In the continued development of the Lower East Side, condos are rising near to Katz's Delicatessen and the now-defunct matzo factory in New York City, Streit's Matzo Factory.
The condos going up next to Katz's at 196 Orchard Street are part of a joint development between Magnum Realty and Real Estate Equities Corporation, whose new teaser site extolls the "progress."
The property formerly holding Streit's, at the corner of Rivington and Suffolk Street, will no longer be the site of a former, family-owned business either-- it'll just be condos.
Total, the two developments will bring 139 new units to the neighborhood, a two story Equinox, and 26 storage units.
That's in addition to the hotel and condo space going up on Bowery, which will house 64 hotel rooms and 21 apartments, making the number of new units coming to the neighborhood just between these three developments an even 160.
That would be cool, except the we have to cut out the former factory and three 18th-century Bowery buildings just to get 160 apartments and 64 new hotel rooms in the neighborhood.
Aside from knocking down architecture residents and visitors value, the question arises: Do we really need these units?
[anad]
At the moment, property vacancy is at a nine-year high in New York City.
With vacancy being what it is and rent still not going down, it's absurd to build more condos and high rise luxury residential buildings.
katzsdeli 🎨Thank you @tommykane for this awesome watercolor! We love the wonky line work that depicts this crazy city to a T. Direct message us your artistic creations and we will be sure to repost and give credit to the artist. #food #foodie #foodporn #art #paint #painting #watercolor #tommykane #sandwich #les #nyc #lowereastside #katz#katzs #katzdeli #katzsdeli #deli #sendasalamitoyourboyinthearmy
And with apartments in NYC running about one million dollars apiece to buy, at least the new units next to Katz's will cost about that. Rates for those properties will be going for between $1,800 and $2,200 per square foot.
Yes that's more than a lot of people pay in rent each month for one square foot of space, and yes that is ridiculous, but not as ridiculous as TriBeCa, where values are easily $3,000 or above per square foot.
So at least the LES isn't that fancified... well, just yet, right?
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[Feature Image Courtesy 196 Orchard]