HFZ to replace hotel plan with office at Chelsea megaproject

Two-tower condo development on 11th Avenue to span 800K sf

Ziel Feldman and a rendering of 76 11th Avenue (credit: Bjarke Ingels Group)
Ziel Feldman and a rendering of 76 11th Avenue (credit: Bjarke Ingels Group)

Ziel Feldman’s HFZ Capital Group is tweaking the makeup of its planned two-tower Chelsea megaproject to include office space.

New plans filed by the firm show that the four-story base of the towers, at 76 11th Avenue, will comprise 242,750 square feet of combined retail and office space. There is no longer any mention of a hotel, which was the original plan for the base of the two condo towers.

Retail will occupy the cellar level, first and part of the second through fourth floors of the building, while offices will also share space on the second through fourth floors. The total square footage of the project is slated to top 800,000 square feet, including the residential component. The towers are slated to rise 402 feet and 302 feet, respectively.

Feldman did not immediately respond to a request for comment on why the plans for the Bjarke Ingels-designed project had changed.

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But he’s just the latest in a string of high-profile developers to eye the Chelsea and Meatpacking District areas for the development of high-end office product. Approximately 600,000 square feet of new commercial office space is slated to open in the Meatpacking District over the next five years, according to the Business Improvement District.

Vacancy rates in the area are notoriously low – around 2 percent – while prices are high. Romanoff Equities and Property Group Partners are reportedly charging up to $200 a foot for office space at one of the neighborhood’s newest office projects, 860 Washington Street.

HFZ acquired the site for the towers, between 17th and 18th streets, for $870 million in April. Plans for the residential condominiums have not yet been filed. Prices for the units are slated to start at less than $4 million.