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10-Story Office Building to Replace Former W. 14th St. Deli and Candy Shop

By Maya Rajamani | October 30, 2017 12:50pm
 A rendering of the 10-story building Chun Woo Realty Corp plans to build at the corner of West 14th Street and Eighth Avenue.
A rendering of the 10-story building Chun Woo Realty Corp plans to build at the corner of West 14th Street and Eighth Avenue.
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Courtesy of Sang Lee

CHELSEA — A pair of buildings on a bustling corner of 14th Street will be razed to make way for new retail and office space.

Developer Chun Woo Realty Corp filed permits on Oct. 24 to demolish the building housing the former North Village Deli Emporium, at 74 Eighth Ave., and an adjacent brick building at 254-256 W. 14th St. that until recently housed the West 14th Candy Store, city Department of Buildings records show.

“GeneKaufman"The two buildings at the corner of West 14th Street and Eighth Avenue that are slated for demolition. (DNAinfo/Maya Rajamani)

The developer plans to construct a 10-story commercial building designed by architect Gene Kaufman at the site, company vice president Sang Lee told DNAinfo New York.

Chun Woo Realty Corp has owned the two properties for around three decades, Lee explained, noting that redevelopment was something they’d “been contemplating for over a decade.”

The ground floor of the new building will be slated for commercial use, with the floors above it likely used for office space, he said.

“We’re not developers who moved in and are pushing small businesses out. We’re actually the longtime permanent owners of the building, and it was actually our business,” he said of North Village Deli Emporium.

The deli closed its doors several weeks ago, after about 25 years in business, Lee said.

The candy store recently moved into a bigger space a few doors down from the 14th Street space, he added.

The developer hopes to start demolishing the two buildings before the end of the year, with construction at the site beginning after that, Lee said.  

The group filed for permits to construct the new building back in 2015 — an application that is still pending, DOB records show. 

“We think it will be good for the neighborhood, especially considering what’s there now,” Lee said of the developer's plans.

“They’ve been kind of eyesores, I guess, for a few years. …  So the sooner we get the project up and going and completed, the better it should be for the neighborhood,” Lee added.