North Tribeca Development

[ZippyTheChimp]

http://www.downtownexpress.com/

http://www.downtownexpress.com/de_76/tribeca.gif
Downtown Express photo by Jennifer Bodrow

Residents fight plan for north Tribeca towers


By Ronda Kaysen

Plans for a large-scale development along West St. in Tribeca has some community residents concerned that it may have a dramatic affect on the character of their neighborhood.

Developer Jack Parker recently submitted an application to the Department of City Planning to develop a four-block site extending from West to Washington Sts. and from Watts to Hubert. His application has requested to build up to 210 feet on West St., in an area of mostly low-rise buildings.

In a move to influence the process, the Tribeca Community Association and the Canal West Coalition launched an ad campaign dubbed Stop the Wall in reference to the so-called wall that will be the result of the 210-foot development. Earlier this month, the group hosted a Stop the Wall party and has since circulated a petition in the neighborhood. “[City Planning] cannot rezone an entire community for one applicant,” said Carole De Saram, president of the Tribeca Community Association.

Her group plans to meet with City Planning to “express our displeasure” in the proposal. “We are going to insist that City Planning is tuned into our needs,” she said.

Friends of Community Board 1 recently hired a consultant, Buckhurst Fish & Jacquemart, to work with the community. Judy Duffy, a Friends member and assistant district manager for C.B. 1 would like to see the north Tribeca neighborhood rezoned in much the same way the rest of Tribeca was zoned in 1995. “What’s really happening [in the neighborhood] is not consistent with the zoning,” she said. Historically home to printing shops, which have mostly moved out of Manhattan, the neighborhood is zoned for manufacturing. Parker’s application requests to change the zoning from manufacturing to commercial, allowing for residential and commercial development.

According to Duffy, aspects of Parker’s plan, such as the large underground parking lot, may benefit the community, but she suspects that the community board will not support the project in its current form. “We have a lot of concerns,” she said. “It would double the population of the area.”

The Jack Parker Corporation, however, insists it will work with the community to reach a resolution. “We’re looking forward to speaking with people on the community board who are concerned about this and we will discuss what we’re planning,” said Richard Gordon, general counsel for the developer.

Some residents, though, see development — and tall development — as not only an inevitable part of the process, but a potentially beneficial part as well. “Once you go over 19 stories, there’s no difference between that and 30 stories,” said Arthur Gregory, a Downtown resident and owner of the A & M Roadhouse, referring to the increase in shadow and loss of views. A taller building gives the community more leverage with the developer to demand amenities, he added.

“If they stopped everything, there wouldn’t be any businesses in New York,” Gregory said. “There’s not going to be a section of Manhattan that doesn’t have tall building, it just took longer to get to Tribeca.”

City Planning may certify the application as early as December, according to Duffy of C.B. 1, after that it will appear before the community board for review.


Downtown Express is published by
Community Media LLC.
Email: josh@downtownexpress.com

“Once you go over 19 stories, there’s no difference between that and 30 stories,” said Arthur Gregory, a Downtown resident and owner of the A & M Roadhouse, referring to the increase in shadow and loss of views.
The area extends from one block north of the new River Lofts (http://forums.wirednewyork.com/viewtopic.php?t=486&highlight=river+lofts) to Watts St (one block south of Canal St). There is an existing low rise building on the lot between Watts and Canal. The rest is a 2 storey truck repair garage (closed I think), parking lots, and assorted junk. Anything over 90 ft is going to block views from Washington St, and no one is going to pay to develop 90 ft buildings on these sites.

The built-up area of the neighborhood is very interesting, but nothing was going to happen with the remaining crap.

[londonlawyer]

It's amazing that people have the chutzpah to complain about derelict buildings and parking lots being replaced with a new (and presumably nice) building. Only in New York... and I wouldn't be surprised if half of those complaining lived in rent controlled apartments that cost them nothing.

[NYCResident]

i agree.. i was just walking thru that exact area this weekend and calling the buildings derilect would be a compliment. Anything that is developed in that area would be a huge improvement.

[BrooklynRider]

A review of the new residential buildings erected in the last two years, on West Street and Washington Street, from 14th Street to ChambersSt, shows great consideration given to the neighborhoods and a rather admirable restraint in building excessively high.

It is interesting that CB1 is not injecting itself into this directly. The cryptic "Friends of CB1" looks ready to play their part in this charade.

[ZippyTheChimp]

http://www.downtownexpress.com/

Competing ideas to change height limits in North Tribeca

By Ronda Kaysen

http://www.downtownexpress.com/de_83/map.gif
The Jack Parker Corporation has applied to change the zoning on four blocks along West St. to allow for 210 foot buildings, but consultants hired by Friends of Community Board 1 are studying a larger area and are considering a 120-foot limit.


In a move to assure community input on developer Jack Parker’s pending zoning application for four North Tribeca blocks, Community Board 1 sent a letter to the Department of City Planning this week calling for an Environmental Impact Statement, a move that would effectively delay the developer’s zoning application and require additional community input. The board is also considering filing an application of its own to rezone the entire North Tribeca neighborhood in contrast with Parker’s application.

The Jack Parker Corporation is currently awaiting certification from City Planning for its re-zoning application for a four-block site extending from West to Washington Sts. and from Watts to Hubert, leased to the corporation by the Ponte Family. Parker’s application, which has requested to build up to 210 feet on West St., in an area of mostly low-rise buildings, has been met with heavy criticism from neighborhood and community groups. C.B. 1 members are considering applying for a 120-foot limit. If City Planning heeds the board’s request for an E.I.S.— a request echoed by a similar letter sent from the Tribeca Community Association a few weeks earlier — then the community will have the opportunity to weigh in on the environmental effects of the developer’s plans to build what some critics have referred to as a “wall” along the waterfront.

“This meets all the criteria for a full E.I.S.,” said Carole De Saram, president of Tribeca Community Association, a community group that helped landmark the Tribeca neighborhood in 1992. De Saram cited the development’s potential impact on traffic, waterfront access, air quality and light as criteria for an impact statement. “If City Planning requests anything but a full E.I.S., then the process is being short-circuited,” she said.

An impact statement will also insure the community’s opportunity to respond to the development long before City Planning certifies the re-zoning application. “An E.I.S. means there’s a lot of community involvement and community involvement is very important,” said Richard Barrett, a steering committee member of the Canal West Coalition, a neighborhood group created by T.C.A.

The Tribeca and Canal groups launched a series of advertisements in the fall called “Stop the Wall” intended to raise awareness about the development. “Our waterfront is our most important resource,” Barrett said. “For those people who have waterfront access to also have an inappropriate height limit is ludicrous. It’s like someone going to the opera with a front row seat and wearing a ten-gallon hat.”

Not all aspects of the development evoke such community ire, however. The proposed 180-car underground garage, for example, is less worrisome to the board, said the board’s assistant district manager, Judy Duffy, in an October interview with Downtown Express.

The board agrees with the developer that the current manufacturing zoning of the neighborhood is outdated, but disagrees with him as to how the area should ultimately be re-zoned. “There is some merit in changing the usage from manufacturing to commercial [zoning],” said Albert Capsouto, chairperson of the board’s Tribeca committee. “[Parker] is looking at what he feels he can maximize his development with, we’re looking at what is more in context with the whole area comprehensively.”

A more contextual change, said Capsouto, would be one in conjunction with the recent zoning change in Hudson Sq. and the zoning change 10 years ago of the rest of Tribeca — south of N. Moore St. “We see the whole area as ripe for a zoning change,” he said, referring to the North Tribeca area from West St. to Broadway. The northern boundary is Canal St. and the southern boundaries are Hubert St., Beach St., Ericsson Place, N. Moore St. and Walker St.

Frank Fish, a principal at Buckhurst Fish & Jacquemart Inc, a consulting firm hired by Friends of Community Board 1 — a non-profit organization that along with Community Board 1 is led by Madelyn Wils — to help develop a zoning plan, presented the firm’s ideas for rezoning the area at a Dec. 2 Tribeca committee meeting. Fish suggested the neighborhood be rezoned from manufacturing to commercial use. He suggested using the same zoning criteria that was used for Tribeca South and Hudson Square, C6-2A. Fish’s proposal would call for a Floor Area Ratio of 5, with a 120-foot height limit, and an 80-foot street wall. Parker’s proposal calls for a F.A.R. of 7.5 and a 210-foot height limit.

“If the board does this [submits a rezoning proposal], then it does raise a question about the Jack Parker re-zoning,” Fish said.

Richard Gordon, general counsel for the Jack Parker Corporation, declined to comment.

Fish encouraged the board to work swiftly to devise a plan so City Planning will be inclined to consider the Parker proposal simultaneously with the board’s plan. “In an ideal world, one would be getting it [the application] to City Planning certainly by the time of certification, if not beforehand,” Fish said.

A significant zoning proposal requires time and community input, according to board members, and may not happen within one or two months, as Fish recommended. “We obviously have to do public hearings on it and outreach to the public,” Duffy said.

City Planning received the board’s letter requesting an E.I.S. and alerting the department to its current zoning study. According to City Planning press secretary, Rachaele Raynoff, the department’s Environmental Assessment and Review Division is reviewing the board’s request.

Rezoning the area may impact not only the Parker development plan, but future plans as well. “Everybody realizes there’s a land risk going on,” Duffy said. “If we don’t get some zoning in place, we’re going to be battling block by block.”

Ronda@DowntownExpress.com

Downtown Express and downtownexpress.com
are registered trademarks of Community Media, LLC

[Derek2k3]

Tribeca Towers I
273-279 West Street
20 stories 210 feet
Gerner Kronick + Valcarcel, Architects
Dev-The Jack Parker Corporation
Residential
260,000-275,000 Sq. Ft.
Proposed

Tribeca Towers II
273-279 West Street
20 stories 210 feet
Gerner Kronick + Valcarcel, Architects
Dev-The Jack Parker Corporation
Residential
260,000-275,000 Sq. Ft.
Proposed


http://www.tribecatrib.com/newsoct04/inbrief.html

Opposition to North Tribeca ‘Wall’
A developer’s effort to dramatically raise the heights of buildings he is allowed to put up on four waterfront blocks of north Tribeca is being met with resistence by neighbors of the site.

Two community groups, the Tribeca Organization and the Canal West Coalition are placing ads and beginning a petition campaign to “stop the wall” of tall, view-blocking housing.

The Jack Parker Group wants to build on a three-block site between Watts and West Streets that extends from Watts to Hubert. If he is successful in his application to the Department of City Planning, he could build up to 210 feet on West Street, in an area of mostly low-rise buildings.

Residents in the area say they will be hemmed in by the tall buildings. “Part of the beauty of Tribeca is its openness and its closeness to the river,” said Albert Capsouto, whose home and restaurant, Capsouto Frers, is nearby. “I don’t think there should be a wall between the waterfront and the interior.”

Neighbors also want some say in the kinds of commercial uses that will be allowed—or disallowed—in a zoning change.

