Scaffolding and netting are coming down along the southern side of 1655 First Avenue, revealing a nearly finished window grid on a 23-story rental tower rising at the northwest corner of First Avenue and East 86th Street. The 235-foot building, split into two conjoined structures totaling 198 rental units, is now targeting a winter 2027 completion after its concrete superstructure first climbed above street level back in February 2026.
The site, also addressed as 355 East 86th Street, has quite a paper trail behind it. As reported by New York YIMBY, developer Cheskel Schwimmer is behind the project through his firm, Chess Builders. Schwimmer's company acquired the development parcel in March 2025 for $50 million from Extell Development, according to the Commercial Observer — a striking markup from the $14.5 million Extell paid in 2021 to buy out the four-story, 45-unit residential building that previously stood there.
From Bremen House to a 23-Story Superstructure
That earlier building had belonged for years to longtime owner Bremen House before Extell cleared its tenants and filed demolition plans, per the same account from The Real Deal's coverage of the deal. The four-year jump from $14.5 million to $50 million underscores just how much land values on this stretch of the Upper East Side have climbed since the pandemic-era purchase.
Once Chess Builders took over the shovel-ready site, the company moved quickly to line up money for construction. Reporting from Traded shows Chess Builders secured a $117 million refinance loan that closed on February 28, 2025, with Valley National Bank, Mizrahi, and Leumi Partners among the lenders and Landstone Capital Group brokering the deal.
How a 99-Unit Filing Became a 198-Unit Project
Chess Builders' original plans, filed with the city in September, looked far more modest than what's now rising on First Avenue. According to PincusCo, the initial Department of Buildings permits proposed a single 23-story building with just 99 units before the project was expanded into the conjoined two-structure design that now holds 198 rental apartments.
The 99-unit figure wasn't arbitrary. New York State's 485-x tax incentive program sets a 100-unit threshold below which residential projects are exempt from mandatory prevailing wage requirements for construction workers, The Real Deal notes — a regulatory detail that helps explain why so many New York developers file initial plans just under that line before amending them later.
Architecture and Amenities Taking Shape
The finished project, designed by S. Wieder Architect, spans 193,000 square feet of combined floor area on a 12,000-square-foot property, with an average unit size of 725 square feet, a cellar level, and a 30-foot-long rear yard, per the New York YIMBY report. Photos taken from early August through the weekend before publication show a facade of white, black, and gold-hued paneling largely complete, though the bulkhead and ground floor still await finishing touches.
Renderings previously published by New York YIMBY in June 2025 detailed stepped setbacks along the tower's southeast corner meant to create private outdoor terraces, plus a vertical stack of rear balconies and a landscaped rooftop terrace enclosed by glass railings. The building will also include ground-floor commercial space, and its closest subway access is the Q train's 86th Street station, located west of the site along Second Avenue.
Retail Pricing Reflects a Hot Corridor
The project includes 4,682 square feet of ground-floor retail at the busy First Avenue and East 86th Street intersection.
Manhattan's residential vacancy rate stood at just 1.49% in June 2026, according to 6sqft, as cited by Hoodline.
1655 First Avenue isn't the only Upper East Side project reshaping this stretch of East 86th Street. Hoodline previously covered a nearby 17-story tower rising on the site once occupied by Papaya King, and ZD Jasper's Maison171 condo building is at 171 East 86th Street.
For Schwimmer, the First Avenue project is one piece of an expanding portfolio. Chess Builders' track record includes the 430-unit Arches apartment complex in Mott Haven, according to The Real Deal, as well as Williamsburg development-site purchases, and a $13.5 million Grand Street sale in Williamsburg involved the Schwimmer family.
