5 new residential buildings that are changing New York City’s landscape

A new crop of landmark residential buildings is rising in New York City.

They may not be officially designated as such, but they promise to be distinctive structures that help us quickly gain our bearings when leaving the subway or emerging from a building.

Many are tall. Others are strikingly different looking from their neighbors. While they may stand apart in scale or architecture, these buildings are city friendly, usually containing ground-floor retail and near transit.

“The projectsare distinctively urban and contribute to a more exciting and beautiful New York City,” said Georgi Ann Bailey, executive director of the American Institute of Architects New York State.

Here is a sampling of what’s new in New York City rental housing, and a look at their costs.

La Central
La Central in the South Bronx may be New York City’s most ambitious effort to create affordable housing. Along with 992 units, the plan calls for a YMCA, a roof-top farm and a Bronx.Net TV studio viewable from the sidewalk, a la the “Today” show, and promises to be a lively addition to the Melrose neighborhood.

Designed by FXFowle, La Central would consist of five buildings ranging from eight to 25 stories. Its ground floors would be lined with shopping. Hovering above its rooftops would be solar collectors arrayed on distinctive canopies.Rents would range from $1,070 for a family of three earning $38,850, to $2,780 for household incomes up to $101,010.

9 DeKalb Avenue
This dramatic luxury rental promises to be a new landmark for Brooklyn and for much of the city, from which it also will be visible.At 1,066-foot tall, the SHoP Architects’ design reaches Manhattan heights to produce Brooklyn’s tallest building, besting by hundreds of feet the recent monoliths that wrested the claim from Williamsburgh Savings Bank Tower.

The adjacent Brooklyn Dime Savings Bank, an official city landmark, would be incorporated into the project as retail space. Rents promise to be sky high, but some with earthbound incomes could luck out. Roughly 20 percent of its 500 apartments are to be designated affordable, though company officials declined to elaborate.

The Crossing at Jamaica Station
The individual homes and small apartment buildings that make much of Jamaica’s housing stock are about to get two big siblings. Slated to start construction in early 2017, the Crossing at Jamaica Station would consist of 26- and 14-story buildings containing 669 rental apartments and 35,000 ground floor retail space.

Along with creating an instant skyline for this Queens neighborhood, the development in Downtown Jamaica, is transit oriented. The site sits alongside a transit hub that includes three subway lines, a Long Island Rail Road station, an MTA bus terminal and the AirTrain to JFK airport. The buildings would contain mixed rents, according the architect FXFowle’s website, though a firm spokesman said it was too early to discuss rents.

170 Amsterdam Avenue
A new 20-story apartment building on the Upper West Side would barely raise an eyebrow, but the one known by its address 170 Amsterdam is an eye-catcher.

Designed by Handel Architects, the 230-unit rental contains an exterior of elongated diamonds, an unusual design that’s functional. It’s the structural support for the building, which frees up space normally taken up by interior load-baring supports.

The exoskeleton is light-colored concrete that emulates the limestone buildings of nearby Lincoln Center. Completed in 2015, available one-bedrooms are renting for approximately $4,500 and two-bedrooms for $6,800.

Urby Staten Island
Suburban Staten Island is getting an urban look. Leading the way is Urby Staten Island, a 900-rental unit development in two, five-story, glass and steel buildings. The first phase, a 571-unit building arranged around a 4,500-square food commercial organic farm, opened earlier this year. It seeks a city feel, with black and white subway tile interior walls and a food store called the Bodega.

​Urby Staten Island is in Stapleton, two stops on the Staten Island Railroad from the Staten Island Ferry dock where other new developments are rising. Studios rent for $1,735, one-bedrooms for $2,165 and two bedrooms for $3,310. Urby Staten Island was designed by Concrete, a Dutch architectural firm.