18-Story Tower Coming To Amsterdam Avenue: Report

UPPER WEST SIDE, NY – Development continues to change the landscape of the Upper West Side, with Crain’s reporting on Monday that a new, 18-story mixed-use building is set to replace a low-rise that's adjacent the former location of neighborhood favorite the Mermaid Inn.

Nortco Development has reportedly filed plans with the Department of Buildings for a project at 200 West 88th Street – better known as 574 Amsterdam Avenue – for a new building that will rise 215 feet. The development will include retail space on the first floor and a parking garage on the second floor.

The block, a once lively stretch of Amsterdam Avenue between 87th and 88th Street, looked rather forlorn when Patch dropped by recently, now characterized by a striking stretch of graffiti-covered vacant commercial spaces.

In addition to 574 Amsterdam, which housed a corner bodega, Green Deli, three adjacent properties could eventually become part of the condo project, according to Crain’s.

These include 568, 570, and 572 Amsterdam Avenue, spaces which once housed the Mermaid Inn and Sirenetta, a pizzeria.

An LLC linked to Nortco filed demolition permits for 568, 570, 572, and 574 Amsterdam Avenue in 2023, according to Crain's. Nortco reportedly purchased the set of buildings for $46 million in December 2018.

The Mermaid Inn, a favorite Upper West Side restaurant, is in the process of relocating to 335 Columbus Avenue, a space on the corner of 76th Street that once held a Chase bank.

Nortco, which is operated by Chaim and Rony Nortman, has developed condo projects in Harlem, the East Village, and on the Lower East Side.

Got something to stay about this project? Are there other empties on the Upper West Side you’d like Patch to look into? Email michael.mcdowell@patch.com.