With the help of a consultant, Friends of Community Board 1 is working on a zoning plan for all north Tribeca.


Rendering from Gerner Kronick + Valcarcel, Architects web site.
http://www.gkvarchitects.com

[Kolbster]

Hot apt. complex...Tribeca Towers I

[Derek2k3]

One York Street
7-11 Laight Street/1-7 York Street
12 stories (6 story addition)
Ten Arquitectos
Dev-One York Property LLC
Residential
Under Construction 2005-2006

Ten Arquitectos
http://www.ten-arquitectos.com

http://www.pbase.com/archit_kderek2k3/image/41086484.jpg

http://www.ten-arquitectos.com/images/oneyork_01.gif

http://www.ten-arquitectos.com/images/oneyork_02.gif

[ZippyTheChimp]

I don't understand why, but I knew there would be some resistance to this.

http://www.downtownexpress.com/de_102/bldg1.gif
Architect Enrique Norten’s design for a glass addition to One York St., just south of Canal


Glass tower addition draws some critics

By Ronda Kaysen

It's said that people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones. That doesn't mean their neighbors can't lob as many as they want. Neighbors of one glass residential conversion recently took a few shots at an Enrique Norten-designed condo building coming their way.

“It looks like L.A. landed in the area,” 260 West Broadway resident Paul Yeager told Community Board 1 members at a full board meeting this week. The 12-story conversion will occupy an entire block bounded by Laight and York Sts., directly south of Canal St – and cattycorner to Yeager’s building. “We just don’t think it’s in context with the area.”

“It looks out of place, as far as I’m concerned,” board member Joe Lerner said at the meeting. “I just don’t see it floating.”

Norten, the celebrity Mexican architect and one of the World Trade Center Memorial Competition jurors, has designed a glass-fronted building, inserted in the center of a pre-Civil War manufacturing building, with several floors of glass floating above the building’s original rooftop. The 150-ft. tall structure will include 6,000-sq. ft. of retail space and a 14,000-sq. ft. community center, most likely for the Chinese American Planning Council, which currently occupies the existing building. Although few resist a residential conversion, many are frustrated with the scale and bulk of the transformed building. The developer is applying for permits to allow for the residential conversion, enlargement of the building, the community facility and a parking garage.

“The architecture itself had mixed reviews [from committee members],” Tribeca Committee chairperson Albert Capsouto said in a telephone interview. His committee reviewed the project earlier this month and drafted a resolution in support of the four special permits requested by the developer. “If it were a little lower, I could deal with it a bit better.”

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and Norten sees no problem with his modern structure. “The gentleman -- with all due respect -- can have his own opinion, but it is a very uneducated opinion,” he said of Yeager, the West Broadway resident.

Although C.B. 1 has requested the Department of City Planning rezone North Tribeca for residential use and cap height at 120 feet – 30 feet lower than One York St. -- as it now stands, the developer is free to build as tall as he pleases on the property, which is not a landmark. The project, however, is neither as tall nor as bulky as current standards allow. C.B. 1 recommended City Planning approve the permits.

The 122,000 sq. ft. project, known as One York St., embodies the challenge of designing a modern structure within an old building, developer Stanley Perelman said after the meeting. To simply mimic a 19th century structure would be inappropriate and outdated. “The real challenge would be to do a project that keeps the architectural vocabulary and speaks to the community,” he said.

Perelman, a ten-year Tribeca resident, intends to live in the 41-unit dwelling once it opens in early 2007. Work is expected to begin in July and take 18 months to complete. He insists construction will be restricted to weekdays and the 47-car garage planned for the building will be reserved for residents only. “We’ll try and be as a good a neighbor as we can,” he told the board.

Ronda@DowntownExpress.com

View south on 6th Ave, north of Canal St. One York St is the tan building on the right.
http://www.pbase.com/zippythechimp/image/32535769.jpg

[Derek2k3]

Globe St.
Developer Plans Tribeca Condo
By Barbara Jarvie
Last updated: May 31, 2005 07:52am

NEW YORK CITY-A locally based developer has acquired a Tribeca site and will transform it from a 74,000-sf rental building into a condominium complex. The property is currently a six-story building occupied on the lower level by Megu, a Japanese cuisine restaurant. The unnamed borrower intends to immediately convert the building.

The also locally based Multi Capital Group arranged and closed an 18-month loan facility for $32 million in connection with their client's purchase of 137-141 Duane St., which is also known as 92 Thomas St. MCG’s Eli Verschleiser says the firm was able to get the lender to close the transaction within three weeks of bringing the deal to them. For the most part, everything’s converted, and developers are moving east to old office buildings around City Hall Park and into the North-West corridor, west of Hudson street, where some vacant space still lingers un-marketed,” according to a real estate investment banker at Multi Capital.

MCG executives identified the client as a “a leading multifamily/office building owner and operator for over 30 years who owns and/or manages more than five million sf of real estate in the tri-state region. The developer has a proven track record of successfully developing and repositioning properties in all of the Tri-State markets. The client has extensive experience with all aspects of multifamily real estate including: land assemblage and planning, construction rehabilitation and residential condominium conversions.” Vincent Nicoletta, Esq. from Greenberg Nicoletta & Stein LLP represented the developer and James Hausman, Esq. from Meister Seelig & Fein LLP represented the lender.

[pianoman11686]

From http://cityrealty.com:

Lispenard Street conversion 19-JUL-05

The very handsome, 7-story building at 60 Lispenard Street in TriBeCa has been converted to 9 condominium apartments. It is across the street from the rear entrance to Pearl’s Paint, whose main entrance is around the corner on Canal Street.

The building was erected in 1895 by former New York City mayor and shipping magnate William R. Grace. It has now been named “The Wanamaker,” although the famous New York branch of the famous Philadelphia store, which was several blocks to the north on the northeast corner of Broadway and 9th Streets, burned down in 1956.

The apartments at 60 Lispenard have wood-burning fireplaces, cast-iron columns, central heating and air-conditioning, high ceilings, recessed lighting, and full-floor loft apartments of about 3,700-square feet and other units of 2,500 square feet.

The beige-brick building has a one-story rusticated limestone base with large arched windows on the 6th floor and smaller arched windows on the 7th floor. Floors 4 through 6 have lovely stone rosettes on the spandrels. The building, which has an elevator, is just west of a small parking lot, and a block and a half east of a park at Avenue of the Americas.

[Gulcrapek]

Don't they ever get tired of "handsome?"

[billyblancoNYC]

From http://cityrealty.com...
Where on Cityrealty are these stories located?

[pianoman11686]

Go to New Developments in New York City (http://www.cityrealty.com/new_developments/).

[billyblancoNYC]

Go to New Developments in New York City (http://www.cityrealty.com/new_developments/).

Thanks...looks like Beekman's ready to rock...where's the plans...????

Rattner/Gehry Lower Manhattan tower to start construction in January 20-JUL-05
Construction of the 75-story mixed-use tower on a parking lot just south of Pace University and just west of the NYU Downtown Hospital near City Hall is expected to start in January, according to Mark Donnenfeld, the chairman of the Seaport committee of Community Board 1.

The committee was given a presentation last night by Andrew Herman of the Department of Transportation of the planned reconstruction of Beekman Street, which is the southern boundary of the tower, which is being developed by Forest City Rattner and designed by Frank Gehry.

Rattner and Gehry have also teamed up for a massive project in Brooklyn that will create a new arena for the New York Nets as well as a phalanx of angled, tall office and residential towers, a plan that was recently heralded on the front page of The New York Times as creating a new skyline for Brooklyn. Forest City Rattner is the developer of a new headquarters under construction on Eighth Avenue at 40th Street for The New York Times. The Rattner/Gehry plan for Brooklyn was soon followed by a competing and smaller proposal for much of the same site from Extell Management.

The Rattner/Gehry design for the new tower to the south of the Manhattan entrance and exit to the Brooklyn Bridge has not yet been shown publicly or even shown to Community Board 1.

Mr. Donnenfeld said that the 75-story tower will be placed on the west end of the site with a 13,000-square-foot plaza at the east end. The tower will contain a new, 600-student6 public school as well as expansion facilities for the hospital. Originally, it was also intended to contain expansion facilities for Pace University, but that institution withdrew from the plan last year. The tower will also contain a mix of several hundred rental and condominium apartments, but not details have been released.

Apart from the planned Freedom Tower at the former World Trade Center site not far away, this tower is one of the most anticipated designs in the city along with Santiago Calatrava’s planned tower at 80 South Street for Frank Sciame. Gehry’s design for the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, has been widely hailed as one of the most important designs of the last century and it catapulted him to the top of the list of the world’s most influential architects. He designed a somewhat similar design for the same museum for a site south of the South Street Seaport along the East River but the museum abandoned the project recently because of funding concerns. Gehry also had submitted a design for the new tower for The New York Times, but he subsequently withdrew from that project, so this tower will be his first major project to be built in Manhattan.

In a September 5, 2004 article in The New York Times, architecture critic Nicolai Ouroussoff wrote that Gehry’s design for this tower “is conceived as a series of undulating glass panels that hang down over the building’s structural frame like flowing drapery,” adding that “The curtain-like surfaces split apart at various points, then peel open at the top to create an almost classical crown.”

The rebuilding of Beekman Street and its sidewalks is expected to take about 18 months, according to Mr. Herman, but Mr. Donnenfeld said that such a schedule would be “total hell” and “not acceptable,” given the simultaneous start of construction of the Rattner/Gehry tower and the fact that several of the surrounding buildings are residential and landmarks.

The new school is not expected to open before 2008.

[pianoman11686]

If you don't mind my asking...Why did you post that here?

[pianoman11686]

From http://cityrealty.com:

73 Worth Street conversion nearing completion 20-JUL-05

The conversion of the very distinguished marble-clad loft buildings at 73 Worth Street at the northwest corner of Church Street in TriBeCa are nearing completion.

The large lobby is nearing completion and the recessed penthouse addition above the 5-story buildings is advancing.

The buildings form an extremely handsome row of neo-Renaissance low-rise buildings directly across Worth Street from the huge, windowless, pink stone and impressive Long Lines Building that was built in 1974 and designed by John Carl Warnecke & Associates.

The lobby at 73 Worth Street is attended and the buildings only have 30 apartments. The buildings have no balconies and no garage.

[pianoman11686]

From http://cityrealty.com:

Landscaped tunnel exit in TriBeCa gets more residential neighbors 21-JUL-05

The north edge of the large square around the Manhattan exit of the Holland Tunnel, one block south of Canal Street in TriBeCa, is nearing the completion of its conversion from commercial to residential uses.

The red-brick, 6-story, mid-block building at 32 Laight Street has submitted an offering plan to the NYS Attorney General’s office to convert the building to 6 condominium apartments. It was built in 1909 and designed by John Wooley.

