Crain’s has a story on new plans for 65 Franklin (they like to quote the TC from when I called it a “sad pit” — which still fits!) that plans have been filed with the Department of City Planning for a 24-story, 106-unit mixed-use building. The public process has not yet started, but the proposal notes that the building would have 235,893 square feet of floor area (17,333 sf of commercial floor area) and a maximum height of 293 feet. (see more details below)

(Plans were also just filed on January 5 with the Department of Buildings for a 222-foot, 205,083-square-foot, 19-story, 77-unit building at the site. Not sure how this syncs up.)

Then I caught up to a Community Board 1 and Landmarks Commission ruling on the transfer of development (aka air) rights from across the street at 361 Broadway, aka the Cast Iron House with the Shigeru Ban penthouse. Rabsky Group, the developers of 65 Franklin, were able to receive the extra square footage across the street thanks to new City of Yes rules, which relaxed air rights transfer adjacency rules. (It used to be that properties had to touch to transfer development rights.)

But wait, there’s more! The building at 356 Broadway also sold its air rights to the new tower on the corner, so that added to the extra height.

Rabsky was required by the Department of City Planning, when it approved the transfer, to complete an initial scope of restoration work and post a $360,000 letter of credit as security.

Just to recap: The site was originally scheduled to be a 19-story, 41-unit residential tower called the Rebel (yes) developed by HAP Investment Developers; they bought the site in 2018 for $46 million. Construction on the 210-foot building started in 2019, and the original schedule had them finishing in 2022; that never happened.

It was sold in February, according to the Commercial Observer, to the Rabsky Group for $58 million. (The city’s finance site also shows three mortgages from late January, totaling 1.8 billion.) The owner listed on the permits now is Sky Equity Group, owned by Moshe Neiman.

For years, neighbors and even passers-by were tortured by the construction site, which, even stalled, had eliminated the sidewalks and forced trucks to drive up on the opposite sidewalk when driving by. Neighbors were able to needle the city enough to get the sidewalks restored for a bit — this new developer no doubt will take them over again.

59 Franklin, the six-story brick building east of the corner that was demolished in 2023, is now part of the 65 Franklin project. (For years, 59 Franklin and 358 Broadway were part of a different plan for an L-shaped building wrapping around the corner site.) The tenants at 358 were bought out individually in 2019, and then in April 2025 there was a transfer of real estate taxes to another party.

That lot at 358 Broadway will be its own building, sort of — the plans describe it as a five-story, 70-foot-tall mixed commercial and residential building that contains approximately 37,872 square feet of zoning floor area and 18 dwelling units. Approximately 24 parking spaces will be embedded under that site, accessible via a 22-foot wide curb cut on Franklin Street located approximately 150 feet west of the intersection of Franklin Street and Broadway and via an approximately 13-foot-wide curb cut on Benson Place located approximately 126 feet north of the intersection of Benson Place and Leonard Street.

The base two stories of the building will contain commercial retail uses, with the remainder of the building consisting of residential uses. The ground floor will feature one commercial space with frontage on Broadway and Franklin Street; a residential lobby will be on Franklin.

The building is expected to be clad with light-colored, handset masonry and to contain arched windows and loggias.