500-Foot Tower Coming To Upper East Side Corner, Plans Show

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — A developer intends to build a 535-foot-tall apartment tower on an Upper East Side corner, in what would appear to be the tallest building ever constructed north of 72nd Street, according to newly filed plans.

The Naftali Group filed plans with the city on Thursday for the new tower at 255 East 77th St., on the corner of Second Avenue. Naftali had paid $72.6 million last year to acquire the five low-rise buildings on the block's south corner, and began demolishing them earlier this year.

Replacing them will be a 36-story tower containing just 55 apartments, according to plans filed with the Department of Buildings. That suggests a continuation of a recent neighborhood trend, in which dense, low-rise apartment buildings are torn down and replaced with sparsely-populated luxury towers.

Indeed, in this case, the two buildings at 1481-1489 Second Ave. that formerly occupied the site contained a combined 63 apartments, amounting to a net loss of housing once the new tower is built, according to city records.

Standing 535 feet tall, the new building would surpass the recently-built luxury condominium tower at 180 East 88th St., which, at 524 feet, has been described as Manhattan's tallest building north of 72nd Street.

Designed by Hill West Architects — the same firm behind a 270-foot tower planned for another Second Avenue corner — the tower will also include nearly 4,000 square feet of retail space and 33 indoor parking spaces.

Naftali did not immediately respond to questions about when construction would begin or how long it would last. The company's other projects include The Benson, a 21-story tower on Madison Avenue; another 39-story tower at 200 East 83rd St.; and a planned 18-story building on the Upper West Side being stymied by a holdout tenant.

The buildings that once occupied the Second Avenue site were home to businesses like Sable's, Vero Wine Bar, Lenwich, and the sports bar Stax NYC, while a one-story structure around the corner on East 77th Street contained an MRI clinic.

Before demolition began, the process of emptying out the buildings was not always a smooth one. Last year, Vero Wine Bar filed suit against its then-landlord at 1483 Second Ave., alleging that he made violent threats in an effort to drive them out in order to sell the building.

Vero's owners claimed that the landlord, Benjamin Ohebshalom, personally destroyed the plantings that surrounded its outdoor dining structure — even including surveillance footage that showed the destruction in progress. Another unidentified man showed up at one of the restaurateur's homes, telling him "You better give up this place or you will end up in the back of a garbage truck," according to the lawsuit.

Vero and its landlords ultimately reached a $375,000 settlement last fall — weeks before Ohebshalom's company sold the building — with Ohebshalom also agreeing to waive $208,000 in unpaid rent, according to court records. Meanwhile, Vero is now planning a new location on Second Avenue near East 60th Street.

Related coverage:

• 3 UES Buildings Face Teardowns Ahead Of Redevelopment, Plans Show
  
• Chunks Of 2 UES Blocks Are Sold, With Redevelopments Likely
• Upper East Side Wine Bar Owners Say Landlord Made Violent Threats