This cobblestone street between Hudson and Varick Streets has several handsome projects. This building is two doors east of the Graebler Building at No. 44, which has attractive shutters, and it is also just to west of the impressive Cobblestone Lofts at No. 28. At the corner at Hudson Street, 48 Laight Street is a new building now nearing completion that has a very white façade with a bright yellow penthouse.

The south and west sides of the large and nicely-landscaped traffic square also have numerous fine conversion projects.

[lofter1]

From http://cityrealty.com (http://cityrealty.com/):

Landscaped tunnel exit in TriBeCa gets more residential neighbors 21-JUL-05

The north edge of the large square around the Manhattan exit of the Holland Tunnel, one block south of Canal Street in TriBeCa, is nearing the completion of its conversion from commercial to residential uses.

This cobblestone street between Hudson and Varick Streets has several handsome projects.

This entire block front is really terrific looking.

Now that the open space around the Holland Tunnel exit (aka St. John's Rotary) is near completion (save for the work on the water tunnel) it would be great if the monumental (70' tall and 20 tons!!!) sculpture "Joie de Vivre" were to be returned to the center of the "park" (although it has been reported that a different piece of artwork will be selected for this site).

http://www.lmcc.net/ServicesandResources/SandR_images/Spon_AP_images/MSjoievivre.jpg
Joie de Vivre
by Mark di Suvero



http://www.sculpture.org/documents/scmag01/dec01/life/life-5.jpg
Joie de Vivre,
1997. Painted steel,
70 x 30.5 x 24.5 ft.
View of work as installed on
the Esplanade des Invalides, Paris.

And it would be great if the existing pedestrian overpass could get a re-design (even though the existing walkway is perfectly serviceable).

More on this here: http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5129

[billyblancoNYC]

"Its rededication will be "a gesture of renewal toward ground zero," said Sabrina Kanner, vice president of design and construction at Brookfield, who added that the park would be the future home of "Joie de Vivre," a 70-foot-tall, red-painted sculpture of welded and bolted steel by Mark DiSuvero. It will be the first permanent public installation of one of the 72-year-old sculptor's works in Manhattan."

This will be re-located to Liberty Park...diagonal to the WTC on B-way.

[pianoman11686]

From http://cityrealty.com:

New life for American Express stable in TriBeCa 28-JUL-05

There are not too many great stables left in the city.

One more is about to bit the dust, figuratively. The three-story building at 157 Hudson Street, which is also known as 4-8 Hubert Street, 14 Collister Street, and 49-55 Laight Street, was erected in 1867 to designs by Ritch & Griffiths and altered and enlarged in 1899 by Edward Hall Kendall and altered again in 1902 by Charles W. Romeyn. It was built as a stable for American Express and in recent years housed various nightclubs such as Heat, B Square, Area, Shelter and Vinyl. It is in the TriBeCa North Historic District.

Now Peter Moore, an architect and developer active in Lower Manhattan, has won approval from the Landmarks Preservation Commission to convert it to condominium apartments and add two stories to the red-brick building that has arched windows on its second floor.

In November, 2004, Moore’s plan for a three-story addition to the building was rejected by the landmarks commission, but last month it approved his revised plan. At the November hearing, the Historic Districts Council testified that it was “happy to see this magnificent building being restored and the level or restorative work appears to be excellent.” The council, however, did not support the three-story addition.

The building has an excellent TriBeCa location and is across Hubert Street from the Hubert, a very handsome new condominium building.

Moore is also a co-developer, with Mark Mancinelli, of the 11-story condominium apartment at 302 Spring Street that is due for completion by the end of this year.

[pianoman11686]

From http://cityrealty.com:

Two new condo projects on Washington Street in TriBeCa 13-SEP-05

Joseph Pell Lombardi, one of the city’s leading preservation architects, plans to erect two similar, new condominium apartment towers on Washington Street between Vestry and Laight Streets in TriBeCa.

Both buildings will be clad in red brick and feature large, multi-paned windows.

The larger building is 415 Washington Street, which is on the northwest corner at Vestry Street. A 7-story building, is two set backs on Vestry, the first of which is at the height of the building immediately to the west, and three on Washington Street, where the roofline closely matches that of the building just to the north.

The building will have 28 large apartments, some with terraces and many with two mezzanines.

The center of the Washington Street frontage will have a "loading dock" entrance and marquee and Mr. Lombardi told CityRealty.com that the raised "loading dock" permits the building to have somewhat more usable space.

It is in a "M1-5" Special TriBeCa North Historic District that permits manufacturing uses, but is expected to be rezoned by the City Planning Commission later this month to "C6-2A" that will permit residential use and have an floor-to-area-ratio (F.A.R.) of 7.5. Both buildings will be built with an F.A.R. of only 5.

The other building is taller by two stories but smaller in plot size and will only have 12 apartments. It is diagonally across from 415 Washington Street and just to the north of a building with a very large hanging marquee. It has one setback on Washington Street and three on Laight Street.

Both sites are now occupied by parking lots.

[lofter1]

Tribecans object to plans to allow West St. towers

By Ellen Keohane
Downtown Express
Volume 18 • Issue 19
Sep. 30 - Oct 06, 2005

http://www.downtownexpress.com/de_125/tribecanobjectstiplan.html


Local residents criticized the Dept. of City Planning’s plan to allow taller and bulkier buildings in Tribeca’s northwest corner at a Community Board 1 meeting last week.

The area of northern Tribeca under discussion, which is currently zoned as a manufacturing district, is bordered by Canal St. to the north, Broadway to the east, West St. to the west, and Walker St., Beach St., Ericsson Pl. and Hubert St. to the south.

http://www.downtownexpress.com/de_125/tribeca.gif
Members of Community Board 1’s Tribeca Committee
objected to a city proposal that would allow
160 foot buildings on four West St. blocks.

Board members and residents who attended the Tribeca committee meeting on Sept. 21 said that since the proposed zoning changes would allow the construction of buildings up to 160 ft. tall along West St. it would block light and air as well as sight lines down to the water. “I’m really concerned about what amounts to a wall along the water,” said board member Julie Menin.

Community Board 1 members have previously said the height limit should be 120 feet.

Others at the meeting worried that the rezoning would facilitate increased development, which the neighborhood would not be able to support. Tribeca’s schools are already overcrowded and there aren’t enough parks to support this kind of development, said board member and Tribeca resident Giselle Hantz.

Northern Tribeca is currently zoned for manufacturing, which, aside from a few exceptions, does not allow new residential development. However, current zoning does allow existing buildings that are less than 5,000 square ft. to be converted for residential use. Larger buildings can also be converted, but only through government approval.

Rezoning of northern Tribeca has been long time coming. Southern Tribeca was rezoned in the 1990s, followed by Hudson Square last year. But it wasn’t until this year that C.B. 1 requested that northern Tribeca’s zoning be changed.

C.B. 1 requested the change after the Jack Parker Corporation, a developer, applied to change the zoning of four blocks between West and Washington Sts., and Watts and Hubert Sts. The developer’s rezoning application included a request to build up to 210 ft. along West St.

Parker’s lawyer Ken Lowenstein attended the Sept. 21 meeting. “We have nothing right now to present,” he said when questioned about the Parker site. He did not comment on the presentation or anything said at the meeting.

Edith Hsu-Chen, who presented City Planning’s rezoning plan, said that the meeting was the start of discussions between the community and the city. Citty Planning intends to continue meetings with C.B. 1 throughout the fall. An environmental study of the area should begin by the end of this year, and the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP) should start in the late spring or early summer, Hsu-Chen said.

Before coming up with a rezoning plan for northern Tribeca, City Planning analyzed the neighborhood block-by-block, focusing on the existing character of the area, said Hsu-Chen. Most of the buildings in northern Tribeca are six to 12 stories and 80 to 140 ft. tall, with larger buildings near the Holland Tunnel and smaller buildings near Chinatown. The city kept these existing building heights in mind when coming up with the proposed rezoning, she said. Currently there are no specific building height limits on the area under discussion.

The city’s proposal divided northern Tribeca into three sections. The first section, which is near the Holland Tunnel, will be rezoned as a C6-2A mixed-use district, with an overall building height of 120 ft. and 6 F.A.R., or floor-to-area ratio, which is the amount of living space allowed in a building in relation to its lot size.

The second section, which borders Chinatown, will also be rezoned as a C6-2A with an overall building height of 120 ft. and F.A.R. of 5.

The western edge of northern Tribeca, which was the third section outlined in the proposal, will be changed to a C6-3A with an overall building height of 160 ft. and 7.5 F.A.R. The zoning of the western section drew the greatest number of complaints from residents and board members at the meeting.

“The theory [of rezoning] sounds great on paper, but the reality, we have to live with for a long time,” explained Tribeca resident Barbara Siegel.

[krulltime]

^ Wow this is good news! I am glad Tribeca is getting alot of attention.

[pianoman11686]

From http://cityrealty.com:

Jack Parker waterfront project in TriBeCa "laid over" 27-JAN-06

The Jack Parker Corporation submitted revised plans this week to the City Planning Commission for certification into the Uniform Land Use Process (ULURP) of a proposed development in TriBeCa.

The commission, however, “laid over” the plans at its review session on the basis that it found the plans “incomplete.”

In papers filed January 23, Kenneth K. Lowenstein of the law firm of Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP, requested, on behalf of the Jack Parker Corporation, a rezoning from M1-5 to C6-3A and C6-2A to permit new residential development of a four-block area of the Special TriBeCa Mixed Use District bounded by Watts Street on the north, Hubert Street on the south, West Street on the west and Washington Street on the east.

The papers also sought text amendments to the district and a special permit for a public parking garage of 180 spaces in a “new, primarily residential building which would be allowed as-of-right under the proposed rezoning.”

The building would be constructed on the block bounded by West, Washington, Watts and Desbrosses Streets. The block, which is controlled by the applicant, contains low-rise buildings of 2 to 5 stories that were previously used for parking and automotive-related uses but with one exception are now vacant. The southwestern corner is a parking lot of a restaurant across Desbrosses Street.

The planned new building, which is being designed by SCLE Architects, would contain about 260,000 square feet of floor area with ground floor retail space. The garage would be in the cellar with ingress and egress from Desbrosses Street and it would be fully attended. The principal entrance to the new building and the retail space would be located on Washington Street.

A first floor plan for the proposed building indicated that the building would have a very large center garden surrounded by residential units.

The proposed revisions would, among other things, permit a maximum base height of 150 feet and a maximum building height of 160 feet within 100 feet of a wide street. “By mapping the higher density C6-3A district along West Street and the lower density C6-2A district on Washington Street and allowing floor area to be transferred from the lower density to the higher density district, the proposed zoning would encourage new residential development that is consistent with the ongoing development patterns of TriBeCa. It will allow taller buildings along the waterfront while providing for a transition in the scale of development moving eastward. Maximum street wall and building heights along Washington Street would be consistent with the existing character of that street and much of the remainder of northern TriBeCa," the papers on file at the Planning Department, maintained.

