Brooklyn-based Chess Builders is planning for a pair of mixed-use buildings on an Upper East Side corner lot it just acquired for $50 million, according to information from the developer and city records.
Developer Cheskel Schwimmer scooped up the roughly 12,000-square-foot site at 355 E. 86th St. from prolific real estate firm Extell Development, according to a recent deed, and filed permits to replace its existing 4-story walk-up with a 23-story building containing 99 apartments and retail on the ground floor.
However, Schwimmer told Crain’s Friday that he anticipates the proposed project to actually include twin buildings, comprising a total of 198 rental units across both. The two structures, both rising 23 stories, would include bike parking, a lounge and an exercise room, as well as a shared outdoor recreation area across about 140,000 square feet of residential space. It would also include retail on the ground floor across 4,543 square feet, records show.
Demolition permits to raze the 33-unit building now occupying the site, between First and Second avenues, were filed by Extell this week, records show. Marc Kwestel, executive vice president of finance at the Midtown-based firm, signed the deed on behalf of the seller. Extell bought the property for $14.5 million in 2021, records show.
The sale of the Upper East Side building comes at a time when Extell appears to be actively acquiring properties and planning large projects throughout Manhattan. The company recently bought an office building at 15 W. 46th St. for about $24.8 million, and is planning a mixed-use tower at 655 Madison Ave. that would stand 37 stories tall as well as a tower to contain Manhattan’s first Ikea at 574 Fifth Ave. that would stand 32 stories tall.
As for Chess Builders, Schwimmer typically focuses his projects in Brooklyn but recently filed plans elsewhere in Manhattan to erect a 12-story mixed-use building on the site of what’s currently an empty warehouse in Hell’s Kitchen, Crain’s reported last year.
Extell did not return a request for comment by press time.
