The plans for 250 Water, the block-square site in the South Street Seaport Historic District, seemed to be stalled out just before the site was sold in 2025. But now in an announcement that the building will include a 76,000-square-foot Chelsea Piers facility, the new developers said they will break ground this winter.

The one-acre site bordered by Peck Slip, Pearl Street, Water Street and Beekman Street was acquired by Howard Hughes in June 2018. Last I tracked it, the plans called for a 324-foot, 26-story, mixed-use building with up to 399 residential units (300 market rate rentals, 99 affordable.

The new developer, Tavros, plans 600 apartments, 25 percent of which will be affordable, and 80% of those will be “deeply affordable.” I am trying to reconcile that now, since the new developers said they plan to use the façade and massing previously designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. The building will still have a five-story podium with ground floor retail and four floors of commercial space; Fogarty Finger will be the design architect and architect of record.

Model by the Seaport Coalition

Seaport Entertainment Group, which spun off from Howard Hughes Holdings in July 2024, sold 250 Water for $143 million to Tavros, a privately owned real estate investment management and development firm based in the city. (Howard Hughes paid $183 million in 2018.)

Chelsea Piers Fitness will have an entrance at grade, with the club being primarily located on floors 2, 3, 4 and 5. There will be a 9000-square-foot outdoor space, private for club members, on the 5th floor.

Tavros’ projects include a 55-story condo in Long Island City; Gowanus Wharf, a five-building residential campus spanning four sites with more than 2,200 residential units; and 50 Ninth Avenue, an 80,000-square-foot commercial building in the Meatpacking District that houses Rolls Royce’s luxury showroom.