Previously, the applicant had planned a 210-foot-high building.

Community Board 1, according to some press reports, has been seeking to have the city rezone all of North TriBeCa to permit no buildings higher than 140 feet and with a floor-to-area ratio (F.A.R.) of 5.

The area in question is a few blocks north of the Smith Barney skyscraper and the three tall apartment towers at Independence Plaza. The proposed building would be shorter than the three apartment towers designed by Richard Meier several blocks to the north.

No renderings of the Parker building were available as the project is still being designed.

[lofter1]

Jack Parker waterfront project in TriBeCa "laid over" 27-JAN-06

The area in question is a few blocks north of the Smith Barney skyscraper and the three tall apartment towers at Independence Plaza. The proposed building would be shorter than the three apartment towers designed by Richard Meier several blocks to the north.

But separated from the buildings listed by smaller scale buildings.

140' is plenty high for this area, which truly is a fairly low rise area (~ 12 stories and less) on all sides.

[krulltime]

Realty Check


By STEVE CUOZZO
February 7, 2006

The Jack Parker Corp.'s plan to build a major residential project in northern TriBeCa got a big boost yesterday when the City Planning Commission voted in favor of a proposed zoning change.

Parker holds development rights to the whole block bounded by West, Washington, Watts and Desbrosses streets, one block south of Canal Street. For four years, it has pushed to rezone four "manufacturing" blocks in the area, including the one it owns, to allow new apartment construction.

Yesterday, the CPC voted to "certify" the change, meaning it will undergo the city's land-use review procedure requiring approval by the City Council. If enacted, the rezoning will allow Parker to build up to 300 apartments in a project that would also include a garage.

The site is now occupied by an industrial garage and mostly vacant 1-story buildings.

Parker Vice President William Wallerstein said rezoning would allow a project of up to 260,000 square feet, 160 high along West Street and 120 feet high along Washington. The company has not yet decided whether to build rentals or condos.


Copyright 2006 NYP Holdings, Inc.

[lofter1]

Parker begins demolition before approval to rebuild

By Ronda Kaysen
Downtown Express (http://www.downtownexpress.com/de_154/parkerbeginsdemolition.html)

A stand of squat, one-story buildings in North Tribeca will soon be demolished, making way for a controversial residential development project.

The Jack Parker Corporation began cleaning the buildings bounded by West, Washington, Watts and Desbrosses Sts. of asbestos last week and plans to begin demolishing them soon.

Parker recently applied to rezone the block along with three other blocks to make way for high-rise residential developments. The Parker Corp. insists last week’s work is nothing more than what it is: a preliminary demolition, and does not mean that the company is preparing to begin building before it has city approval.

“The buildings have deteriorated to the point that they are not safe standing,” said William Wallerstein, vice president of the Parker Corp. “Rather than repair something that will ultimately be demolished, we decided to bring them down.”

The Parker Corp.’s plans for the area have not boded well with local residents who insist the zoning proposal would open the door for large, bulky buildings. Residents launched a campaign to block the application, which must be approved by City Council and the City Planning Commission. Community Board 1 rejected the application, although the board is only advisory.

The demolition has not ignited anger in the community, however. “We welcome the demolition, we have absolutely no problems with that,” said Andrew Neale, a Community Board 1 member and a member of the Tribeca Community Association, which has spearheaded the fight against Parker. “What is there now? It’s a hideous eyesore.”

Neale was concerned, however, that the demolition would wreak havoc on the Fleming Smith Warehouse, a landmark building located across the street from the property.

Wallerstein insists that his company—which successfully demolished five buildings surrounding a historic Broadway theater in Midtown—knows how to take down buildings safely.

“The demolition work isn’t being done with a wrecking ball, we’re not bringing in dynamite,” he said. “We are concerned about any nearby building, whether it’s next door or down the block.”

Downtown Express is published by Community Media LLC.

[ablarc]

Presently a pretty ghastly block. What's the future of that triangle of land beside it?

[lofter1]

The Triangle bounded by Watts / Canal / greenwich is slated to get a New Building (http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/showpost.php?p=69911&postcount=12) :

http://www.douglastondevelopment.com/projects/current/img/475greenwich.jpg

Thr Triangle bounded by Canal / West St. is now (once again) a NEW PARK (http://www.thevillager.com/villager_112/anotheronemoses.html), simply called CANAL PARK (http://www.downtownexpress.com/de_110/treesgrowoncanal.html).

It's under the supervison of the NYC PARKS DEPT. (http://www.nycgovparks.org/sub_your_park/park_of_the_month/2006_03/canal_park.html) :

http://www.downtownexpress.com/de_110/canal.gif

http://www.thevillager.com/villager_112/canal.gif

It had been a nice little park many years ago, but it disappeared (http://www.lowermanhattan.info/news/a_small_park_with_35101.asp) during the building of the Holland Tunnel:

http://www.lowermanhattan.info/images/news/87m_co_canal_park_vaux_sm.jpg
Rendering of Vaux/Parson plan from 1888

[ablarc]

Thanks for the links, Lofter. That park is a big improvement. A small example of the myriad ways New York is improving. I wish the architecture were getting better as well.

[ZippyTheChimp]

There's a smaller triangle at Canal and Washington - 510 Canal. There are usually several cars parked on the site, but two weeks ago I saw a drill rig taking core samples.

[lofter1]

That ^ triangle (510-520 Canal / 471 Washington St.) was going through the Permitting process a while back ... the owner wants to build taller than is allowed (fine by me for that lot).

No new Jobs / Filings show up on the DOB site for this LOT (http://a810-bisweb.nyc.gov/bisweb/PropertyProfileOverviewServlet?bin=1010330&requestid=2&s=A03C41B885B461E4F46BD08866A7430E)

The Real Deal from Feb. 2005 shows that the owner Seeks (http://www.therealdeal.net/pdf/February_2005_Map.pdf) (pdf: Map 5; #140) to build a 9 story / 13 unit building on that site.

[krulltime]

Make Tribeca towers smaller, city tells Parker


By Ronda Kaysen
Volume 19 • Issue 6 | June 23-29, 2006

If a good compromise makes no one happy, then perhaps the Dept. of City Planning has found one in North Tribeca.

City Planning staff made recommendations to modify an application to rezone a swath of the North Tribeca waterfront. The Jack Parker Corp. had proposed rezoning four blocks of the neighborhood bounded by West, Washington, Watts and Hubert Sts. to make way for a residential development along West St. Many local residents opposed to the proposal, saying the large buildings would block light and exacerbate traffic congestion at the Holland Tunnel entrance on Canal St.

This week, City Planning proposed several changes to the application, including reducing the floor to area ratio, or F.A.R., from 7.5 to 6.5 along West St. F.A.R. determines how bulky a building can be. City Planning also suggested reducing the base height from 150 feet to a maximum of 102 feet and cutting out a provision that would have allowed the developer to transfer bulk from one part of the rezoned area to another.

“We’re obviously disappointed,” said William Wallerstein, vice president of Jack Parker, which owns one of the four blocks in the proposed area. “We proposed the same zoning that City Planning had shown the community a year ago and we thought that that was where City Planning was. To have them make modifications, it’s very disappointing.”

Wallerstein was most disappointed by the reduction in F.A.R. and the provision to prevent transferring bulk because he will not get to build as many stories with river views on West St. “With every reduction, we look at where we are and what our options are.”

The developer is not considering selling the property yet, said Wallerstein. “We’re still at a point in the process where it’s not done and we need to see where we go with the City Council next.”

City Council will vote on the proposal after the Planning Commission vote on July 12.

In a fight between residents and the developer that has seen little common ground, both sides can now agree on one thing: City Planning’s changes are less than what they’d hoped for.

“It’s a step in the right direction, but it doesn’t go far enough,” said Carole De Saram, a Community Board 1 member and president of the Tribeca Community Association, a neighborhood organization. “We can’t have rezoning for the betterment of one person.”

Residents have long wanted to see the entire North Tribeca neighborhood rezoned — not just the Parker site and three other blocks — and insist a large development like the Parker proposal warrants an Environmental Impact Statement to measure the impact on the neighborhood. “What they have done is basically left out the community,” said De Saram. “Where are these children going to go to school? We have to address the traffic problem, which is not going to go away.”

Both C.B. 1 and the borough president rejected the application, which is in a Uniform Land Use Review Procedure, a process that requires approval by the City Planning Commission and the City Council. C.B. 1 and the borough president serve an advisory purpose in the process.

“We got some of what we wanted, we didn’t get all of what we wanted,” said C.B. 1 chairperson Julie Menin, adding that the board would still not support the application even with the proposed changes. “The waterfront is one of the best amenities that this community has. We still feel strongly that it [the F.A.R.] needs to be lower. It’s going to block the light, the air.”

City Councilmember Alan Gerson has indicated that he will throw his weight behind the local residents if the application comes before the City Council (if the Planning Commission rejects it, it will die there) and vote down the application. Typically councilmembers follow the lead of the local councilmember in land use issues.

Although Gerson had not reviewed City Planning’s modifications, he doubts they would be enough to garner his support. “Until there’s been a change that results from an overall neighborhood process, that remains my position.”


© 2006 Community Media, LLC

[pianoman11686]

Volume 19 • Issue 9 | July 14- - 20, 2006

Tribecans try to ice Tony Soprano’s project

By Ronda Kaysen

The set of “The Sopranos” isn’t the only place where James Gandolfini is getting into the real estate business. The actor would like to build a seven-story residential building in Tribeca, and his neighbors are not so happy about it.

Gandolfini, who plays Soprano godfather Tony Soprano, and the four other principals at Atlantic Walk L.L.C. have plans to build a 105-ft. building on a parking lot at 415 Washington St. Last November, the group got rave reviews from Community Board 1 when it presented designs for a commercial building on the site, which sits at the corner of Laight St. But now their tune has changed.

The developers insist they have an economic hardship and requested a variance from the Board of Standards and Appeals to build a residential building instead. Board members, irate that the building will block neighboring windows and be larger than they would like, did not buy the team’s cries of financial woe.

“It’s ridiculous to assume that you have a hardship,” said board member Carole De Saram. “Do due diligence and don’t buy it if you don’t like it.”

The investment group says the quality of Tribeca waterfront soil is poor, supporting walls from the surrounding buildings intrude onto the property, and the parcel sits between the 100-year and 500-year flood zone. These hardships, they say, make the property eligible for a variance from the B.S.A., which would allow them to build outside the zoning restrictions.

“To do it as of right, it’s a negative return,” said Juan Reyes, a lawyer for the owners. According to Reyes, if the owners built “as of right,” or according to the current zoning rules, they would have a negative 46.8 percent return on their investment. With the changes, they’d have an 8.2 percent return, which Reyes described as “minimal.”

Gandolfini, the four other principals and possibly an unnamed player for the Mets plan to live in the 26-unit building when it opens. “They are people who are going to be committed to the neighborhood,” said Reyes, who has no relation to Met shortstop Jose Reyes. “They are people who want to help the neighborhood grow.”

