Like many recently revived projects in the Lower East Side, 119 Orchard Street has a labyrinthine story.
Fine & Klein Handbags owned and lived in the tenement building for more than four decades, but closed in 2007, Bowery Boogie reported. Months later, the property went on the market and was acquired by SAS Property Management in 2008 for $4.22 million. Plans were filed for a new 40-room boutique hotel, but the project halted, and the entire building was torn down in November 2010 (Bowery Boogie has demolition photos here).
Then in February 2013, Curbed spotted a renewed permit for a new 10-story mixed-use building with 16 hotel rooms and four apartments. The plans called for a block-through development with 4,182 square feet of residential space, 6,797 square feet of commercial space and a 554-square-foot community facility on the first floor. According to the Schedule A filing, the cellar would be occupied by an “eating and drinking establishment.” Floors 2 through 5 would each hold four hotel rooms, and levels 6 through 8 would have full-floor apartments. A duplex penthouse would inhabit the top two floors.
Great Neck-based Arnold Montag Architect is the architect of record on the revived permit, issued in March 2014. The developer listed is 119 ORCHARD INC, or SAS Property Management, which acquired the lot back in 2008.
Construction work was ongoing when we stopped by the site late last week. Here’s the view from Orchard Street:
