Posts by: Emily

Something huge is brewing on the west side of 4th Avenue between 10th and 11th streets. A few tipsters wrote in to say that the structure once housing Cafe 454 was demolished (the cafe closed in late February) and it turns out demolition is in store for all the buildings, residential and commercial, on that corner. The Cafe 454 building is actually on the same lot as the residential building on the corner, 243 11th Street. The development group Fourth Eleventh Development, LLC picked up the lot this December for $5,053,000. The sale also included the old Urban Spaces storefront at 472 4th Avenue and the laundromat at 470 4th Avenue. The DOB approved demo permits for those two commercial buildings as well. What’s surprising is that five more townhouses along 11th Street will be demolished. The DOB approved demo permits for 241 11th Street (which cost the developers $999,000), for 239 11th Street ($2,500,000), for 237 11th Street ($999,000), for 235 11th Street (which shows no recent sale), and 233 11th Street (also $999,000). We also hear that at least three of those townhouses appear to be already vacant. You can click through to see an outline of the lot, and of all the townhouses set to be demolished. Information behind the development LLC is scarce and they have not filed any new building permits yet, leaving the scale of the new development unknown. There’s about 120 feet of frontage on 4th Avenue and a little more than 100 feet of frontage along 11th Street. The current buildings are built up to a floor area ratio of around 1; the current zoning allows a building with a FAR as large as 6. Have any details on this big, soon-to-be-empty lot? Send them to the tipline… (more…)