Tall & Urban News

A stretch of Upper East Side walk-up buildings that were torn down in recent months will be replaced by an 18-story apartment tower, according to new plans filed with the city. Developer EJS Group filed plans in mid-May 2022 for the new building at 1303-1309 Third Ave., on the corner of East 75th Street.

When the company first purchased the site for US$32 million in March of 2021, it was home to a set of five-story tenements with ground-floor businesses including Candle Cafe, Jowny Market and the former home of Bistro Le Steak. Those businesses closed in the ensuing months as a new development loomed, and EJS moved in 2021 to demolish the four buildings facing Third Avenue — plus the four-story building around the corner at 202 East 75th Street.

The new tower will stand 214 feet tall (65 meters) and contain 38 apartments, averaging out to about 2,500 square feet (232 square meters) each, according to plans submitted to the Department of Buildings. Some portion of the apartments will be affordable through the city's inclusionary housing program.

The building will be completed during the first half of 2025, EJS President Ted Segal told Patch by email. The company's other recent projects include 150 East 78th St., a luxury high-rise near Lexington Avenue. Meanwhile, just down the block, a vacant lot at 1297-1299 Third Ave. remains up for sale by another firm, also marketed as a development site.

Other new developments in the neighborhood include a 21-story tower planned a few blocks to the southwest on Second Avenue, another 21-story tower set to be built near East 71st Street; a 22-story tower planned on East 88th Street; and a different 22-story building on East 83rd Street.

For more on this story, go to Patch.