The new building would have a floor to area ratio (F.A.R.) of 6.02 and the rear yard space separating the building from its neighbors would be 20 feet. The zoning requires a 30-ft. rear yard for residential buildings and an F.A.R. of 5.

The designs differ only slightly from what was approved by the community board last November. The red brick building with arched windows will still be 105 feet tall, but it will now have seven stories as opposed to six. In both designs, there was a 20-ft. rear yard. The distance conforms to commercial properties, but not residential ones, which require a 30-ft. rear yard.

The community board sees no problem with a residential property there — when they approved the application in November, they knew it was intended for residential use.

“The major concern is the increased bulk and the lack of light and air to everybody’s windows in that area,” said committee chairperson Rick Landman. “We’re not talking about lot line windows, we’re looking at rear yards here.”

One of the neighbors whose building abuts the 415 Washington project is particularly concerned about losing his light and air to the project. “We don’t want windows any closer than are required by law,” said 430 Greenwich St. resident Mark Stern. “They should be entitled to build, but I don’t understand why developers are allowed to build larger than what the law allows.”

According to Reyes, the lawyer for the developer, his client is entirely within the law because the windows in question are not rear yard windows at all. They’re lot line windows or windows built adjacent to a neighboring lot. Unlike rear yard windows, which are opposite a neighboring lot or building, lot line windows have no legal protections. “When you do a new development, you do your best not to upset the neighbors. But they have no legal right to those windows,” said Reyes. “The walls of some of these buildings are on our site, they’re more than lot line windows, they’re on our property.”

Joseph Pell Lombardi, the architect for the property, thinks this is simply a case of confusion. “Maybe it wasn’t explained properly” to the community board, he said in a telephone interview. “The owners had always intended to pursue residential. I don’t think that should have come as any surprise.”

The neighborhood is in the midst of a rezoning effort. A developer immediately west of 415 Washington St. — the Jack Parker Corporation — applied to rezone a swath of the neighborhood for residential development with an F.A.R. of 7.5. The community board opposes the application and would instead like to see the neighborhood rezoned for residential use with a lower F.A.R. of 5. On Wednesday, the City Planning Commission approved the application, sending it to the City Council for a vote.

The Atlantic team owns another North Tribeca property — 414 Washington — directly across the street from 415 Washington. Unlike 415 Washington, 414 sits in the Jack Parker rezoning area and would be rezoned for residential use, if Parker’s application is approved by the City Council.

Ronda@DowntownExpress.com

© 2006 Community Media, LLC

[TriHobo]

Parker firm, residents upset with City Planning approval
By Ronda Kaysen

The City Planning Commission approved an application on Wednesday to rezone a swath of North Tribeca, making way for what could be a major overhaul of the neighborhood’s waterfront.

The Jack Parker Corp. would like to rezone four blocks of the neighborhood bounded by West, Washington, Watts and Hubert Sts. so it can build a residential high rise on one of the blocks, which it owns. At Wednesday’s hearing the Commission voted overwhelmingly to approve a modified version of the application, despite resounding criticism from local residents.

“There is widespread consensus that a rezoning of North Tribeca is necessary to reflect the current reality of one of Manhattan’s most successful residential neighborhoods,” said Commission Chairperson Amanda Burden in a prepared statement. The application will now be sent to the City Council for a vote.

Only one of the nine commissioners present, Angela Cavaluzzi, voted against the application. Borough President Scott Stringer, who opposed the application when it came before his office, reappointed Cavaluzzi to the commission.

Jack Parker proposed rezoning the manufacturing district for residential and commercial use with a floor to area ratio (F.A.R.) of 7.5 along the waterfront and a height limit of 160 feet. The commission lowered the F.A.R. to 6.5 along West St., lowered the base height from 150 feet to 102 feet and rejected a provision that would have allowed the developer to transfer bulk from one part of the rezoned area to another. The end result, if approved by City Council, will be towers less bulky than what Jack Parker requested.

“We’re very disappointed by the drop in density. It poses a very serious challenge to develop a residential building,” said Jack Parker vice president William Wallerstein.

The revised application cuts into Parker’s profit margin, said Wallerstein, who implied the firm might sell the parcel his company owns, which is bounded by West, Washington, Watts and Desbrosses Sts.

“We obviously purchased the property to develop it. Our business is not to rezone and sell it to somebody else,” he said. “But obviously everything is driven by economics and the economic picture has changed dramatically over the last four years.”

Wallerstein isn’t the only one disappointed with the commission’s decision. Local residents think the proposal is still too dense for the neighborhood and will cut the area off from the waterfront.

“We still feel that the F.A.R. needs to be even lower,” said Community Board 1 chairperson Julie Menin. “We remain very steadfast in our concern that even a 6.5 [F.A.R.] along West St. is still too much because it will block the light and air and will also create a wall along the water.”

C.B. 1, an advisory board, rejected the application and, instead, would like to see the entire neighborhood rezoned for residential use with an F.A.R. of 5.

The proposal is not out of the woods yet. It must still be approved by the City Council and City Councilmember Alan Gerson has indicated that he would not support the application in its current form. “I made it very clear that an F.A.R. in excess of 5 should be rejected, unless the developer and the community are able to come to terms on a range of other accommodations or concessions, but I don’t see this happening,” he told Downtown Express.

Typically, the City Council votes in line with the local councilmember on land use issues. “The council has been very supportive of Lower Manhattan and I hope that will continue to be the case,” Gerson said, adding that rezoning a narrow portion of a neighborhood without taking an entire area into consideration amounts to poor urban planning. “The Council would not want this to take place elsewhere in the city as they would not want this to take place here,” he said.

Wallerstein was unaware of Gerson’s intentions to block the vote, but voiced concern about his recent statements. “Obviously that’s very troubling, if he would say that,” he said.

Theoretically, the mayor could veto a City Council vote, but it would be highly unlikely in this case since the mayor does not intervene in private land use applications going through a public process. Doing so in this case would be unprecedented, a spokesperson in the mayor’s office told Downtown Express.

[jeffpark]

is the developer Basile Builders?

[pianoman11686]

From http://cityrealty.com/new_developments:

City Planning Commission rezones part of North TriBeCa 17-JUL-06

The Jack Parker Corporation has been seeking a rezoning of four blocks facing the Hudson River on West Street between Watts and Hubert Streets. It wants to develop a residential project on one of the blocks and was seeking to have the existing manufacturing zoning changed to a residential and commercial zone with a floor-to-area ration (F.A.R.) of 7.5 and a height limit of 160 feet. At one point, the developer was considered a maximum height of 210 feet.

The proposal rezoning has been very controversial as many community groups have maintained that it would permit the construction of buildings that are too tall and out-of-scale with their neighbors. There is, however, a large and quite tall commercial complex directly to the south that is just to the north of the very large, handsome and tall Independence Plaza residential complex.

The New York City Planning Commission voted 8 to 1 last week to approve a rezoning of part of the North TriBeCa neighborhood, but the rezoning it authorized only permits a maximum F.A.R. of 6.5 and lowered the base height of a building to 102 feet from 150 feet and also ruled out transfer of bulk from one are of the rezoned area to another.

The community groups were still not satisfied. Community Board 1 had voted against the rezoning previously and recommended that the area have a maximum F.A.R. of only 5.

William Wallerstein, vice president of the Jack Parker Corporation, was quoted by Rhonda Kaysen in an article in the July 14-20, 2006t edition of the Downtown Express as stating that the developer was “very disappointed” by the commission’s action and “the drop in density.”

The Parker development site is bounded by West, Washington, Watts and Desbrosses Streets.

The City Council must still vote on the issue.

The Jack Parker Corporation developed the Parker Meridien Hotel on West 57th Street and the Biltmore apartment building on Eighth Avenue and the Parker 72nd apartment building on the Upper East Side and it is quite active in Florida and North Carolina.

Its application for the rezoning was made under the name Truffles LLC., and an environmental impact statement indicated that the developer wanted a 180-space parking garage on his site, which could be developed with 262, 095 gross square feet with 308 apartments and a height of 160 feet.

The environmental impact statement also indicated that “new residential development is projected on two other sites with the proposed rezoning area. A 236,904 gsf residential building containing 279 dwelling units could be developed on a site located at 264-271 West Street/58-74 Vestry Street, and a 25,068 gsf residential building containing 29 dwelling units could be developed on a site located at 414 Washington Street, at the northeast corner of Laight and Washington Streets. The study also indicated that the existing residential building located at 428 Washington Street could be enlarged with an additional 7 dwelling units.

The block, which is controlled by the applicant, contains low-rise buildings of 2 to 5 stories that were previously used for parking and automotive-related uses but with one exception are now vacant. The southwestern corner is a parking lot of a restaurant across Desbrosses Street.

The planned new building is being designed by SCLE Architects. A first floor plan for the proposed building indicated that the building would have a very large center garden surrounded by residential units.

The proposed Parker building would be shorter than the three apartment towers designed by Richard Meier several blocks to the north on West Street.

[bigkdc]

If it is shorter than the meier towers, seems like it would be a great addition to the area and to west street.

The west side highway is slowly becoming a real showplace of interesting buildings - hopefully this one will look good.

[pianoman11686]

From http://cityrealty.com/new_developments:

The Skylofts in TriBeCa finally get temporary certificate of occupancy 26-JUL-06

The Sky Lofts at 145 Hudson Street in TriBeCa received a temporary certificate of occupancy today, according to Sean Murphy Turner, executive vice president of Stribling and Associates, who is marketing the property.

The Sky Lofts consist of several units atop the 14-story Art Deco-style building between Hubert and Beach Streets that was built in 1928 and designed by Renwick, Aspinwall & Guard and was known as the Hudson Square Building because it overlooked a large open area of that name that subsequently became part of the road network connected with the approaches and exits of the Holland Tunnel a few blocks to the north and west.

Stanley Scott bought the building in 1981 and about a decade ago planned to convert part of the industrial building to residential condominiums. In 1996 Joseph Pell Lombardi, one of the city’s most active and experienced architects specializing in the residential conversion of older commercial properties, presented plans for its conversion to the Landmarks Preservation Commission, which approved them the next year. Those plans also called for the building to be linked to a new building on an adjoining parking lot by a bridge. The plans called for 42 residences in the existing building and about 70 in the new building.

Mr. Scott got approval for the new building, but in 2000 he sold it and it was eventually developed as The Hubert, a 16-story building with about 34 residences.

Sales for the converted units in at 145 Hudson Street began in late 2002 and all eight units sold quickly at prices ranging from $3.45 million to $4.4 million.

A September 27, 2002 article in The New York Times by Rachelle Garbarine noted that Mr. Scott said that in the “next stage of conversions” approvals would be sought to convert the 5th through the 10th floors into 18 more condo apartments.

