Icon plans 30-story tower on Second Avenue site

63-unit UES building will have nearly 9K sf of retail

Icon301East80th
From left: Terrence Lowenberg, Todd Cohen and 301 East 80th Street

Icon Realty Management has finally filed plans to build a 30-story Tower On A Second Avenue development site that the firm has owned for four years.

Icon, led by Terrence Lowenberg and Todd Cohen, filed a permit application Monday to build a 208,500-square-foot mixed-use building at 301 East 80th Street, also known as 1538 Second Avenue, documents show.

The tower will include 63 apartments and 8,945 square feet of commercial space, according to filings.

Icon [TRDataCustom], which owns about 1,800 apartments in the city, spent $44.9 million in 2012 to assemble two large development sites on Second Avenue between 80th and 81st streets. Previously, the properties — 1562-1564 Second Avenue and 1538-1546 Second Avenue — housed six low-rise tenement buildings along with several businesses, which were reportedly forced to close after Icon bought up the land.

Last year, Icon filed plans to demolish a four-story rental building at 301 East 80th Street.

According to the new filings, planned amenities include a basketball court, yoga studio, children’s play room, game room, party room and tenant lounge, according to filings. It’s unknown if the building will be comprised of condos or rentals, but the permit application indicates the 28th and 29th floors will each have a single, full-floor unit. Retail will occupy the entire ground floor.

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At 1562 Second, now known as 301 East 81st, Icon initially planned a 43,832-square-foot residential building with 12 prewar-style apartments and 2,192 square feet of retail.

But those plans, filed in 2014, have since been withdrawn and sources said Icon intends to file updated plans for a roughly 100,000-square-foot building with 28 apartments.

SLCE will be the architect of record for both buildings, and Studio Sofield will design the exteriors, sources said.

This spring, Icon bought the 1850s-era Chelsea Pines Inn for $13.8 million from longtime owner Jay Lesinger.

Back in November, the landlord sold a pair of East Village buildings to a South Carolina-based investor for $30.9 million — nearly five times what it paid for the buildings at 82 Second Avenue and 326-328 East 4th Street.