented; the request to demolish a landmarked historic building is entirely unjustified, and the plan to replace rare affordable housing units with a smaller number of super-luxury ones that will likely only serve as third or fourth home to international jet-setters is deeply troubling," Berman said in a statement, slamming the plans for a building that rises about 100 feet taller than the average height of buildings along lower Fifth Avenue.

Twenty apartments that were once rent-regulated will be replaced with 18 "super-luxury" apartments, Berman said. Half of the building's 20 units were listed as rent-regulated the year Madison Realty Capital bought the building in 2015, though a year later, none of the units were regulated, according to Gothamist, which first reported the news.

But though Berman is once again throwing weight against a proposed taller building in the neighborhood, just across the street from 14-16 Fifth Ave. is a 340-foot tall building, more than 100 feet taller than the proposed MRC structure, according to New York YIMBY.

Madison Realty did not answer specific questions, but the company said in a statement that it "looks forward to working with the City and the Greenwich Village community on our new residential project at 16 Fifth Avenue."

The lot was once two townhouses, altered into a "non-descript" apartment building in the 1930s, the MRC statement read. The company has not yet released updated renderings for the building, which is expected to be about six stories shorter than an outdated rendering from 2017. Robert A.M. Stern Architects will design the tower.

"MRC is committed to developing a new building which is both beautiful and contextually appropriate with the surrounding neighborhood," the company said.