Essex Crossing rental gets new renderings and a new name to honor jazz legend Sonny Rollins

Legendary jazz saxophonist and New York City native Sonny Rollins lived in an apartment on the Lower East Side home for many years during the late 1950s. Although the building he called home has long been demolished, the sprawling development rising on the same site, Essex Crossing, will pay tribute to the iconic artist by naming one of the buildings after him. The Rollins, a 15-story rental building at 145 Clinton Street, sits near the entrance of the Williamsburg Bridge, a spot where Rollins practiced every day for two years. As the New York Times reported, the Rollins, designed by Beyer Blinder Belle, will include 107 market-rate apartments, which start at $3,150 for a studio, $4,450 for a one-bedroom, $5,800 for a two-bedroom and $8,450 for a three-bedroom. Leasing will begin in January for these market-rate units.

Delancey Street Associates, a group of three developers responsible for the roughly 1.9 million-square-foot mixed-use development at Essex Crossing, will bring 1,000 units of housing to the site, with about 50 percent of them permanently affordable. Plans also call for retail, offices, a public school, the revamped Essex Street Market and a park designed by West 8.

As 6sqft previously reported, the lottery for 104 low- and middle-income apartments at 145 Clinton Street opened in March, the first group of affordable units at the complex to do so. The apartments were set aside for those earning 40, 60, 120, and 165 percent of the area median income and offered a range of apartments from $519/month studios to $3,424/month three-bedrooms.

Amenities at the Rollins include a part-time lobby attendant, communal terraces, fitness and yoga room, children’s playroom, bike storage, a dog washroom and a residents lounge. Plus, the building will contain a Target and Trader Joe’s, both opening next year. An artist will be selected in January to paint a 220-foot mural along the building’s western exterior.

About his former LES residence, Rollins told the Times: “That was a fond place for me. It really has a place in my heart.”

[Via NY Times]

RELATED:

• Beyer Blinder Belle Publishes Renderings of Essex Crossing’s Site 5
• Lottery opens for middle-income condos at Essex Crossing’s 242 Broome, from $224,861
• More affordable senior housing units planned for Essex Crossing development

Renderings courtesy of Delancey Street Associates/ Beyer Blinder Belle