Nonprofit files plans for 21-story shelter in Grand Central

Paul Woody, vice president of real estate for the nonprofit Project Renewal, submitted a new building construction project for a 113,707 square-foot residential (R-2) building at 215 East 45th Street in Grand Central, Manhattan. The plan was filed with the New York City Department of Buildings on March 20, 2023 under job number 121253785. It calls for the construction of a 21-story building. The project is described in the filing as: construct new 21-story shelter and not-for-profit institution with sleeping accommodations.

A subsequent document filed on March 29 called for 171 beds in 18 rooms on floors one through six and 131 apartments on floors seven through 21.

The property

The development site is composed of tax lots 8 and 11. The parcel has frontage of 100 feet and is 100 feet deep with a total lot size of 10,042 square feet. The zoning is C5-3 which allows for up to 15 times floor area ratio (FAR) for commercial and up to 10 times FAR for residential with inclusionary housing.

The neighborhood

In Grand Central, The majority, or 83 percent of the 43.5 million square feet of commercial built space are office buildings, with hotel buildings next occupying 8 percent of the space. In sales, Grand Central has near average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $1 billion in sales volume in the last two years and is the 14th highest in Manhattan. For development, Grand Central has near average amount of major developments among other neighborhoods and is the 13th highest in Manhattan. It had 2.5 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 6 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of six of the 16 commercial properties representing 575,093 square feet of the 986,973 square feet. The largest owner is Department of Homeless Services, followed by Durst Organization and then Oak B Management. On the tax block, there were two new building construction projects totaling 134,119 square feet. The largest is a 106-unit, 113,707 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by Project Renewal and filed by Paul Woody with plans filed March 20, 2023 and it has not been permitted yet. The second largest is a 15-unit, 20,412 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by Eduard Slinin with plans filed October 7, 2015 and it has not been permitted yet.

The owner

The PincusCo database currently indicates that DHS owned at least 69 commercial properties with 1,707 residential units in New York City with 2,796,866 square feet. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 35 percent of the 2,796,866 square feet of built space are N2 properties, with walkup properties next occupying 22 percent of the space. The bulk, or 37 percent of the built space, is in Bronx, with Brooklyn next at 30 percent of the space.

The surrounding

Within a 400-foot radius of 215 East 45 Street, PincusCo identified one commercial real estate item of interests occurred over the past 24 months. It was a loan which Manocherian Brothers borrowed $10.5 million from Apple Bank for Savings secured by the 49,914-square-foot, 63-unit rental (D1) on 235 East 46th Street and one other property on June 15, 2022.

Direct link to the property’s ACRIS page and link to DOB NOW portal.