Carl Marks managing director Martin Schiffman tells GlobeSt.com the warehouse is the only existing building on the site and that its landmark status prohibits its demolition. "It's in the Tribeca Historic District and is going to be restored to its historical perspective," he says. A 14-story multifamily development will be built close to the warehouse, Marks adds. A 6,000-sf parking lot and a sliver of vacant land comprise the remainder of the assemblage. The parcels, which occupy half a block in an irregular configuration running north and east from the intersection of West and Laight streets, are the largest site in Tribeca to receive a residential variance.

The former owners acquired the three parcels--256 WestSt., 259 West St. and 416-424 Washington St.--in two transactions, between 1989 and 1993, and applied for a single variance that would change the zoning from manufacturing to residential, which they received. Under their original plan, the new building would be connected to the redeveloped warehouse, which will also contain residential units, via a "tastefully designed corridor," Schiffman notes. "We always contemplated the site as one major development.

"We sensed the opportunity of a changing neighborhood," Schiffman adds. "In 1989 when the American Savings Bank foreclosed its mortgage on a partially completed commercial building adjacent to the initial site, we arranged a joint venture with the savings bank to join the two properties to form the nucleus of the development plan." The third site, 259 West Street, was added in 1993 when Colonial Art Decorators, Inc., a family owned paint business went bankrupt.