The long-vacant corner that once housed a McDonald’s at Broadway and Thomas Street in Tribeca looks like it could finally be trading fries for a high-rise. A recent permit application shows a plan for a slim residential tower of roughly 21 stories and about 50 apartments, potentially swapping a low-rise fast-food spot for high-end housing at a very visible downtown intersection.
New Filing Lays Out 21-Story, 50-Unit Tower
Department of Buildings job records compiled by Marketproof point to a new job (M01400243) filed May 15, 2026, by Shabse Fuchs for 317 Broadway. The application describes a 21-story R-2 residential building with roughly 50 units. It also notes that the owner filed the paperwork through representative Hamish Whitefield of Rogers Calvanico Group PLLC.
Those figures differ from what had previously been floated for the parcel, suggesting a shift in how the site might be built out if the project clears review. Any final design still has to make it through the city’s usual rounds of approvals.
Crain's Spots a Potential Luxury Turn
Crain's New York Business was first to spotlight the new development filing, noting that the former fast-food corner “could become luxury housing” and situating the proposal within broader downtown development trends. The report framed the move as a notable shift from the earlier, more preservation-focused concept for the block and added another data point to the recent run of filings reshaping lower Broadway.
Earlier Plan Centered on Restoring 315 Broadway Landmark
Not long ago, the conversation around this stretch of Broadway was less about new towers and more about restoration. In 2020, United American Land advanced a plan with designs by Morris Adjmi that won Landmarks Preservation Commission approval to restore the landmark at 315 Broadway and add a residential volume behind it with roughly 76 apartments, according to New York YIMBY.
That earlier concept focused heavily on the historic façade at 315 Broadway while tucking new residential units into a connected tower set behind the landmark. By contrast, the fresh Department of Buildings filing is specifically for 317 Broadway and does not yet come with a corresponding public Landmarks application, so how the approved restoration scheme and the new plan might interact, or whether one will supplant the other, remains an open question.
From Cast-Iron “Twins” To Fast-Food Fixture
The site’s backstory helps explain why it attracts so much attention from both developers and preservationists. As Tribeca Trib has chronicled, the block once featured matching Thomas Street cast-iron façades. The southern “twin” was demolished in 1971 and replaced with the stand-alone McDonald’s that became a neighborhood fixture.
Local outlet Tribeca Citizen reported that the McDonald’s at Broadway and Thomas had closed by 2018, leaving a conspicuous gap at the corner and fueling periodic speculation about what might rise there next.
What Happens Next for 317 Broadway
With a new job now logged at the Department of Buildings, the proposal heads into the agency’s technical review process. Any significant changes to the building’s massing or to demolition plans could trigger additional scrutiny from the Landmarks Preservation Commission and the local community board.
Marketing materials for the combined 315–317 Broadway site have previously suggested that the project could pursue the city’s Voluntary Inclusionary Housing program and related floor area ratio bonuses, according to a listing on CommercialCafe. For now, though, the owners have not publicly tied a construction schedule to this latest filing, leaving the timeline for any ground-breaking in the hands of regulators and community reviewers.
Neighbors, preservation advocates and development watchers will likely be keeping an eye out for change-of-use permits, community board appearances and any new Landmarks filings as the plan moves through the system. We will continue to track Department of Buildings and Landmarks records to see whether this former fast-food outpost really does make the leap to new high-end housing.
