Permits have been filed for a 19-story mixed-use building at 524 Fort Washington Avenue in the Hudson Heights neighborhood of Manhattan.  The mid-block parcel is located on the east side of the street between West 183rd Street and West 185th Street across from Bennett Park.

The proposed 268-foot tall development will total 274,568 square feet and will contain residential and community-dedicated space.  The residential component will house 164 units across 140,943 square feet.  The community facility will span 133,625 square feet.  The average size of an apartment, based on gross numbers, will be about 859 square feet.  The permit reflects garage parking for 80 cars.

There is no indication at this time whether the development will be a rental building or a condominium.  A prior attempt to develop the property was destined to be a condominium.

The parcel includes four lots, including the narrow Fort Washington Avenue lot and three adjoining lots to the rear of the property.  Two of the lots have significant frontage along Overlook Terrace.   According to the permit, the building will cover 61% of the total lot area of 42,417 square feet. 

Nathan Shapiro of Bennett Property Owner LLC is listed as the applicant.  Shapiro is the Director of Construction at Bizzi & Partners Development.  Bizzi & Partners are co-developing the site with the development firm Sumaida + Khurana. The architect for the project is listed as Marvel Architects.  

The site, which has a blemished past, was purchased for $12 million from the Amalgamated Bank.  Amalgamated acquired the property out of foreclosure from the previous owner who unsuccessfully tried to develop the parcel into luxury condominiums.  The Fort Washington Avenue parcel formerly housed the Fort Tryon Jewish Center (FTJC), an historic synagogue. 

The FTJC sold the property and the accompanying air rights to the original developer, Thompson Development, in exchange for new synagogue space within the condominium.  While the quid pro quo was a beautiful idea on paper, the timing was off.  In 2008 the great recession hit and Amalgamated turned off the lending spigot.  The project died and the congregation was prevented from reoccupying the synagogue.

Aside from the Fort Washington Avenue building, the remainder of the site is vacant.  

The immediate area is serviced by the IRT Broadway-Seventh Line at the 181st Street station, which is literally just a few feet off the property line.  The 1 train runs local from Van Cortlandt Park at 242nd Street in the Bronx to the South Ferry station in lower Manhattan.