Time Equities will build a 725-foot-tall mixed-use tower above the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel approach. Image:Murphy/Jahn Architects.

Helmut Jahn-designed tower will include four-star hotel, condos, spa and fitness center. On November 15, 2007, the City Council voted to approve Time Equities Inc.’s five linked applications to construct a 725-foot-tall mixed-use tower at 50 West Street, directly north of the Battery Parking Garage and adjacent to the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel. The tower will contain ground-floor retail, 155 hotel rooms, and 290 condominiums. The project site will also contain a 6,821-square-foot urban plaza, which will be open to the public 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

The project site, located within the Special Lower Manhattan District, occupies the southern portion of the block bounded by Rector, West, Washington and Joseph P. Ward Streets. Time Equities will demolish the three buildings currently at the site, the tallest of which stands 13 stories tall.

Time Equities sought to demap and acquire portions of the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel approach and James P. Ward Street, as well as an 8-inch wide, 121-square-foot strip of land that is part of the tunnel approach and runs along the southern boundary of the site. Time Equities also sought to purchase from the City between 179,998 to 189,525 sq.ft. of development rights from the demapped areas above the tunnel. (read more…)