Moinian’s Atelier II gets moving

West Side mega tower could have 1,100 rental units, according to new filing

Joseph Moinian and the site at 605 West 42nd Street
Joseph Moinian and the site at 605 West 42nd Street

Joseph Moinian’s plans for a mammoth residential tower at 605 West 42nd Street are officially back in play. The developer filed a new application for the site today with the city’s Department of Buildings which calls for a 61-story, 656-foot tall rental tower with more than 1,100 units.

Moinian had first earmarked the 1.1 million-square-foot site, located adjacent to the Moinian Group-developed Atelier condominium tower, for a residential tower in 2007. The recession stymied progress at the site, but the new plans signal that construction may shortly begin again in earnest.

The plans originally called for a hybrid building with rentals at the base and condos starting at the mid-section and above. In a more recent interview with The Real Deal, however, Moinian referred to the tower as a rental, indicating that he may have scrapped plans for the condos. 

The filing shows that Moinian wants to build a total of 1,669 units at the development site, which includes the Atelier at 635 West 42nd Street. There are 478 units at the Atelier, public records show, allowing for 1,191 at the so-called Atelier II.

The project’s architect is David West of Goldstein Hill & West, Moinian has said, though early plans called for prolific architect Costas Kondylis to design the property. Tishman Construction will head up construction at the site, sources said.

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Moinian paid Verizon $120 million for the building in 2005 and began construction. The foundation was more than half completed when the financial crisis brought the project to a halt, and the site is registered as an 80-20 project eligible for tax abatement.

The developer has been seeking a partner with which to develop the site for several years and even considered selling the site. He tapped a Jones Lang LaSalle team of Ron Cohen, Richard Baxter, Jon Caplan, Scot Latham and Stephen Shapiro to market the property for sale in 2011.

While it was not immediately clear if Moinian had found a new development partner, he appears to have gotten a small cash injection of around $10 million after refinancing a land loan at the site late last year, according to public records.

Moinian was not immediately available for comment.

Additional reporting provided by Adam Pincus