Real Estate Rarity: Vacant Lot Zoned for 5-Story Townhouse Comes to Market Asking Nearly $3 Million
The vacant lot at 110 West 88th Street.
The Upper West Side is filled with townhouses, some of them more than 100 years old. New buyers often gut-renovate the homes so they’re modern inside.
But it’s very rare to find an open lot that’s essentially waiting for a townhouse to be built on it. A 16-foot by 100-foot lot at 110 West 88th Street just became available, and brokers at Leslie Garfield are advertising the space on posters attached to a gate in front of the lot. It’s going for $2.85 million.
The lot was left over from a project called 101 West 87, which was a 60-unit condo project with a complicated history that was eventually completed by Bazbaz Development. The project ended up not using that lot, which is why it’s up for sale today. And the developer already got Landmarks and Department of Buildings approval to build the townhouse, so the buyer doesn’t have to deal with the paperwork.
A rendering of the townhouse that was presented to the Landmarks Preservation Commission (it’s the modern one on the left).
Developer Sonny Bazbaz called it “a one-of-a-kind opportunity – a fully-amenitized, fully-permitted, new construction, luxury townhouse, one block west of Central Park, right in the heart of the Upper West Side Historic District.”
For an annual fee, the lot also has access to the adjacent condo building’s amenities, which include a gym, a children’s playroom and a garden lounge.
(Just don’t tell your friends who live in cities with reasonably priced real estate that you paid $3 mill for a vacant lot!)
How wide is a standard town house? 16-feet sounds narrow to me?
I would hate to be living next door to this while it is under construction.
yep; i think a standard brownstone would be 25′ x 50′; not including backyard
16 to 21 feet is normal for a brownstone on the upper Westside. My One family brownstone is 22 feet.
So, for a while, I lived in a 14′ townhouse. It was not ginormous, but it was plenty wide and comfortable. We had much more space than we have ever had in an apartment, though of course there were a lot of stairs. 16′ is not the widest townhouse, but it’s enough to make a very pleasant house.
These dimensions are just the size of the lot. With each exterior wall at least 4 to 6 ” thick the will decrease the size of the interior wall by at least a foot, possibly more. So even the great room/living room can’t possibly be any wide than about 14.5 to 15 feet wide. Like living in a trailer. A trailer with amenities like marble counters and wood floors – is still a trailer. No thanks! And for probably a fortune.
The standard is 18 to 20′ 16 is narrow. A 25 footer is typically a larger footprint
As they say, location is everything. The $3 million lot is right around the corner from a Dominos. Hopefully, they can fit a large pie box through the front door. The lot looks awfully narrow.
Not sure Dominos would be the ideal diet if the homeowner would like to fit through the front door.
End single family zoning. It’s insane that there are parts of the UWS where it’s illegal to build apartments.
Pretty sure you’re incorrect; while single family properties are permitted in many districts on the UWS, I don’t think they are required (though you certainly couldn’t build anything very large here).
I feel bad for the people in the building to the left whose windows and air conditioner face out on this lot. They are going to lose their light and have to listen to months of construction. Though I assume when they moved in they had to know this lot wouldn’t stay empty forever.
Pity the poor neighbors who will be subject to noise, filth and creepy construction workers for years to come!! Such a beautiful sight looking at huge dumpsters on your block every morning.
LOOKOUT! THIS IS NO BARGAIN!
Am surprised Jerry Seinfeld doesn’t want to build a second garage on the site.
Gonna be on the market for a very long time.
Given issues noted below, years of development ahead (even with some paperwork done) and unusually narrow (20 ft. most conventional) as noted.
(Walk your neighborhood, most sidewalk squares are 5 ft. – 4 to a 20ft. street front – and you can see how narrow this is compared to most townhouses.
Buy a fixer-upper, save yourself half the aggravation anyway.
And, likely closer to top of market than bottom. Am told sales on UWS have slowed dramatically.
Nice! – This could be a very interesting project. I hope the design is respectful of the neighborhood, but look forward to seeing the building upon completion.
Was a basketball court for the neighborhood, former Knicks player Earl “The Pearl” Monroe rehabbed it for the neighborhood kids in the 70’s.
Many of the subsequent proposed projects have never taken hold. Turn the space into a small small – the living room in my apt in San Antonio is 16×18 – I’m sure some fool will buy and build a thin building