A 25-story residential tower has topped out at 126 Lafayette Street in SoHo, reaching its full height of 273 feet with a reinforced concrete superstructure that now extends to its bulkhead. The building, called The Marq, is expected to bring 99 rental units to the corner of lower Manhattan between Howard Street and Canal Street, including 25 apartments permanently reserved as affordable housing.
According to New York YIMBY, which first reported the milestone, the tower was designed by Marvel and developed by High Street Residential, the multifamily development arm of Dallas-based Trammell Crow Company. The Marq marks High Street Residential's first Manhattan residential project, according to The Real Deal. Trammell Crow Company operates as an independently managed subsidiary of commercial real estate giant CBRE.
The project, formerly referred to as 130 Lafayette Street, spans roughly 108,000 square feet and will include studio to three-bedroom penthouse layouts once finished. The building's report notes most windows have already been installed below the first setback, and walls throughout the structure are framed with metal studs and yellow insulation boards. Red brick façade installation, which will eventually give the tower its signature exterior, has not yet begun.
A Deliberate Cap at 99 Units
Zoning at the site would have allowed up to 115 units, but the developer capped the project at 99 specifically to stay under the 100-unit threshold of New York State's 485x property tax abatement program, according to CRE Daily. Crossing that line would have triggered a mandatory $40-per-hour construction wage floor under the 485x program, which was enacted in 2024 and requires projects of 100 units or more to pay union-backed minimum construction wages. According to the NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development, 485-x benefits are available to multiple-dwelling or homeownership projects with six or more units that commenced after June 15, 2022. The Office of the New York City Comptroller says the law requires construction employees at eligible sites with 100 units or more to receive a minimum hourly rate, with higher rates for sites with 150.
The 25 affordable rental units at The Marq will be reserved at a blended 60 percent of area median income and must remain income-restricted in perpetuity under New York City's Mandatory Inclusionary Housing framework, which was triggered by the SoHo upzoning. The Real Deal notes that this mandate requires permanent affordability set-asides in districts that received upzoning.
Rezoning Cleared the Path for Construction
None of this would have been possible without the New York City Council's December 2021 SoHo/NoHo/Chinatown rezoning, which changed the lot's designation from commercial manufacturing to high-density residential and increased the site's allowable floor area. That 2021 upzoning was designed to introduce mixed-income housing into affluent lower Manhattan neighborhoods, but industry analysts note that despite city planners projecting the rezoning would yield 3,500 new housing units, few ground-up residential projects have actually broken ground, largely because roughly three-quarters of the upzoned district sits within protected historic districts subject to Landmarks Preservation Commission review.
Trammell Crow acquired the 99-year ground lease for the formerly vacant property for $14.7 million, a deal that closed in mid-2025 following a joint venture between Stellar Management and Carolwood, per PincusCo. Underlying land ownership remains with DH Realty & Management. A JLL brokerage team led by Brendan Maddigan represented sellers Carolwood and Stellar Management in negotiating that transfer.
A Site With a Difficult History
The ground beneath The Marq carries a somber history. In March 2023, a 64-year-old worker was killed and three others were injured when a wall collapsed during demolition of the former three-story commercial building that previously stood at the address, according to the Tribeca Trib. The city's Department of Buildings had issued safety violations at the site for floor overloading before that collapse occurred.
Stellar Management and Carolwood had originally acquired the 99-year ground lease from fee owner DH Realty back in April 2022 for $7 million, before demolishing the low-rise commercial building and reselling the leasehold interest three years later for more than double that price. The lot spans 6,295 square feet with 74 feet of frontage along Lafayette Street.
Amenities and What's Ahead
General contractor Leeding Builders Group is overseeing construction of the cast-in-place concrete structure and building envelope, with the finished tower expected to feature a red brick exterior intended to complement the neighboring historic cast-iron architecture of SoHo. The Marq will rise with three setbacks — its first at the 15th floor, with additional setbacks at the 20th and 24th stories — each topped with landscaped terraces, before culminating in a brick bulkhead. Interiors of the homes are being designed by Chris Shao Studio, and units will include recessed floor-to-ceiling windows and in-unit washers and dryers.
Planned amenities include a fitness center, sauna, meditation room, coworking lounge, and a dining room with a demonstration kitchen, alongside a 25th-floor roof terrace. The ground floor will hold 2,072 square feet of retail space, and the building sits near all Canal Street subway stations, which provide access to the 1, 6, A, C, E, J, Z, N, Q, R, and W trains. According to the developer, The Marq is anticipated to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2027, while a construction board lists a target of the first quarter of 2028.
The Marq is one of several residential projects moving forward under the 2021 SoHo upzoning. Hoodline has previously covered a 21-story tower pitched over Canal Street at 277 Canal Street and a 20-story affordable housing plan at 257-259 Canal Street, both enabled by the same rezoning and inclusionary housing rules now shaping The Marq.
