Kris
April 16th, 2004, 02:18 AM
April 16, 2004
RESIDENTIAL REAL ESTATE
9-Story Project Approved in TriBeCa Warehouse District
By JOSH BARBANEL
A small investment bank has won final approval to build a nine-story building on the edge of a historic and trendy TriBeCa warehouse district, a project that is intended to weave together the old and new, both in the curved arch of its windows and the unusual mix of uses planned for the building.
The project at 408 Greenwich Street, approved over strenuous community opposition, is to be built on the site of a garage on the corner of Hubert Street at the southern rim of the TriBeCa North Historic District, a mélange of expensive condominiums, cobblestone streets, garages, lofts and even some working warehouses.
In keeping with this mix, the new building is meant to serve as a kind of oversize home office for the principals of Samuel A. Ramirez and Company, a privately owned downtown financial firm that describes itself as the 10th largest municipal bond underwriter and one of the oldest and largest Hispanic-owned investment banks in the United States.
Under the plan, four floors of the 50-by-80-foot building will serve as corporate headquarters of the firm, with offices for its 75 employees based in New York. But the top two floors, with views of the Hudson two blocks away, will be the home of its president and founder, Samuel A. Ramirez, and his son, Samuel Jr., an executive vice president.
The two floors immediately below will be divided into four 1,750-square-foot rental apartments, the younger Mr. Ramirez said. They will all share a roof deck. Rents of close to $6,000 a month are projected.
"Some people like to have an hour to read the paper on the commute to work; that is not us," the younger Mr. Ramirez said. "This is not something that everyone does, it is probably not recommended by doctors, but it makes sense for us. We work downtown and we already live downtown."
There will also be commercial space on the ground floor.
The project had to run a gantlet of government approvals, including a review by the city's Landmarks Preservation Commission, which eliminated two additional stories, but which celebrated the final plan by the architect, Morris Adjmi, for providing a design that echoed elements of the traditional TriBeCa warehouse, in modern materials and style. The commission said the building "would enhance the special architectural character" of the district.
"We worked with them and we were quite pleased with the results," said Robert B. Tierney, chairman of the Landmarks Commission. "Its good for TriBeCa. It shows that landmarking can be consistent with economic development.''
The project was also reviewed by the Board of Standards and Appeals, which voted late last month to approve a hardship application from the company, allowing a taller, bulkier building than permitted by the zoning code, including 60 percent more floor space than would otherwise have been allowed.
Neighbors and community leaders who fought for the original historic district designation for the area in the 1980's complained that the building was too big, dwarfing many 19th-century warehouses nearby. They are still considering a court challenge, which could delay the project.
Carole DeSaram, president of the TriBeCa Community Association, said the project was an example of greed, not hardship, and she feared the project would lead other developers to try to "bust the zoning" in the historic district. "It is more than too high," she said. "The building is the most outrageous example of in-your-face greed."
Mr. Tierney said that the landmarks commission does not rule on zoning and building bulk issues that are reviewed by other agencies. In approving the nine-story building, he said, his agency merely concluded that a building of that height was compatible with nearby buildings.
The design by Mr. Adjmi is full of echoes of the industrial past of TriBeCa, while attempting, he said, to be something entirely new and different as well. The facade has the arched windows common in the older warehouses, but is fabricated from lightly colored solid blocks of precast concrete, rather than the dark masonry common in the area. The top floor is designed to relate to the heavy cornices that set off the top floors in nearby buildings.
Mr. Adjmi, a former partner and disciple of the Italian architect Aldo Rossi, has made something of a specialty of creating new buildings in historic districts. He teamed with Mr. Rossi on the striking Scholastic Inc. building, at 557 Broadway, a new building in the midst of the SoHo-Cast Iron Historic District that was completed in 2001.
According to the younger Mr. Ramirez, the project will cost $17 million to $20 million, with construction beginning as early as this summer and the building completed in about 12 months.
Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company
RESIDENTIAL REAL ESTATE
9-Story Project Approved in TriBeCa Warehouse District
By JOSH BARBANEL
A small investment bank has won final approval to build a nine-story building on the edge of a historic and trendy TriBeCa warehouse district, a project that is intended to weave together the old and new, both in the curved arch of its windows and the unusual mix of uses planned for the building.
The project at 408 Greenwich Street, approved over strenuous community opposition, is to be built on the site of a garage on the corner of Hubert Street at the southern rim of the TriBeCa North Historic District, a mélange of expensive condominiums, cobblestone streets, garages, lofts and even some working warehouses.
In keeping with this mix, the new building is meant to serve as a kind of oversize home office for the principals of Samuel A. Ramirez and Company, a privately owned downtown financial firm that describes itself as the 10th largest municipal bond underwriter and one of the oldest and largest Hispanic-owned investment banks in the United States.
Under the plan, four floors of the 50-by-80-foot building will serve as corporate headquarters of the firm, with offices for its 75 employees based in New York. But the top two floors, with views of the Hudson two blocks away, will be the home of its president and founder, Samuel A. Ramirez, and his son, Samuel Jr., an executive vice president.
The two floors immediately below will be divided into four 1,750-square-foot rental apartments, the younger Mr. Ramirez said. They will all share a roof deck. Rents of close to $6,000 a month are projected.
"Some people like to have an hour to read the paper on the commute to work; that is not us," the younger Mr. Ramirez said. "This is not something that everyone does, it is probably not recommended by doctors, but it makes sense for us. We work downtown and we already live downtown."
There will also be commercial space on the ground floor.
The project had to run a gantlet of government approvals, including a review by the city's Landmarks Preservation Commission, which eliminated two additional stories, but which celebrated the final plan by the architect, Morris Adjmi, for providing a design that echoed elements of the traditional TriBeCa warehouse, in modern materials and style. The commission said the building "would enhance the special architectural character" of the district.
"We worked with them and we were quite pleased with the results," said Robert B. Tierney, chairman of the Landmarks Commission. "Its good for TriBeCa. It shows that landmarking can be consistent with economic development.''
The project was also reviewed by the Board of Standards and Appeals, which voted late last month to approve a hardship application from the company, allowing a taller, bulkier building than permitted by the zoning code, including 60 percent more floor space than would otherwise have been allowed.
Neighbors and community leaders who fought for the original historic district designation for the area in the 1980's complained that the building was too big, dwarfing many 19th-century warehouses nearby. They are still considering a court challenge, which could delay the project.
Carole DeSaram, president of the TriBeCa Community Association, said the project was an example of greed, not hardship, and she feared the project would lead other developers to try to "bust the zoning" in the historic district. "It is more than too high," she said. "The building is the most outrageous example of in-your-face greed."
Mr. Tierney said that the landmarks commission does not rule on zoning and building bulk issues that are reviewed by other agencies. In approving the nine-story building, he said, his agency merely concluded that a building of that height was compatible with nearby buildings.
The design by Mr. Adjmi is full of echoes of the industrial past of TriBeCa, while attempting, he said, to be something entirely new and different as well. The facade has the arched windows common in the older warehouses, but is fabricated from lightly colored solid blocks of precast concrete, rather than the dark masonry common in the area. The top floor is designed to relate to the heavy cornices that set off the top floors in nearby buildings.
Mr. Adjmi, a former partner and disciple of the Italian architect Aldo Rossi, has made something of a specialty of creating new buildings in historic districts. He teamed with Mr. Rossi on the striking Scholastic Inc. building, at 557 Broadway, a new building in the midst of the SoHo-Cast Iron Historic District that was completed in 2001.
According to the younger Mr. Ramirez, the project will cost $17 million to $20 million, with construction beginning as early as this summer and the building completed in about 12 months.
Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company