Farwell Tower Rises

Farwell Tower. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

Please enjoy a “Friday state of mind” edition of our Friday Photos column. We’ll blame the delay on the nearly full day deliberations around the city’s $1.5 billion budget, Daylight Savings Time and the painful reality that it snowed yesterday.

A new 13-story tower planned for N. Farwell Ave. is starting to climb high above its neighbors. The extra-tall fourth floor, which will include tenant amenities including a community room and terrace, has begun to be built out in recent weeks and is clearly visible from up and down the busy street.

The project is being developed by Jim Wiechmann of Wiechmann Enterprises and Tim Gokhman of New Land Enterprises.

When complete, the new building will include 153 apartments, primarily one bedroom and studio units. The building will also include a 215-stall parking garage on the building’s lower floors, 10,000 square-feet of office space and first-floor commercial space. Award winning chef Justin Carlisle announced last year that he’ll open a deli in the building, complementing his Red Light Ramen and Ardent restaurants just across the street.

Stevens Construction is leading the construction of the building. The project was originally designed by Kindness Architecture, which has since been acquired by Eppstein Uhen Architects.

The tower will replace a four-story, modernist office building that was deconstructed late last year. Originally built in 1961, that building housed the offices of New Land Enterprises and a handful of other tenants. New Land relocated to the building immediately south of the project in advance of construction and is expected to move into the new building’s office space.

How do the neighbors feel about all of this? A February 2016 meeting led by alderman Nik Kovac had only two attendees in opposition, a true oddity for the dense Lower East Side.

Contrast that to New Land’s other big project, the recently approved apartment building for 2130 S. Kinnickinnic Ave. in Bay View, where people spoke in opposition at every hearing. That project was unanimously approved by the Common Council in July.

The frequent collaborators are also developing a five-story apartment building on N. Jackson St. just north of E. Pleasant St. We profiled that project two weeks ago.

When we last visited this project in August, it was emerging from the ground for the first time.

Photos

Renderings