A vacant lot on West Street in Greenpoint is slated to become a nine-story building with 99 apartments, according to newly filed permits. The site sits between Noble Street and Milton Street, just blocks from the Greenpoint Avenue subway station served by the G train, and the filing lists Mendy Schwimmer as the owner behind the applications.
The permits, reported by New York YIMBY, describe a proposed development rising 95 feet and yielding 70,013 square feet, with 68,700 square feet set aside for residential use and 1,313 square feet for commercial space. The building would include a cellar, a concrete-based structure, a 31-foot-long rear yard, and 13 open parking spaces. Shmuel Wieder of S. Wieder Architect P.C. is listed as architect of record, and because the lot is already vacant, demolition permits are likely unnecessary.
There is some confusion over the project's exact street number and backstory. Greenpointers reported in May that a 99-unit residential building was coming to 72 West Street at the corner of Milton Street, with developer Yossel Lichtman buying what the outlet described as a parking lot for $25.5 million. That report also stated that Jack Guttman's Pearl Realty Management, described as West Street's major landlord, sold the lot to Lichtman. A separate permit roundup from The Real Deal, however, placed the same 99-unit project at 70 West Street and named Mendy Schwimmer as the filer, while also citing a larger figure of 105,210 square feet for the mixed-use building — a number that conflicts with the 70,013 square feet reported in the newer permit filing.
Rentals Likely, But No Timeline Yet
Based on an average unit size of 693 square feet, the residences are likely to be rentals, though the filing has not announced an estimated completion date. The lack of a timeline leaves Greenpoint neighbors watching another vacant lot inch toward construction without a clear sense of when shovels might actually hit the ground.
This project is one of several reshaping blocks around the neighborhood. The same month's roundup from the same outlet's report noted that work was nearing completion on a four-story residential building at 129 Eagle Street, near the corner of Eagle Street and Manhattan Avenue. Earlier filings also covered a six-story building at 64 Green Street and another six-story proposal at 191 Greenpoint Avenue, while New York YIMBY's second-quarter tally counted 903 new-building permit filings citywide.
Smaller Projects Add Up Nearby
Not every Greenpoint filing is on this scale. A separate proposal at 152 Newton Street, previously covered by Hoodline's report on a 12-unit plan, could soon rise as a five-story building with just 12 units — a reminder that the neighborhood's construction boom spans both large rental towers and modest infill projects.
Bigger Towers Loom Along the Waterfront
Further toward the water, the scale climbs even higher. Incomplete permits have previously surfaced for multiple high-rise developments within the Greenpoint Landing complex, and a joint venture involving The Domain Companies, LMXD, and Park Tower Group was announced to co-develop the next phase of that waterfront project. One iteration of that phase was described elsewhere as including 1,000 apartments across three towers, a scale that dwarfs the West Street proposal. Elsewhere in the neighborhood, an affordable-housing lottery has already launched for 50 Commercial Street, a nine-story mixed-use building, showing how varied Greenpoint's current building wave has become — from a single converted parking lot to waterfront towers reshaping the skyline.