Last year, however, the landmarks commission maintained that it had only approved a 13-foot-high penthouse and what was built was about 20 feet high. Lombardi had moved on to other projects and was replaced by Rogers Marvel Architects. The landmarks commission wanted the penthouse’s visibility lowered even though the commission’s former chairman, Sherida Paulsen, had declared in 2002 that the plan “echoed the original design.”

Ms. Turner told CityRealty.com today that the two penthouses that had been listed on the building’s website as “temporarily off the market” were now being combined into one that would contain about 7,000 square feet. Presumably it will have somewhat lower ceilings and lower “visibility.”

The bottom four floors were converted to commercial condominiums and have been occupied for some time, but the residential units have not been able to “close” until now.

A lengthy article by S. Jhoanna Robledo depicting the building’s closing problems entitled “Prisoners of Hudson Street - They Bought in 2002 and They Still Can’t Move In!” appeared in the April 17, 2006 edition of New York magazine.

The beige-brick building has a large lobby and a gray-granite two-story base. The building has arched windows on the next to the top floor of the original building and its facades are modulated by narrowly spaced piers at the corners framing the broad center windows.

Although there is considerable traffic across Hudson Street from the building, the broad space of the tunnel-related roads and park provides the building with considerable and protected “light and air.”

The lofts have ceilings about 12 feet high and woodburning fireplaces, Subzero refrigerators, and white oak floors.

http://www.cityrealty.com/graphics/uploads/1153948835_145hudson4.gif

[lofter1]

TriBeCa, City's Wealthiest Zip Code,
May Soon Get a Face-Lift

NY SUN (http://www.nysun.com/article/37837)
BY DAVID LOMBINO - Staff Reporter of the Sun
August 14, 2006

The big dynamism debate in New York City this week is going to involve density.

A developer, the Jack Parker Corporation, is seeking to rezone a four-block area in north TriBeCa bounded by Washington, Watts, Hubert, and West streets to residential from manufacturing use. The developer wants a density that would allow it to build an apartment building on a site it is leasing from another owner, Ponte Equities.

http://www.curbed.com/2006_08_www.jpg

map from curbed (http://www.curbed.com/archives/2006/08/14/north_tribeca_rezoning_a_bridge_too_far.php)

City Council members say they are prepared to reject the developer's proposal based on community demands that allowable building density be reduced under the rezoning.The developer has said that a lower density would make it difficult for the company to recoup its investment and could force it to sell the site. Initially, the developer sought a floor-to-area ratio — which determines bulk and density — of 10 for a building of up to 210 feet. Its latest application is for a floor-to-area ratio of 6.5, and a base height of just more than 100 feet.

The neighborhood of TriBeCa has undergone a sea change in the last two or three decades, with luxury towers and converted apartment lofts replacing the factories and warehouses that once dominated the gritty, low-rise area.

The neighborhood is now part of the richest ZIP code in New York City and the 12th richest ZIP code in the country, according to a recent study by Forbes. Currently, only about 18% of north TriBeCa is zoned for residential use, and the development community is hoping to cash in on the seemingly insatiable demand for luxury housing.

Some area residents are fighting the developer's attempted rezoning, which they say will worsen the area's existing traffic problems and damage the neighborhood's low-rise character. They say the area already has to deal with the overcrowded entrance to the Holland Tunnel and that high-rise development along the waterfront would block light and air, leaving the neighborhood to the east in shadow and cutting off residents from the Hudson River.

The developer's rezoning proposal would preempt a separate comprehensive plan to rezone a wider swath of north TriBeCa. For about two years, the department of City Planning has been working on a rezoning plan in conjunction with the local Community Board 1.

In an advisory vote in March, the board unanimously rejected the developer's application, saying it would prefer a floor-to-air ratio of five.

A representative of the developer would not comment on the application yesterday.

At a public hearing in May, a representative of the developer said its application was initiated before the community's comprehensive rezoning plan was under way.

At the May meeting, a representative of the Real Estate Board of New York said the increased density would allow more apartments to meet the city's growing demand for housing, and some neighbors said that increased residential development would make the neighborhood safer, add more retail, and increase street life.

In July, the planning commission approved a modified version of the developer's proposed zoning, which would lower the density and base height enough to anger the developer but not enough to appease the community.
Today, a City Council zoning subcommittee will hold a public hearing on the application, and the full council is expected to vote on it Wednesday.

Council Member Tony Avella, a Democrat of Queens who heads the zoning subcommittee, said he is inclined to reject the application. He said the proposal is part of a citywide trend of developer-driven rezonings.

"We still look at things on a case-by-case basis instead of doing comprehensive planning," Mr. Avella said. "Involving the neighborhood and community in these instances is only an afterthought."

Council Member Alan Gerson, a Democrat who represents TriBeCa, was negotiating with the developer's representatives yesterday. Regarding land-use questions, the council typically sides with the opinion of the local representative. Mr. Gerson said a last-minute compromise is possible if the developer agrees to a lower-density plan that is more in line with the surrounding neighborhood.

He blames the impasse on City Planning, which he said was too slow to offer its own comprehensive rezoning plan.

"It should have been done already," Mr. Gerson said.

A spokeswoman for the Department of City Planning, Rachaele Raynoff, said a wider rezoning is still in the works despite the developer's proposal.

"The community and City Planning both agree that this is an area that is going to residential, and we are developing a consensus on just precisely what density it should be," Ms. Raynoff said yesterday.

© 2006 The New York Sun

[krulltime]

Devloper, C.B. 1 seal deal on Tribeca waterfront towers


http://www.downtownexpress.com/de_171/council.gif
Councilmember Alan Gerson discusses the compromise agreement on zoning for north Tribeca
waterfront towers with Julie Menin, Community Board 1 chairperson, holding a jacket, and
neighborhood residents.


By Ronda Kaysen with Janet Kwon
Volume 19 • Issue 14 | August 18-24, 2006

Local residents reached an agreement with developers to build residential towers along the North Tribeca waterfront, just hours before the City Council passed the proposal Wednesday.

The Jack Parker Corporation fielded a controversial application last February to rezone a four-block swath of North Tribeca for residential use. Parker proposed building large residential towers along West St., with slightly smaller towers on Washington St. The application, a Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP), requires City Council approval. Jack Parker holds the land lease for one of the four blocks bounded by West, Washington, Watts and Hubert Sts., and intends to build on the block.

The community balked at the proposal, insisting it would deny the neighborhood light and air, and block waterfront views. In an advisory vote last March, Community Board 1 rejected the ULURP application.

The City Planning Commission, however, approved a modified version of the application last month over neighborhood objections, sending it to the City Council for a final approval. Hours before the Council voted on the application on Wednesday afternoon, the developer reached an agreement with elected officials and residents to reduce the size of the buildings and the scale of the retail.

“It’s a wonderful victory for the community, protecting light and air coming in off of the Hudson,” City Councilmember Alan Gerson, who negotiated the agreement, told Downtown Express shortly before the City Council vote. “It’s a major victory.”
The agreement limits the street wall for the entire site to 65 feet, whereas the application called for an 85-foot street wall. Buildings on Washington St. will be capped at 110 feet down from 120 feet. The floor-to-area ratio, which determines the floor area allowed in a building in relation to the area of the lot, will be set at 5.5 along Washington St., down from 6.0, which would have allowed for bigger buildings. As for West St., which looks out on the Hudson River, buildings will be capped at 140 feet, down from 160 feet, with a 65-foot street wall. Developers can place 10-foot penthouses atop the 140 feet buildings, but they will be setback so they will be less visible from the street. The F.A.R. for West St. will be around 6.25, down slightly from 6.5.

The street wall is the height of a building tower before it begins to taper.

Individual retail spaces will be limited to 10,000 sq. ft. apiece. The original proposal called for 20,000 sq. ft. retail spaces.

“The retail is an enormous victory,” said C.B. 1 chairperson Julie Menin, who participated in the negotiations. “We would’ve had mega stores lining up along West St. that would’ve ruined the character of our neighborhood.”

Negotiations continued well into the night Monday and Tuesday. A tentative agreement fell apart Monday night after the City Planning Dept. determined the reduced street walls fell out of the scope of what they had certified in February. Borough President Scott Stringer’s staff suggested Parker file a Follow Up Corrective Action with City Planning to resolve the discrepancy, and both sides expect this expedited action will be approved shortly.

“We got beat up along the way, I hope it’s a compromise,” said Parker vice president William Wallerstein at City Hall shortly before the City Council vote. “The fact that it’s done and we can move forward is significant.”

Parker has not released any renderings of the buildings it plans for the block it owns bounded by West, Washington, Watts and Desbrosses Sts., although it has begun preliminary demolition work on the six small buildings currently on the parcel.

Gerson had long maintained that if the developer did not agree to an F.A.R. of 5, he would oppose the application at City Council. In the end, Gerson and residents conceded on the 5.5 — 6.25 F.A.R. and on another key point — requiring an Environmental Impact Statement to study the impact the development would have on the neighborhood.

Instead, the city will conduct an E.I.S. for all of North Tribeca, as part of an effort to rezone the entire neighborhood. However, the E.I.S. findings will be moot at the Parker site because the parcel is already rezoned.

Residents ultimately agreed to the concessions because City Council support was uncertain.

Generally, councilmembers follow the lead of the local representative on land use issues and vote accordingly. However, Gerson did not have the key support of Council Speaker Christine Quinn.

“There just didn’t seem to be a commitment [from Quinn] and we were disappointed in that,” said West Street Coalition member Richard Barrett who participated in the negotiations. Calls to Quinn’s office went unanswered or were referred to staffers who gave no indication of Quinn’s position, he said. “The directive we were given was to settle.”

“I don’t know which way she would have gone,” said Menin. “Obviously we were concerned that if we had not worked out an agreement, we would have had to roll the dice at City Council and go to a vote. If we had lost, the implications for the community would have been disastrous…. Would we really want to risk that?”

Gerson said Quinn insisted on a settlement and he was not sure she would support the community position if there was an impasse.

Wallerstein of the Parker Corp. said no one told him he had Quinn’s support. “It was obviously in all parties’ interest to negotiate this,” he said Wednesday afternoon after the City Council approved the negotiated settlement. “Nobody knows how it would have turned out. I think this is the best way for this to have turned out for everybody.”

Quinn’s office did not return calls for comment.

Not everyone in Tribeca was pleased with the outcome. Derek Ferguson, a Washington St. building owner, stood in the Committee Room at City Hall stunned. “I thought we were going to sue. What happened?” he said to Andy Neale, a member of C. B. 1 and the Tribeca Community Association.

“I came in here filled with optimism that we’d get, at the very least, an E.I.S.,” Ferguson told Downtown Express. “Instead, we’ve got a deal that doesn’t seem like a very good deal at all.” Ferguson sunk $10 million into a five-story Washington St. building to house his film and music studio, Integrated Studios. He worries the new development will block his light and air. “The whole point of Tribeca was it was an artists’ district,” he said. “You buy into the character of the community.”

