Village Blueprints
Garage Conversions Abound in Greenwich Village
By Brian J Pape, AIA, LEED-AP
332 West 11th Street Garage Conversion Update
Converting the 332 West 11th Street building to residential involves adding a penthouse, since this design has been approved by LPC in 2022. Credit: LPC.
In a bizarre twist of fate for a former parking garage in the West Village, the marketing for the vacant structure at 332 West 11th Street promotes one thing — its potential use as a mega-mansion. For months now, the websites of Streeteasy, Zillow or Compass don’t reveal a sales price (rather unusual), nor floorplans (not unusual for a speculative development), yet the emphasis on single-family rather than multi-family use is a surprise.
But when you download a flyer from Avison Young you see the asking price of $45 million, along with a few staged renderings and these “features” of a conversion.
The 332 West 11th Street Garage is on the market for $45 million, yet in an unfinished state, marketed as a mega-mansion of 30,000 SF. Construction has begun. Credit: LPC.
“One of the last mega-mansion opportunities in the Greenwich Village Historic District, with 30,000 SF floor area in the heart of the West Village, ripe for Townhouse or Condominium conversion. Featuring 50 feet of frontage on West 11th Street, 13 foot high ceilings on the Ground Floor, six stories, including an English Basement with two curb cuts, one going to the cellar and one to the ground level, with four Tesla chargers and two universal plug-in chargers. A potential investor or developer could remove seven feet from the rear of the building to create a backyard and generate even more interior light, it has unparalleled and protected views and a backyard of southern exposure.”
The R-6 zoning can remain for the new use.
For history, we find that this structure was built in 1905 by architect Thomas H. Styles for the Foster Scott Ice Company, replacing two townhouses. It has been used as a car garage since then. On December 21, 2020, Thomas Walker purchased the property from Jack Jakub, for a price of $26 million. The garage has a lot size of 50 ft x 102.42 ft. and total floor square footage of 24,837 which puts the sale price at $1,046 per square foot of floor. The transaction also involved a loan amount of $16.7 million provided by First Republic Bank. As is customary, the basement was probably not included in the above square footage. The annual real estate property tax is calculated at over $250,000.
The proposed project scope presented by architect Weddle Gilmore of Black Rock Studio and approved by the LPC in 2022 was an adaptive re-use converting the existing commercial garage to partial commercial garage and residential apartments, as follows:
- Conversion of existing five story garage to residential including interior alterations
- Front (North) facade restoration/preservation including cornices and windows
- Front (North) facade 5th floor window configuration alterations
- Storefront/ground floor (North) modification
- Removal of rear portion of building to create rear yard
- New rear (South) facade
- Re-fenestrate side facades (East & West)
- 6th floor and penthouse addition
- Updated mechanicals, elevators, egress stairs and bulkheads (there is a vehicle elevator behind the new garage door at the right side)It would be hard to justify the jump from $26 million to $45 million with no construction work included. The recent site activity may explain some of the change. Posted on the barriers around the sidewalk are notices of construction permits by Titanium Construction Services and the rendering of the front facade, much as in the LPC presentation. The notices detail that work on floors 1-5 and the cellar and roof includes “modification to existing structural… reinforcement of existing foundation, column footings and flooring joists throughout.” The owner is 332 W11 Holding, LLC, with completion anticipated for winter of 2026. A workman on the site confirmed that they were clearing out the old garage.
So now that real construction work has started here, there is only a short window of opportunity for a new buyer to change from the mega-mansion promoted to the multi-family option, since the plumbing, electrical, mechanical, and egress layouts will all have to be finalized before any of that gets installed (builders are now avoiding putting vulnerable electrical equipment in basements).
Perhaps more will be revealed soon?
The Minetta Garage Conversion
The Minetta Garage signage will be restored on the Third Street side along with the brickwork and window openings. The rooftop additions will be very visible from the street, despite the setbacks. Image Credits: Morris Adjmi Architects.
The Minetta Garage is the popular name for a structure located at 122-128 West 3rd Street (directly across from the Blue Note) and at 12-14 Minetta Lane. A conversion plan was presented by Patrick Milner, representing his family-owned parking group, with their consultants, Morris Adjmi Architects and Higgins Quasebarth & Partners, LLC.
For years now, even before the pandemic of 2020, plans were presented to the community groups for a mixed use, commercial and cultural and community space conversion. This resolution has come to be expected though, for high-end residential.
