The Villager has a thorough recap of the preliminary plan for the St. John’s Center across from Pier 40, which developer St. John’s Partners presented to a Community Board 2 working group. The three images here (from COOKFOX) tell the basic story:

Rick Cook of COOKFOX Architects showed massing studies of what the developer hopes the buildings would look like, along with […] a community space for seniors where they could enjoy activities, while overlooking an elevated public park space created on the High Line’s old tracks [rendering below]. The renderings illustrated where within the 1,500-plus-unit development the nearly 500 planned units of affordable housing, including senior affordable housing, would be located. […] Under the plan, the existing St. John’s building, which encloses about 1 million square feet, would be demolished for the new project, which would be 1.7 million square feet. The site’s allowable F.A.R. (floor area ratio) would increase from 5 to 8.7 under the plan—a nearly 75 percent jump. This increase would be due to the developer’s plan to buy 200,000 square feet of unused development rights from Pier 40 in the Hudson River Park, across the West Side Highway from the site, along with the city granting a 500,000-square-foot general ‘upzoning’ for the site.

The whole article is worth reading, but a few points stand out:

••• There are several big-box retail spaces, including one for a likely supermarket.
••• There are no plans for a school, but the environmental impact statement will look into the effect of the development on local schools.
••• “The project would include a ‘landing point’ for [a pedestrian bridge to Pier 40], ‘in case the city or state looks to put in a bridge.'”
••• The curved building to the north is an as-yet-unbuilt Ian Shrager condominium.