Paul Yam files plans for 42-unit building on Bowery in Noho

Paul Yam submitted a major alteration application for the conversion and expansion of two four-story commercial buildings at 294 and 298 Bowery at the corner of East Houston Street in Noho, Manhattan into a 42-unit, 12-story residential tower.

The Yam family has been an owner of the properties for decades.
The plan was filed with the New York City Department of Buildings on June 3, 2025 under job number M01200710. It calls for an increase in size of the two buildings from four-stories and no dwelling units to 12 stories with 42 dwelling units. The project is described in the filing as: propose vertical enlargement of the four-story buildings to a new 12-story mix-use building, with existing elements to remain. The architect is Robert H. Lin.

The property

The retail buildings in NoHo have 23,624 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 71 feet and is 83 feet deep. The zoning is C6-1 which allows for up to 6 times floor area ratio (FAR) for commercial and up to 3.44 times FAR for residential.

Violations and lawsuits

According to city public data, the property has not received any significant violations in the last year.

There were no lawsuits or bankruptcies filed against the property for the past 24 months.

The neighborhood

In NoHo, The majority, or 55 percent of the 3.8 million square feet of commercial built space are office buildings, with elevator buildings next occupying 14 percent of the space. In sales, NoHo has near average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $108.7 million in sales volume in the last two years and is the 34th highest in Manhattan. For development, NoHo has near average amount of major developments among other neighborhoods and is the 33rd highest in Manhattan. It had 356,488 square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 9 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of seven of the 19 commercial properties representing 331,389 square feet of the 475,589 square feet. The largest owner is Basalel D. Aryeh, followed by Blackburn Point Realty Capital and then Empire State Realty Trust. There are no active new building construction projects on this tax block.

The surrounding

Within a 400-foot radius of 298 Bowery, PincusCo identified three commercial real estate items of interests occurred over the past 24 months. Of those three items, two were sales above $5 million totaling $10.7 million. The most recent of the two was Habif Real Estate which bought the 6,678-square-foot, seven-unit mixed-use building (S5) on 292 Elizabeth Street for $5.2 million from Willowick Properties on April 29, 2025. One of those three items was a loan which Basalel D. Aryeh borrowed $7 million from Citizens Bank secured by the 20,227-square-foot, 45-unit rental (C7) on 302 Mott Street on March 26, 2025.

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