The Urbanite Rises
Farwell Ave. high rise adds 153 residences to Lower East Side.
The Urbanite at 1840 N. Farwell Ave. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.
Meet Urbanite, New Land’s new 13-story apartment tower rising at 1840 N. Farwell Ave.
We last profiled the project before a name was publicly announced. Now the building has a name, and soon it will have a facade. Construction workers could be spotted Friday morning installing a brick facade on the lower levels and windows on some of the higher floors of the 13-story tower.
When complete, the new building will include 153 apartments, a mix one-bedroom, two-bedroom, three-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 in 2016 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 replaces a four-story, modernist office building that was deconstructed in late 2016. 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. A surface parking lot was also eliminated as part of the development.
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 proposed 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 2016. Hopefully when that project is complete Bay Viewers will come to value the vibrancy and vitality that density provides, as many East Siders have.
Photos
Renderings
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Political Contributions Tracker
Displaying political contributions between people mentioned in this story. Learn more.
- July 8, 2019 - Nik Kovac received $200 from Jim Wiechmann
- February 10, 2016 - Nik Kovac received $200 from Jim Wiechmann
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Re: “Hopefully when that project is complete Bay Viewers will come to value the vibrancy and vitality that density provides, as many East Siders have.”
Highly unlikely – they will complain about parking, noise and the Prius Lady as they always have…
@ max. The KK/1st street corridor on the south side of the city is a solid top 3 areas in terms of new development in the last 10 years. 2130 KK goes a long way toward filling in the development on the immediate corridor, and it eventually got through. The army barracks parcel was a weird location for high density housing, so it’s ending up close to the right spot. The last obvious development spots are 1st street from the KK bridge to lincoln, a few outlots in walkers point, and the eventual harbor development projects. all of those will get through without too much community push back, namely because there is not residential neighbors. I would anticipate, though, that the residential structures in the neighborhood will be defended much more than what’s been allowed on the east side. .