Greenwich Village Condo Tower Plans to Cut Units but Still Rankles Local Group
Village Preservation, a local advocacy group that has strenuously opposed the construction of the tower on West 13th Street, says that new changes to the “Greenwich Spire” project further vindicate its longstanding skepticism of the “City of Yes” zoning overhaul.
| 03 Aug 2026 | 03:44
A luxury condo tower planned for W. 13th St. is now slated to become even more exclusive than before, enraging local preservationists and affordable housing advocates. (
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One change will include covered driveway for cars as imagined in a new rendering above. Local preservationists say the car port addition goes against the City of Yes intent to down play cars. (
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A super-tall luxury tower planned for West 13th Street will now have slightly fewer condominiums on offer cutting the total number to 34 condo units rather than 36, fresh renderings of the project revealed. But that tiny reduction has not quieted a local preservationist group that has led opposition against the project, which points out that plans for the luxury condo will now include a car port.
Village Preservation has been calling attention to the fact that the builders of the 30-story “Greenwich Spire” are utilizing “City of Yes” zoning provisions in its construction which the group say tilts real estate regulations too far in favor of developers, while disregarding objections from local residents.
The boutique condo tower will stand out sharply from the low rise buildings that currently characterize the Greenwich Village neighborhood.
The “City of Yes” zoning overhaul, which has been endorsed by Mayor Zohran Mamdani after passing into law under the administration of his predecessor, Eric Adams, was billed as a way incentivize the construction of affordable housing to address the city’s critical housing crisis.
Village Preservation, which opposed the “City of Yes” package at an early stage, now says that the new changes to the 5-11 W. 13th St. project vindicate their warnings.
The 538-foot-tall tower, which is being developed by Legion Investment Group and EJS Group, is slated to complete construction in 2028. It’ll reportedly stand ten times taller than buildings in the surrounding area. Village Preservation predicts that at least some of the units in the building will be used as investment properties or pied-à-terre apartments that will be “rarely occupied.”
The advocacy group has petitioned the NYC Planning Department to block the tower, in part as a referendum that could clarify what the “City of Yes” allows after a similar plea to the NYC Department of Buildings went nowhere.
At a rally in April, not long after writing to City Planning, Village Preservation Executive Director Andrew Berman slammed the West 13th Street project as the “complete opposite” of what city officials promised the public when unveiling the “City of Yes” proposals
In an interview with Straus News on July 30, Berman said that he has “no doubt” that the recent plans to cut two more units from the project is only the start of alterations to the original plans.
Berman added that the announcement of a car port “paints a pretty accurate picture of what this place is gonna be like,” and “also bumps up against one of the main tenets of ‘City of Yes,’ which was a move away from car-centric development and towards transit-oriented development.”
“The reality is, by making it so much easier and more attractive to build these tall towers with open space around them, you’re basically asking people to build these Billionaire’s Row needles with these enclosed driveways attached to them,” he said.
The developers insists the building is taking some measures to adopt to the local character.
The architect Kohn Pedersen Fox, told the Robb Report, an uber-luxury publication, that the design is intentionally understated, eschewing a glass tower look and instead opting for blade-cut brick, cast stone, and metal detailing. The interior designer Leroy Street Studio is reportedly pairing natural materials and custom finishes with high ceilings, oversized windows, and plenty of natural light.
But that is not flying with the Village Preservation. “No matter what color the brick is, a 538-foot-tall [tower] is gonna look like a giant middle-finger on a block like this.”
As for whether Village Preservation had made any progress in convincing the Mamdani administration of its perspective, Berman said that he’d been met with “radio silence.”
Berman said that he’d interpret continued inaction from Mamdani’s City Hall as tacit support for the luxury development in Greenwich Village.
Hizzoner has been silent on the West 13th Street condo plan, Berman said.
“If there is no answer, then that is the answer,” Berman concluded.
“No matter what color the brick is, a 538-foot-tall [tower] is gonna look like a giant middle-finger on a block like this.” Andrew Berman, Executive Director, Village Preservation