79-Unit Residential Project Planned Near Eyesore AT&T Building in Tribeca

79-Unit Residential Project Planned Near Eyesore AT&T Building in Tribeca

By:  Benyamin Davidsons

A developer has plans to construct a residential tower near the eyesore AT&T Long Lines Building in Lower Manhattan’s Tribeca  neighborhood.

As reported by Crain’s NY, on Friday, plans were filed for an unnamed firm to build a residential tower with 79 market-rate units in a small park owned by AT&T, and near the windowless 29-story Long Lines building, which has been recurrently named as one of New York’s least loved buildings.   The site is located at 33 Thomas St., near Worth and just west of Broadway in the famed enclave of Tribeca.

The Long Lines Building, completed in 1974 and built to house telephone switching equipment, has absolutely no windows in its plain stone tower facade.   William H. Whyte claimed that it features the tallest blank wall in the world, per Wikipedia. The cryptic building has been rumored to be the likely location of a National Security Agency (NSA) mass surveillance hub, codenamed TITANPOINTE, and it is often described as one of the most secure buildings in the United States. The building would be a few stories taller than the proposed new development.

The filing says that no changes are planned for the  brutalist AT&T building, which means the developer is confident that people will be willing to shell out top dollars for posh apartments, even with a view of the old unloved building. This may be true, as Tribeca is one of Manhattan’s most expensive neighborhoods and large parcels for development are rare finds. The average rent in Tribeca at the end of 2023 was $11,000 a month, as per data from market research firm Corcoran Group.

The filing was put forth by AT&T and no developer was named in the documents.  It might be that more than one developer is being  eyed for the project.  Per Crain’s, the 210-page filing says the proposed development would span 112,000-square-feet.  It would feature two towers, one on Worth St. with 21 stories (210-feet tall), and the other on Thomas St. with 15 stories (137 feet tall).

Both would sit atop a 1-story base set up as retail space.  It has not yet been established if the residential units would be condos or rentals.

The city would have to approve the plans, which including changing the zoning for the site into a residential, as well as agreeing  to eliminate public space— whereas the park there would shrink to 9,500 square feet, down from its current 19,500 square feet. This usually proves to be a challenging feat to get approved, as even though the space is not city parkland, still privately owned  public spaces were often made as a requirement when the landlord was awarded zoning allowances that were taller than otherwise allowed, per Crain’s.  AT&T, however, argues in its filing that this wasn’t the case and that it never took advantage of any bonus  and so it is not legally bound to keep the plaza at its current size.

An email sent by Crain’s requesting comment to AT&T’s media office was not immediately returned.  Jon Popin, the attorney handling  the filing for AT&T, said he had no comment.