Although the buildings will be denser than what the community wanted, the lower street walls and the height limit will allow light and air to make its way to Tribeca, said Carole DeSaram, president of the Tribeca Community Association and a C.B. 1 member. The developer will still be able to have the space he wanted within the buildings to “do all his magic internally.”

“In any agreement nobody gets everything they want,” she said. “Everybody’s got to walk away from the table with something.”


© 2006 Community Media, LLC

[ablarc]

Bulky. Tribecans want their buildings less bulky. I don't blame them. I don't much admire Tribeca because I think of it as the Zone of Bulky Buildings.

The sage folk of Tribeca can think of no better way to fix their bulk problem than reducing the F.A.R.

But the bulk problem has never been one of height but rather proportion: fatness foisted on them by big-footprint, lard-ass megalumphs.

Danny DeVito doesn't have much F.A.R., but I'd call him bulky.





It's all in the proportion.

[lofter1]

Devloper, C.B. 1 seal deal on Tribeca waterfront towers

... Not everyone in Tribeca was pleased with the outcome. Derek Ferguson, a Washington St. building owner ...

“I came in here filled with optimism that we’d get, at the very least, an E.I.S.,” Ferguson told Downtown Express. “Instead, we’ve got a deal that doesn’t seem like a very good deal at all.” Ferguson sunk $10 million into a five-story Washington St. building to house his film and music studio, Integrated Studios. He worries the new development will block his light and air ...


I've been in this building which has west facing windows across Washington St. from the Parker site. Top notch very well designed vacility.

But it's a FILM / VIDEO / MUSIC production studio so the blockage of light into the production parts of the building (which are invariably seeled off from any exterior light anyway) isn't an issue. It seems what's more of an issue is that the view across the exisiting buildings to the Hudson will be blocked.

[ablarc]

Although the buildings will be denser than what the community wanted, the lower street walls and the height limit will allow light and air to make its way to Tribeca, said Carole DeSaram, president of the Tribeca Community Association
The light and air have been detouring to Staten Island, where there isn't much streetwall. Now...after this agreement...they should be back.

[Peakrate212]

How come no one ever argues about the architecture ? - just the FAR and bulk......Parker has not even released plans -

I for one, would gladly give more FAR and bulk for quality architecture.

[lofter1]

Wins small and big on Parker project

Downtown Express (http://www.downtownexpress.com/de_172/editorial.html)
Editorial

August 25 - 31, 2006

Last week, the City Council approved a plan to allow 150-foot towers on four north Tribeca blocks along West St. Since the city and the developer of one of the blocks had already agreed to come down significantly on height, the key question was bulk, better known in the zoning-jargon world as F.A.R., or floor-to-area ratio. On this important point the community, with Councilmember Alan Gerson as their advocate, won only a small victory.

On the most critical section — West St., along the waterfront — Gerson and residents negotiated a 6.25 F.A.R., down from 6.5, a far cry from their demands for a modest F.A.R. of 5. Anyone curious as to how bulky and ugly a 6.5 F.A.R. building can be, need only walk a few blocks up to Morton St. and take a look at the Morton Square project on West St.

We hope the Jack Parker Corporation, the developer behind the application, hires architects to come up with buildings that enhance — rather than block — the waterfront and allow light into the neighborhood. The same goes for Parker’s West St. neighbors when they undoubtedly come forward with their own development plans for the newly zoned swath, which stretches from West St. to Washington St. between Watts and Hubert Sts.

The zoning change allows residential uses, the most economically viable and perhaps only realistic way to develop the neighborhood. Similar changes in 1995 paved the way to making south Tribeca the vibrant neighborhood it is today.

We would have liked to see a better plan for these four blocks, but it is a whole lot better than Parker’s original idea for 200-foot-tall towers with a massive F.A.R. of 7 on the waterfront. Perhaps Gerson could have pressed City Council Speaker Christine Quinn to demand a lower F.A.R., but her support of the community was uncertain.

We’re most disappointed in Quinn. Morton Square, after all, is in her district and she knows full well the complaints of Village preservationists and neighbors about this and other West St. buildings. Had Quinn backed Gerson fully, it would have strengthened his bargaining hand and we’d have a better plan today.

There are clear wins, too. The street wall along West St. dropped down from 85 feet to 65 feet. This will mean the 150-foot buildings will block less light and seem lower because each building’s first setback will be lower. Also, the F.A.R. on Washington St. came down to 5.5 from 6.

The street wall and height limits have implications beyond this four-block swath. When Community Board 1 sits down with the Department of City Planning in the coming months to rezone the rest of north Tribeca, the Parker site will set a precedent, laying the groundwork for human-scale development.

The process is worrisome. City Planning stalled discussions with C.B. 1 to rezone the entire neighborhood — including the Parker site — and appeared to rush through a private developer’s application instead, despite cries from residents to study the impact on the neighborhood.

As discussions resume for the rest of north Tribeca, we are glad the precedent won’t be new 200-foot buildings on West St. We have an organized alliance of local groups and an active community board to thank for that, and hopefully a receptive Department of City Planning. We hope this dialogue leads to a strong plan for the rezoning of the rest of north Tribeca.

© 2006 Community Media, LLC

[kurokevin]

I found this interesting residential project on White and 6th Ave in Tribeca, near the Tribeca Grand Hotel. From the rendering it appears to make the most of a very irregular shape.
http://www.gtects.com/main.html -> projects -> OAOA (sorry, I cannot remember how to print the screen)

"The proposal for One Avenue of the Americas consists of two Residental Towers for this irrelgualr site in Manhattan's Tribeca district. Zoning imperatives produced the gridded glass curtain wall of the Avenue of the America's facade which is the dominant image of the project thisserves to render the buildings as a single surface both filtering the varied textures on the inside and reflecting the tectures of the existing historical context"

Any chances of this being built? Nothing listed on DOB yet.


http://a810-bisweb.nyc.gov/bisweb/PropertyProfileOverviewServlet?boro=1&houseno=1&street=Ave+of+the+Americas&requestid=0&s=A03C41B885B461E4F46BD08866A7430E

[lofter1]

Who knows if it will get built, but it's a cool idea ...

That website is kind of ornery -- drawings + text show up only over the images of the renderings, but I think I caught most of the important stuff:


Google MAP (http://www.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=1+sixth+avenue,+new+york,+ny&ie=UTF8&z=16&ll=40.718733,-74.005086&spn=0.007042,0.021286&t=h&om=1)1. Map showing location of Proposed Building at One 6th Avenue

2. NW Corner of 6th Ave. / Franklin St.

3. Looking North with the Proposed Building on the left (Franklin St.)

4. 6th Avenue Facade (between Franklin + White)

5. SW Corner of 6th Ave. / White St.

6. Looking South with the Proposed Building on the right (White St.)

7. 6th Ave. Elevation (over image)

8. Floor Plan (over image)

9. Text describing "two residential towers ... " and how the single curtain wall will render the two separate buildings as one.

[ZippyTheChimp]

It's important for the street to get these two sites developed. While the design does a lot for the appearance, it does nothing to animate the sidewalk.

Wrong move.

[lofter1]

This entire block front is really terrific looking.

... it would be great if the monumental (70' tall and 20 tons!!!) sculpture "Joie de Vivre" were to be returned to the center of the "park" (although it has been reported that a different piece of artwork will be selected for this site).

http://www.sculpture.org/documents/scmag01/dec01/life/life-5.jpg
Joie de Vivre,
1997. Painted steel

Note: "Joie de Vivre" has been installed at the newly opened Zoccotti Park ( Liberty Park Renovated and Renamed Zuccotti Park (http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/showthread.php?t=4476&highlight=zuccotti) )

Coming: New Rotary Sculpture

http://www.downtownexpress.com/de_178/thepromise.gif
http://www.tribecatrib.com/photos/news/oct06/rotary_cap.gif
tribecatrib.com/news (http://www.tribecatrib.com/news/newsoct06/rotary.htm)
By Andrea Appleton
OCT. 3, 2006

A new sculpture may soon grace the Holland Tunnel Rotary, empty since the seven-story “Joi de Vivre” was relocated in 2003.

The Lower Manhattan Cultural Council (LMCC), charged by the Port Authority with finding a new sculpture for the site, recently proposed a piece to Community Board 1’s Arts and Entertainment Committee, which unanimously approved it.

The Promise, a work by internationally renowned sculptor William Tucker (http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9802E6DA1338F936A25752C1A9639482 60) , is 30 feet long and 10 feet high, constructed of concrete, stucco, and steel. Evenly spaced bars punctuate its length.

“One reason that it interested us,” said Tom Healy, president of LMCC, “is that up until the 1920’s, St. John’s Rotary was literally where the railroad tracks ended. And this sculpture evokes a railroad trestle.”

Born in Egypt, Tucker established a significant career in Great Britain before moving to the United States almost three decades ago.

His work has been shown at prominent museums around the world.

Miami art collector Martin Margulies, who has a home in Tribeca, has agreed to loan the piece from his vast collection for a minimum of five years.

[ZippyTheChimp]

The block at West-Desbrosses-Washington-Watts is mostly cleared.

http://img138.imageshack.us/img138/4120/tribeca87ew3.th.jpg (http://img138.imageshack.us/my.php?image=tribeca87ew3.jpg) http://img171.imageshack.us/img171/4246/ntribeca01cwu1.th.jpg (http://img171.imageshack.us/my.php?image=ntribeca01cwu1.jpg)

[antinimby]

Any idea what's going there?

[TriHobo]

Jack Parker has plans for those blocks. There haven't been any concrete plans shown, but if you read back in this thread it details what was approved in terms of height and density.

[ZippyTheChimp]

So far, I like that individual retail spaces were cut back from 20,000 to 10,000 sq ft.

[GreenwichBoy]

Fire at Tribeca’s Jack Parker site
http://www.downtownexpress.com/de_198/fire.gif
Photo by Albert Capsouto
Fire broke out in a vacant building at West and Watts Sts. at about 3 p.m. Fri. Feb. 16, bringing four fire companies to the location. The blaze was in control within an hour and there were no injuries. The fire department has not yet determined the cause.

The abandoned garage and automobile service shop was being demolished in preparation for the construction of new residential high rises by Jack Parker Corp.

Albert Capsouto, who co-owns Capsouto Freres restaurant across the street from the development block, captured photos and video of the fire from the roof of his apartment building at 457 Washington St.

According to Capsouto, noxious smoke — first black, then ashy white — billowed from the site from about 3:30 p.m. until 5 p.m. Holiday rush-hour traffic ground to a halt around the site, which is just a few blocks from the entrance to the Holland Tunnel. For community members who feared negative impacts from the Parker development, it was a worst-case scenario come to life.

“Obviously, this doesn’t bode well for what we’re in for,” Capsouto said.

Capsouto is a member of Community Board 1, which opposed Parker’s application to build large towers along West St. until the developer agreed to bring them down to 150 feet and other compromises last August.

