Gotham plans massive mixed-use building on Far West Side

Developer would construct 453 units, commercial space in Hell’s Kitchen

Gotham's Joel Picket and David Picket with 538 10th Ave. (Google Maps)
Gotham's Joel Picket and David Picket with 538 10th Ave. (Google Maps)

UPDATED Jan. 25, 7:10 p.m.: Gotham Organization filed plans to build a 436,000-square-foot, mixed use building in Hell’s Kitchen, according to records filed with the Department of Buildings.

The plans call for a 47-story building at 538 Tenth Avenue with 453 units, as well as 25,000 square feet of community facility space and ground-floor retail of up to 10,000 square feet.

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Bryan Kelly, president of development at Gotham, filed the permit application. The development firm, founded in 1913 by carpenter Nathan Picket, is led by his grandson Joel Picket and Joel’s son David Picket.

Amenities in the Far West Side building would include a pet spa, bike room, Amazon package storage and a terrace on the 45th floor. Handel Architects is the architect of record.

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The nonprofit Covenant House, which serves homeless youth, owns 538 Tenth Avenue and the adjoining 554 Tenth Avenue. Gotham entered into contract in 2019 to buy the former for $78 million. At the time, Gotham agreed to build a new facility for Covenant House as part of the deal.

Permits to demolish the eight-story youth homeless shelter on the site were approved in September 2018. In its place, Covenant House filed plans that year to build a 12-story, 60-unit building at 460 West 41st Street, adjacent to the 10th Avenue parcel.

The demolition was completed in 2019. Construction of the new Covenant House headquarters is under way and expected to be complete by the end of this year. It will include the youth shelter’s sleeping accommodations, classrooms, fitness areas and other support spaces.

When the edifice is ready, Covenant House will vacate 550 10th Avenue and consolidate its operations in the new building, in which Gotham will not have an ownership interest. Gotham will then purchase and raze the vacated building to construct the 47-story project, a spokesperson for the developer said. Covenant House will purchase two floors of it for administrative space.