21-Story Tower, Affordable Housing Coming To Upper East Side Block

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — The developers planning to tear down a large chunk of an Upper East Side block have revealed what they will build on the site: a 21-story tower and a shorter, affordable residential building.

The project will span the west side of Second Avenue between East 71st and 72nd streets. The Chetrit Group, a real estate development company, filed plans last month to demolish the five-story building that has stood on the block's north side for decades — and previously tore down a pair of brownstones down the block on East 71st Street and a church building around the corner at 252 East 72nd St.

All four of those sites will now make up the footprint of the new project, for which Chetrit filed plans in late March.

The 21-story, 230-foot-tall tower will be built on the corner of Second Avenue and East 72nd Street, containing 54 apartments spread across more than 150,000 square feet — plus about 5,700 square feet of commercial space. The existing building on the site, at 1357-1363 Second Ave., formerly contained 28 apartments and a row of shops including Sharkey's Cuts for Kids, Z'baby, InVite Health and Kolb Art Gallery.

Meanwhile, the smaller lot on East 71st Street will become the four-story, 40-foot-tall building, which will contain just four apartments — all of them affordable, according to the plans. The two brownstones at that site, 257-259 East 71st St., were torn down in 2019, according to city records.

An existing building on the block's south side, at 1349-1353 Second Ave., will be untouched by the new development.

While no zoning changes will be required for Chetrit's project, it will still need to move through a monthslong public review process due to its proximity to the Second Avenue Subway. Since the site is within the "Special Transit Land Use District," the MTA has the right to grab a portion of the development to use for a station entrance, skylight, or other improvements to the nearby 72nd Street Q train station, so Chetrit must now give the MTA the chance to decide whether a so-called "transit easement volume" is required.

As part of that process, developers will present their plans to Community Board 8 on May 11.

Second Avenue has seen a flurry of developments in recent months, including a 21-story tower set to be built a block south near East 71st Street; a 22-story tower planned on East 88th Street; another 22-story building on East 83rd Street, and a planned demolition near East 60th Street.

Related coverage: Half Of Upper East Side Block To Be Demolished, Plans Show