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The heart of the Lower East Side of Manhattan is being transformed by the development of the Essex Crossing master plan, bringing housing and amenities that had previously been missing in the community.

The mixed-income, mixed-use development sits in the heart of Manhattan’s historic Lower East Side at the bustling crossroads of Essex and Delancey streets.
QuallsBenson The mixed-income, mixed-use development sits in the heart of Manhattan’s historic Lower East Side at the bustling crossroads of Essex and Delancey streets.

The tallest building and centerpiece of the nine-site Essex Crossing development is the 26-story Essex at the crossroads of Essex and Delancey streets. The mixed-income, mixed-use building, which was completed in early 2019, provides 195 units of housing, entertainment, shopping, and dining.

“It’s like a mini cruise ship,” says Isaac Henderson, a director at L+M Development. “We have embraced the Lower East Side as a destination.”

Over half of the 195 housing units serve households earning 40% and 60% of the area median income (AMI), while the remainder are available for households earning up to 110% and 155% of the AMI.

“We’re really proud of how integrated and mixed this building is. New York City has a tremendous need for affordable housing,” says Henderson, noting that almost 100,000 applications came in through New York City Housing Preservation and Development’s Housing Connect lottery for the 98 affordable units.

The $262 million development also is home to a 14-screen Regal Cinemas and the refurbished Essex Market, which has been a fixture on the Lower East Side since 1888 when it began as an outdoor pushcart market.

After Labor Day, The Market Line, a marketplace that will feature a food hall and a variety of large and small businesses, will open.

The Essex and the Essex Crossing master plan is the culmination of nearly 50 years of collaboration between the city and the community to redevelop the site after tenement residents were displaced by Robert Moses’ slum clearance program in the name of urban renewal in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Essex Crossing is now home to 27 individuals, including about seven at The Essex, who had been displaced and were long promised a return to the site where they had lived as children.