New development on Wooster

[dc06]

Does anybody know what is going on on the West side of Wooster between Canal and Grand? Who is the developer?

[antinimby]

^ In typical New York fashion, nearly four years later, your question is finally answered...


Landmarks approval for 27 Wooster Street condo project

http://www.cityrealty.com/graphics/uploads/1170887002_woos27x.jpg

07-FEB-07

The Landmarks Preservation Commission approved a revised certificate of appropriateness yesterday for a planned, 9-story residential condominium development at 27 Wooster Street in SoHo and the City Planning Commission held and closed a hearing on the project this morning.

The project is a venture of Dr. Axel Stawski and Tony Leichter.

The building would have its main facade and entrance on Grand Street and apart from a one-story elevation in the middle of the block between Grand and Canal Streets, the building has a "T"-shaped plan to permit more light and air to reach Wooster Street.

Mr. Leichter told CityRealty.com today that the project is anticipated to be ready in the middle of next year and will have about 20 apartments.

Smith-Miller + Hawkinson is the architectural firm for the project.

Dr. Stawski is the owner of several properties in midtown including the recently completed green-glass tower at 505 Fifth Avenue on the northeast corner of 42nd Street that has been sleekly designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox.

The penthouse level along Grand Street has a "butterfly" roofline that gently swoops upward at its east and west ends.

The proposed building is highlighted by its modern glass facades, most of which project from the light-stone-colored concrete brick masonry of the rest of the facades.

The project is seeking special permits from the planning commission relating to height and setback regulations and use regulations and permission for a 10-car garage.

The site is a parking lot and according to the architects the "skin of the building is a 21st Century version of historic cast iron facades found in the district." The firm's website notes that "Those facades were originally designed to provide maximum light and air for manufacturing. We used contemporary materials, factory assembled and shipped to site. We emulate the slender proportions of the historic buildings, which offer ideal layouts for contemporary occupancies, joint living and working."

At a past hearing before the landmarks commission, Mark Wigley, the dean of the Columbia University School of Architecture, testified that too many recent new projects in SoHo have "tried hard to be what they are not" and such direct imitation can be "awful." The notion that "bad contemporary buildings are worse than bad imitative buildings is wrong," Mr. Wigley said.

The question that should be asked, he continued, is "do you think this building is good enough to be a landmark in 50 years?" "The context is the 21st Century," he said.

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[Front_Porch]

There is a parking garage right across the street. . .perhaps this building's wanting to snag its own ten parking spaces for twenty apartments is a mark of luxury intentions.

ali r.
{downtown broker}

[lofter1]

27 Grand will go up on the parking lot where these shoes now hang ...

***

[lofter1]

Images at the architect's website: http://www.smharch.com/smharch/woost/woost.htm

***

[BrooklynRider]

It's so transparent. How do you live in such a thing? I like windows, but you can't scratch your ass without an audience in this thing.

[londonlawyer]

Last week, I walked by to check out what was going on at the huge former parking lot across from the SoHo Grand and was dismayed to see this huge lot. It's great news to see that it will be replaced by this condo. The icing on the cake is that this building is quite nice. Since Stawski is on a roll, I hope that he razes 579 5th next.

[lofter1]

This site for 27 Wooster as it is now ...

http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p242/Lofter1/SoHo/27Wooster_02a.jpg

And how it appears from the NE corner of Wooster / Grand ...

http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p242/Lofter1/SoHo/27Wooster_02b.jpg

Catty-corner across that intersection sits the catastrophe of 72 / 74 Grand, where two years ago the idiot owner of the corner lot illegally started to dig out that lot -- which resulted in the tipping of the neighbor at 74 Grand -- the residents had to evacuate and are still out of there 2+ years later -- the metal bracing was put in to stabilize the building ...

http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p242/Lofter1/SoHo/72Grand_01b.jpg

Someone has set up camp at the edge of that property ...

http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p242/Lofter1/SoHo/72Grand_01c.jpg

[hey19932]

Anyone know what's going on with this project? Is it U/C yet? Has it been canceled?

[lofter1]

No action at DOB since the New Building Application (http://a810-bisweb.nyc.gov/bisweb/JobsQueryByNumberServlet?requestid=2&passjobnumber=104916432&passdocnumber=01) was Pre-Filed back in 2007.

It's still a parking lot -- one of the last remaining surface lots in SoHo.