125-Foot Luxury Condo Building Set For Greenwich Village

GREENWICH VILLAGE, NY — Developers filed plans last week to build an 11-story building of luxury condos at the site of a vacant Greenwich Village property that community groups have petitioned to landmark.

The new building permits were filed for 66 University Place, the former home of the pioneering publishing house Grove Press.

Most recently, the Greenwich Village address served as home to the Agata & Valentia grocery store, which closed in May.

The plans filed in September by developers call for a 125-foot tall building that would have 11-stories and 28 luxury-condo apartments, according to a report by Crain's.

The developer is Argo Real Estate, which purchased the Greenwich Village property in 2019 for $30 million. Demolition permits were filed for the building in May 2021, but the destruction process hasn't begun yet.

Village Preservation, a community group that fights to preserve properties in Lower Manhattan, has a page dedicated to its push to save the original 66 University Place building.

"Village Preservation has been campaigning for landmark designation for this area, and our research and documentation submitted to the City shows that this building, in spite of its utilitarian looks, actually has an incredibly important history worthy of recognition and protection," reads the Village Preservation page.

Village Preservation specifically points to Grove Press' fight against censorship in the 1960s of gay-themed fiction.

In June, the Landmarks Preservation Commission said its focus is currently elsewhere in the five boroughs.

It is unclear when the demolition and construction of the new 66 University Place will take place.