One Jackson Square at 122 Greenwich Avenue in Manhattan's West Village fills a long vacant lot just below 14th Street. Despite its central location, the lot had long defied development due to its odd wedge shape. The 35 unit condo apartment house to rise here is a glassy curvy design from William Pederson of the venerable Kohn Pederson Fox, a firm known for delivering extremely competent commercial work. Ribbons of floor-to-ceiling windows will run along a gentle curve. This jewel box of a condo will finally complete a busy crossroads of downtown Manhattan, where the West Village shakes hands with lower Chelsea. After the jump an alternate view facing north.
It is too bad the developer was unable to acquire an adjacent two-story tax-payer on 14th Street. The resulting blank wall on that side will make for an awkward transition until that parcel is built on some day. Still, the massing here is well served by setbacks and by keeping the highest portion of the tower nearer 14th Street. There had been some complaining from nearby residents of the height here, but the existing brick prewar apartment houses to the south are even taller, and present a street wall that is much more of a blunt barrier than this. The glass here will reflect the older structures in ways that will flatter both old and new. Panels will be of differing widths, creating rhythmic horizontal patterns. Apartments will have ceilings as high as 10-feet, and amenities are to include wide plank solid oak floors and Molteni cabinetry. One detail did catch our notice: the fitness center will have a training system designed by master Milanese furniture designer Antonio Citterio, an old Triple Mint favorite.
