CIM Group, L+M Development file plans for 1.3M sf Two Bridges tower

Building will bring 1,313 units to south Manhattan neighborhood

Ron Moelis, CFO and Founding Partner at L+M, and David Thompson, CFO and Principal at CIM, with the Two Bridges project (L+M, CIM, SHoP Architects)
Ron Moelis, CEO and founding partner at L+M, and David Thompson, CFO and principal at CIM, with the Two Bridges project (L+M, CIM, SHoP Architects)

A two-tower, 73-story apartment project in lower Manhattan’s Two Bridges neighborhood is finally moving ahead after years of opposition from local residents and politicians.

Plans for the two-tower project

Plans for the two-tower project

CIM Group, which is developing the site with L+M Development, filed plans on Wednesday for 261 South Street, city records show. It will join two skyscrapers, planned by JDS Development and Starrett Corporation, on the edge of the East River.

The South Street project will feature 1,313 residential units across towers connected at the base by a 14,500-square-foot community facility. It will total 1.3 million square feet, according to the plans. Gary Handel of Handel Architects is the architect of record.

The three new buildings will add about 3,000 units to the largely low- and middle-income neighborhood. The developers have agreed to finance a host of neighborhood improvements and to earmark a quarter of the units as affordable.

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The New York Supreme Court paused the Two Bridges developments in 2019 after a series of lawsuits challenging whether the buildings could proceed without going through the city’s uniform land use review procedure. Mayor de Blasio supported the projects over objections from Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer and the city council.

An appellate judge reversed the Supreme Court decision a year later. In May, New York’s highest court declined to hear an appeal from opponents, clearing the way for it to proceed.

A representative for Two Bridges Associates, the joint venture between CIM and L+M, declined to comment.

Correction: The number of units across the developments was misstated in a previous version of this story.