Kips Bay - Recent Development

Recent Development

The neighborhood has been rebuilt in patches, so one can see both new high-rise structures often set back from the street, and a multitude of exposed party walls that were never meant to be seen in public.

A nearly forgotten feature is the private alley, Broadway Alley, between 26th and 27th Streets, halfway between Lexington and Third Avenues, reputedly the last unpaved street in Manhattan.

In the 1960s and later, four Henry Phipps high-rise apartment complexes were constructed mainly on East 29th Street between First and Second Avenues, and south to East 27th Street. Historically, Phipps had been a partner of Andrew Carnegie. Much earlier in time, by 1940, the Madison Square Boys (and later Girls) Club, which had been located on East 30th Street just east of Second Avenue, built its own facilities on East 29th Street (back-to-back with its older facility). In the 1990s, the Club sold its facility to The Churchill School and Center and has operated its office in the Empire State Building.

There are two large apartment buildings in the neighborhood, named Kips Bay Towers, a 1,112-unit complex completed in 1963 and designed by architect I.M. Pei. Many businesses in the neighborhood use the name (Kips Bay Cinemas, Kips Bay Cleaners, Kips Bay branch of the New York Public Library).

Since 1965, the area has had a commercial strip mall on Second Avenue between East 30th and East 32nd Streets, set back from the street by a driveway running parallel to Second Avenue. This group of stores is referred to as "Kips Bay Plaza" and consists of an AMC/Loews movie theater, a now-defunct Borders bookstore, a Crunch Fitness center, and a 24-hour Rite Aid pharmacy.

Built on a pier above the East River between East 25th and East 28th Streets are Waterside Plaza and the United Nations International School. There were plans to build additional above-water apartments, offices, and a hotel in the 1980s but environmental concerns and community opposition doomed the project. Today, the waterfront south of Waterside Plaza is Stuyvesant Cove Park. The park includes a small man-made land mass extending out into the East River, which was created from excess cement dumped into the river.

Within Kips Bay, the area along First Avenue is dominated by the institutional buildings of New York University, including Tisch Hospital, NYU College of Dentistry, NYU School of Medicine, Rusk Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine, Bellevue Hospital Center teaching hospital, and the Manhattan VA Hospital. Further north on First Avenue between East 37th and East 38th Streets is the former Kips Bay Brewing Company, originally constructed in 1895 and now occupied by offices.