The owner team has worked hard to preserve the look and feel of the old streetscape. The Third Street part of the garage was originally built ca. 1895 as a boarding stable for horses and carriages. The building on Minetta was built ca.1904, connecting to the Third Street building floors. At that time, from 1878-1938, the route of the Sixth Avenue Elevated train turned east on Third Street over to and running south on West Broadway (now LaGuardia Place). When the Sixth Avenue train was routed underground, beneath the extended Sixth Avenue, the El was dismantled in 1939.
The original Third Street window openings will be preserved with new historic-styled windows within restored brick walls. The pattern of large garage door openings will be modified to keep the look even when new storefronts or lobbies are added. Over on Minetta, the openings have been changed over the years and the brick is painted, but steel lintels over two garage door openings have been retained and will be restored. Along with new window openings to match the size of original windows, it was suggested that the natural brick façade be restored as well. A 20’ wide courtyard will be opened between the two sides in order to meet light and air requirements for the residences (not visible from the street).
This isometric drawing of the proposed conversion to residences, viewed from Sixth Avenue looking southeast, highlights the height and visibility from around the neighborhood. Historic guidelines require that additions or changes be only “minimally visible” or historically compatible.
The biggest challenge comes when the rooftop additions become very obviously visible from the street, and that new construction is styled in harsh contrast to the historic fabric around it. Since the additions are two stories high plus bulkheads on Third Street, and one story plus bulkheads on Minetta, even with setbacks, there is no hiding them. The architects’ plans show large groups of windows totally out of scale with the historic patterns and sizes, and it calls attention to the discrepancy of material handling for the rooftops. The advisory group suggested that studying the window patterns and considering the traditional materials might allow the rooftop additions to be as large as they are proposed, because as presented, it did not meet low visibility criteria.
Stay tuned for further developments.
The Minetta Garage signage will be restored on the Third Street side along with the brickwork and window openings. The rooftop additions will be very visible from the street, despite the setbacks. Image Credits: Morris Adjmi Architects.
738 Greenwich Street Garage Conversion
A ‘bird’s-eye’ view rendering of 738 Greenwich Street, looking west along Perry Street, shows the designed one-story rooftop addition stepped back from the street wall with terraces. Necessary mechanicals and bulkheads cover the roof.
In October 2022, Leroy Street Studios architects (LSS) presented a startling plan to convert a four-story parking garage into a multi-unit residential building, with the intention to restore the front façade brick, modify ground-floor door and window openings and remove a portion of the rear of the building to provide light and air. Plans also call to add a one-story rooftop addition with terraces, plus necessary mechanicals and bulkheads. There will be excavation to expand the existing cellar. It was a startling plan because there is seldom this level of restraint for such a high-end development.
The website New York YIMBY describes the proposed building will have seven residences, with the average unit scope of 5,448 square feet. The 79-foot-tall development will yield 39,520 square feet, with 38,137 square feet designated for residential space and 1,383 square feet for commercial space and three enclosed parking spaces. By carving out a 30’ rear yard space, balconies can be added to some of the units, while keeping the street side close to original appearance.
By carving out a 30’ rear yard space from the parking garage, balconies can be added to some of the units at 738 Greenwich Street, while keeping the street side close to original appearance for the 7-unit residential building.
The Wall Street Journal reported that the developer had already gotten three units under contract in early 2024, perhaps two years before anyone can move in. The units sold for $55 million, $32 million and $22 million.
Donnchadh Malone of Alf Naman Development is listed as the owner behind the applications, having purchased the site from the West Village Houses co-op in 2022, for $64 million. Permits for a partial demolition were obtained this Spring 2024, and Village View observed the barricading for asbestos removal in the Fall.
Ismael Leyva Architects (ILA) is listed as the architect of record. (Since neither LSS nor ILA have any renderings on their websites at this time, images are from the public hearing). Higgins Quasebarth & Partners LLC serves as the historic consultants.
Per the 1969 Greenwich Village Historic District Report, this garage was designed by George G. Miller and built in 1930 for the Greenwich Street Corporation. This four-story concrete-based structure garage also served the neighborhood as required parking for the West Village House complex until recent years. The treatment of the base, differentiating it from the rest of the building by painting it white, and the rather carefully organized block and serif lettered signs, express the desire on the part of the owner to achieve a dignified appearance for this utilitarian structure.
A 2026 completion date has been estimated, if they don’t run into the delays that so many other nearby high-end developments have experienced.
