Former E. Village Brownfield Site Ready for $130 Million Lux Apt. Building to Rise
A contaminated lot on East 14th St and Ave. “C” has been officially deemed cleaned by the State Dept. of Environmental Conservation clearing the way for a new residential building to be built by a developer.
| 21 Nov 2024 | 05:39
Design of the new building at 644 East 14th Street and Ave. “C” that a developer plans to erect on the site of a former auto repair shop in the East Village. (
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Screenshot of the empty lot in April, 2024 as a brownfield cleanup ordered by the DEC was underway on the site of the former auto repair and supply store on the edge of the East Village on Ave. “C” and E. 14th St. (
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An East Village brownfield site that once housed an auto repair shop has been cleaned, clearing the way for a developer to erect a $130 million, 24-story commercial and residential building on the East 14th St site.
The site had been undergoing an environmental cleanup to clear containments for the past two years, but on Nov. 21, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC), deemed it officially cleared of underground contaminants.
The new 200,000 sq. ft. building that is being developed by Madison Realty Capital, will contain ground floor retail space and will contain 196 residential units, with a “beautiful façade consisting of porcelain panels,” according to Omnibuild. The luxury building will also contain a “tenant lounge, a fitness center, and a fully furnished roof deck.”
Madison Realty Capital acquired the site for $31.3 million spring 2020, under the company name 644 East 14th Street Owner LLC. A BLDUP article stated that Madison Realty Capital secured a $130M loan to develop the new building in August, 2024. According to EV Grieve, a plywood rendering set February 2026 as the building’s construction completion date.
The site, which is located at Avenue C and East 14th Street, is 0.23-acres of unpaved, unoccupied land, “excavated to a depth of approximately three to five feet below sidewalk,” according to a fact sheet issued by NYSDEC in Nov. 2022. The site was occupied by several multi-story commercial buildings from about 1900 through the ‘70’s, according to the fact sheet. The site was then used to house an R&S Strass auto parts store, which closed in 2009. The building was demolished in 2014, leaving the lot vacant for the past decade.
The lot was then deemed a “brownfield site,” which NYSDEC defines as “any real property where a contaminant is present at levels exceeding the soil cleanup objectives....” According to the NYC Office of Climate and Environmental Justice, New York “has over 3,000 vacant commercial and industrial properties and more than 7,000 properties designated by the City as subject to mandatory environmental study and management.” As many as 40 percent of these properties, they estimate, are “chronically vacant or underutilized contaminated land.”
The NYSDEC remedial investigation report highlights included speculation that the site was likely contaminated while the lot was used to house the R&S Strauss auto parts store. Contaminants included polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and metals, and in some places were found up to 15 feet below the sidewalk. The contaminants weren’t deemed a significant threat to public health or the environment. The company name listed as the site’s owner, 644 East 14th Street Owner LLC was responsible for cleaning the site, which was performed with oversight from NYSDEC. The site was cleaned by excavating about 7,900 cubic yards of the contaminated materials, which were disposed of off-site, and replacing it with clean fill.