New details were revealed last week of the planned new tower at 5-11 West 13th Street/8-12 West 14th Street. At 538 ft. tall, it will be by far the tallest building ever constructed in Greenwich Village, about double the height of the tallest nearby building in the Village, and roughly 10 times the height of several nearby structures. In spite of its extreme height, it will contain just 34 super-luxury apartments (down from the originally announced 36, with the number likely to continue to drop as apartments are combined for massive units likely to be rarely occupied, serving as investment properties or pieds-à-terre). New details also show a covered driveway and enclosure for private cars to pull up to the building along 13th Street. 

The tower was made possible and encouraged by the 2024 “City of Yes” rezoning we vociferously opposed. This in spite of the fact that city officials claimed “City of Yes” would encourage a much shorter building on this site that would include 20% affordable housing; was designed to reduce accommodations for cars in new construction, especially in transit-rich neighborhoods like ours; and was necessary to address a shortage of new housing in our city and the affordability crisis (the lower building the old zoning would have favored would almost undoubtedly have included more units and less astronomically expensive housing, with apartments more likely serving as permanent, full-time residences).

Village Preservation urged the Mamdani Administration not to approve permits for the new tower, citing these discrepancies between it and the stated goals of “City of Yes” that produced it, as well as of the housing policy goals of this administration. They refused to do so, saying the plans fit the requirements of the zoning, and issued approvals. We have been waging a campaign to urge the Mayor to therefore change the zoning so we do not see more of these “City of Yes” towers repeated throughout our neighborhood and city. 

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