29 leonard street
NEW YORK, NY
This adaptive reuse Tribeca project developed by Silvera Properties is the transformation of two seven-story Landmarked spice warehouse buildings into a luxury mixed-use building with high end apartments above a commercial ground floor. The two buildings were originally designed by J. Morgan Slade in 1880-81 and merged in 1935. A new one story building was also built to replace the existing extension on site. According to the architect, Gil Even-Tsur of GE-T Architects, “This alteration will breath a new life and spirit into this historic structure and give it renewed purpose for the years to come, with a design that is sensitive and respectful to the history of the building and to the neighboring setting.”
The existing timber floors and the interior bearing wall separating 29 and 31 Leonard Street were demolished and new steel frame structure with concrete on metal deck slabs was erected inside the existing walls. The structure was supported by a deep pile foundation. The cellar was lowered by approximately 36” and a new pressure reinforced concrete slab was poured. The pile caps along the walls were designed to create a “bench” to protect the existing footings. One of the existing walls was removed and replaced with a steel moment frame.
When the 1 subway line was built in 1910, a corner of the building was cut and piles were installed for the subway under the eastern wall of the property. Over the years, the buildings on the block settled significantly due to the high groundwater level, except for the eastern wall, causing the building to deflect almost 2 feet at the top. The new steel structure was used to permanently brace the existing walls.
This was a full service project - Madsen provided the design of the temporary shoring during construction and a detailed sequence of construction, as well as steel connection design and detailing. Filing and obtaining approval from the MTA was also included as a service.