Construction is steadily rising on 550 West 21st Street, a 23-story residential building in West Chelsea, Manhattan. Developed by Legion Investment Group and AVRS Partners LP, which took over from Casco Development, the 250-foot-tall structure will span up to 172,000 square feet and yield 83 condominium units. The nearly 0.5-acre property is located at the corner of West 21st Street and the Hudson River Greenway.
The entire multi-story podium was been built since our last update in October, when construction was just starting to rise above street level. Crews are now beginning to form the first floors of the main tower, which features a serrated profile on its eastern and western profiles. YIMBY expects the superstructure to reach the halfway mark before the end of winter and top out around the middle of the year.
The below preliminary diagram is shown on the construction board, depicting an L-shaped massing with numerous stepped cutouts above a multi-story podium.
The project site’s previous developer Casco acquired the property for $50 million in 2014 and planned to construct a nearly 200,000-square-foot building with 34 condominium units and 43,510 square feet of commercial space. The project fell into bankruptcy last summer with a debt of $527 million.
Legion stepped in and became the new developer last year with the help of a $56 million loan from Deutsche Bank, and a $155 million construction loan from Eldridge Real Estate Credit. The developer is also reportedly aiming to add another 11,000 square feet to the scope in exchange for a $7.8 million donation to the West Chelsea Affordable Housing Fund. Corcoran Sunshine Marketing Group has been contracted to sell and market the units…