Manuel Glas Architects Plans Chinatown Apartment Building

An architecture firm is trying its hand at multifamily development in Lower Manhattan.

Manuel Glas Architects filed plans on Monday for a 13-story, 32-unit apartment building at 88 White Street in Chinatown, public records show. The project will replace a century-old walkup apartment building on the site, which Glas’ firm bought along with a warehouse next door at 90 White Street for $20.5 million in late 2021.

The 56,000-square-foot building will stand 120 feet tall and include nine parking spaces. No demolition permits have been filed for the existing structure at 88 White Street, and Glas could not immediately be reached for comment. Crain’s first reported the project filing.

Multifamily development has been chilled by rising interest rates and the expiration of the 421a tax break, which has slowed new project filings to a trickle. Combined, a mere 5,475 new residential units were listed on project filings in the first quarter, according to data from the Real Estate Board of New York, down 31 percent from the fourth quarter and a whopping 73 percent from the same period last year.

State-level efforts to extend or replace 421a appear unlikely to succeed before the end of the legislative session, but there may be hope for a workaround. At The Real Deal’s New York City Real Estate Forum earlier this month, attorney Ken Fisher indicated that state officials are considering using payments in lieu of taxes, or PILOTs, to incentivize projects by achieving the savings 421a once provided.

Chinatown has mostly avoided the wave of large-scale development seen in surrounding neighborhoods in recent years. A few blocks north of Glas’ project, Stellar Management is planning a 25-story, 105-unit building at 126 Lafayette Street. But that project was marred by a wall collapse in March that killed a demolition worker, the city’s first construction fatality this year.

— Holden Walter-Warner