Capsouto speculated that the fire might have been caused by lingering fuel or other supplies from the building’s previous use as an auto services shop. If that was the case, he said, then an Environmental Impact Statement — which the development was not required to do — might have revealed the problem and prevented the fire.

Capsouto said that the developer had yet to reach out to local businesses about the fire or about the construction in general. He said he had hired a lawyer and an engineer on his own to assess the possible impacts of having a large-scale construction site nearby.

“It’s not very right for buildings around here to have to incur extra costs to protect themselves from a developer,” he said.

William Wallerstein, vice president of Jack Parker Corp., did not return calls Wednesday about the fire.
— Brooke Edwards and Skye H.McFarlane


http://www.downtownexpress.com/de_198/fireattribeca.html

[lofter1]

The Jack Parker site at 454 Washington (fronting onto the West Side Hiway) one month ago ...

http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p242/Lofter1/Tribeca/454Wash_02d.jpg

http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p242/Lofter1/Tribeca/454Wash_02b.jpg

And, as of this weekend, a clean slate ...

http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p242/Lofter1/Tribeca/454Wash_04a.jpg

[ZippyTheChimp]

No further filings for 510 Canal St, the little lot at the SE corner of Canal and Washington. So it remains a parking lot and occasional billboard.

http://img396.imageshack.us/img396/5223/510canal01csa9.th.jpg (http://img396.imageshack.us/my.php?image=510canal01csa9.jpg)

[ZippyTheChimp]

Condos, Hotel to Replace Artist Studios

http://www.tribecatrib.com/photos/news/apr07/443%20Greenwich-rendering.gif
An architectural elevation of the building, as envisioned with
the penthouse additions. The plan was rejected last month by
CB1's Landmarks Committee. The 1883 building was originally
a center of manufacturing.

http://www.tribecatrib.com/photos/news/apr07/greenwichpaint.jpg
Aaron Johnson, one of 14 Marie Walsh Sharpe residents,
works in his studio at 443 Greenwich St.

By Carl Glassman
POSTED MARCH 30, 2007

Artist Tamara Zahaykevich occupies Studio Number 3 on the seventh floor of 443-451 Greenwich Street in Tribeca. There she constructs small, delicate pieces made of foam core, paper and paint. Her studio is special, she says, not only because of its ample size, the bright, natural light that bathes her work, or even the free rent. It is the knowledge that many accomplished artists worked there before her.

“It’s a legacy,” said Zahaykevich, 36, who was chosen from more than 1,300 applicants from around the country for one of the 14 coveted one-year studio residencies in the building, provided by the Marie Walsh Sharpe Art Foundation.

The legacy of creativity and accomplishment fills most every nook and studio corner of 443-451 Greenwich Street, where hundreds of artists in three residency programs and individually rented spaces have worked for more than 20 years.

But when Zahaykevich and the other remaining artists in the building pack up later this year, they will be the last.

Shahab Karmely, the developer who bought the almost fully occupied building last year for $115 million, plans to gut its warren of artist studios and small offices and construct a condo and hotel complex, with a ground-floor spa.

The handsome 124-year-old red brick building is actually two connected seven-story buildings that take up three-quarters of a block, bound by Vestry and Desbrosses Streets, with Collister Alley on the east. The plan calls for 50 condominium apartments in the western two-thirds of the building, and a 118-room hotel in the eastern side. Two penthouses would be built on the roof.

On April 14 and 15 the Marie Walsh Sharpe Space Program, whose studios have been in the building for 17 years, will hold its last “open studio,” an annual event in which the current 14 artists open their studios to the public. “It’s going to be sad,” said Joyce Robinson, executive director of the Colorado-based foundation. “We’ve had a great, great run there. What can I say?”

In May, artists in the studio program of the Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design, begun in the building in 1985, will showcase their work for the last time. The program provides studios to students in colleges of art outside of New York.

As the studio programs prepare their move to a building in DUMBO in Brooklyn (the Marie Walsh Sharpe Foundation is hoping to raise the needed funds), Karmely is pursuing the special city approvals he needs to convert his Greenwich Street building to residential use. Hotels and apartments are not allowed under the current manufacturing zoning in North Tribeca.

Some say such a variance may not be in the best interests of the city.

“If you look at what’s happening in a larger sense,” said John Tomlinson, who has run the college program in the building since 1992, “I feel like New York is just ruining its heritage and not mindful of its history.”

Councilman Alan Gerson said the city needs a “more coordinated policy for keeping artists in our community, especially in manufacturing districts. It’s clearly working at cross purposes with itself.” If passed by the City Planning Commission, the City Council must sign off on the variance.

A city zoning provision allows owners of buildings in landmark districts to gain their variance in exchange for a restoration plan approved by the Landmarks Preservation Commission. Karmely’s architect, David West, pitched the building’s plan last month to the Landmarks Committee of Community Board 1, which advises the commission.

He did not get far.

The penthouse additions, which must be largely hidden from street-level view, were noticeably visible.

“It looks like an ocean liner cruising on top of the roof,” remarked committee member Marc Donnenfeld.

“Given the size of the building, I can’t imagine that you can’t live with reducing the visibility down to marginal amounts,” added committee chairman, Roger Byrom. “It’s a huge building.”

“It’s a very, very substantial restoration,” argued Karmely’s lawyer, Deidre Carson.

Karmely, who was in the room but did not speak at the meeting, is expected to return to the committee with a modified penthouse plan. But even if it is approved, the developer must next try to convince CB1’s Tribeca Committee that a change of use, from commercial to residential, is appropriate for this building. A zoning change under consideration by the city, which CB1 supports, would make residential conversions as of right in north Tribeca. But the committee may see 443 Greenwich Street differently.

“This is a viable commercial building in the district that has very few commercial spaces, which means that the tenants are being evicted,” Landmarks Committee member Tim Lannan said at the meeting. “So on principle I would be opposed to this because of the tradeoff that’s involved.”

No one understands that tradeoff more than Dennis Elliott. He co-ordinates the Marie Walsh Sharpe program and directs a studio program for foreign artists—the International Studio & Curatorial Program—that has since moved from the building.

Elliott remembers the building as a dynamic fulcrum of creativity filled with more than 100 artists. Now, in the waning days of 443 Greenwich, he has applied to the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation for funds to create something like it; the Downtown Center for the Arts, a consortium of six arts groups that would pool their resources with public funds to buy or rent a large space Downtown.

“I don’t know that we can ever be in Lower Manhattan unless something is developed by the city or the state for this center,” he said. “That’s a long haul and a lot of work.”

Tom Healy, president of the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, envisions the city helping artist groups find space in the new buildings on the World Trade Center site, a financial partnership between the city and private organizations.

“Our tax dollars are going to be subsidizing tenants in Tower One and the Freedom Tower, because they’re saying we need to bring government tenants into these spaces,” Healy told the Trib. “There’s no reason cultural life shouldn't be thought of in that way.”

In the meantime, at 443 Greenwich Street, artists continue working away in paint-spattered studios that, soon enough, will be transformed into pristinely kept homes of the well-to-do.

Erling Sjovold, a painter and art professor on sabbatical from the University of Richmond in Virginia, was relishing each day that he worked there, courtesy of the Marie Walsh Sharpe Foundation. From the window of his studio he could see the Hudson River, a subject that had found its way into several of his paintings.

“I’m trying to take advantage of this pretty incredible view I have here,” he said, as he showed a reporter his sunny vista. “You may have to pay quite a bit in the future to take that peek.”


The Tribeca Trib · 401 Broadway, 5th Floor · New York, NY · 10013 ·

[ZippyTheChimp]

260 West St (at Vestry St)

http://img150.imageshack.us/img150/8042/260west01cmd0.th.jpg (http://img150.imageshack.us/my.php?image=260west01cmd0.jpg)

With 414 Washington (http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/showthread.php?t=11717&page=2) underway, the entire block has been developed.

260 West always looked unpleasant, but now it's magnified. The badly designed addition was done many years ago, and its cornice removed.

I noticed the sidewalk shed, and checked DOB. No major renovation, but the building will get exterior repair. Wish they'd replace the cornice.

From DOB job filing:FACADE REPAIR FROM FIRST FLOOR TO ROOF. REPLACE BRICK, STONE, LINTELS & REPOINTING AS REQUIRED, ALL AS PER PLAN. NO CHANGE IN USE, EGRESS OR OCCUPANCY UNDER THIS APPLICATION. (SHED TO BE FILED SEPERATE APPLICATION).

[londonlawyer]

The following story appeared in the April 11, 2007 edition of the Post. It would be nice if the developer could acquire the lot of North Moore and Varick and the two small buildings that separate that lot from this one.

A key site on the northwest corner of 240 West Broadway and N. Moore Street - the N stands for Nathaniel, not North - traded for $12.5 million.

Though the site, which is currently a parking lot, can be built to a maximum of 20,060 square feet, it will eventually become eight stories of full-floor, high-end residential condos that will be, coincidentally, developed by TriBeCa converter, Peter Moore.

Charles Kingsley, Yoav Olesner, Jon Epstein and Glenn Tolchin of Cushman & Wakefield handled the investment sale for the long-time family ownership.

Given rising construction costs and the price of the land at $625 a foot, the condos will need to fetch over $2,000 a foot, the brokers said.

[downtownlad]

It's North Moore. Here's an 1870 map.

http://www.curbed.com/archives/2006/10/19/hoodwatch_hangover_2_go_north_young_moore.php

[stache]

Doesn't the article say it's an 1807 map?

[lofter1]

Read again -- it refers to an 1807 map, but this one is from 1870 ...

http://www.curbed.com/2006_10_nmfinal.jpg

[stache]

I'm reading it like the 1870 map is b&w, the 'even cooler' ('as posted above') map is color.

[NYatKNIGHT]

There is actually a thread about this:

Nathaniel Moore - Street Names (http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3250)

[lofter1]

The Jack Parker project (http://wirednewyork.com/forum/showpost.php?p=109516&postcount=36) at 454 Washington (boounded by Watts / West / Debrosses) is moving forward on the construction of a full-block foundation ...

Last week:

http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p242/Lofter1/Tribeca/454Wash_12d.jpg

http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p242/Lofter1/Tribeca/454Wash_12c.jpg

Today:

http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p242/Lofter1/Tribeca/454Wash_13a.jpg

http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p242/Lofter1/Tribeca/454Wash_13b.jpg

http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p242/Lofter1/Tribeca/454Wash_13c.jpg

***

[ZippyTheChimp]

Does anyone know what this will look like?

[lofter1]

I have some friends who live right around the corner and who have been trying to find out ...

But it seems no one knows -- or no one is telling :cool: ...

[lofter1]

DOB shows for 454 Washington Street (The Parker Site) a NEW BUILDING PERMIT (http://a810-bisweb.nyc.gov/bisweb/JobDetailsServlet?requestid=2&allisn=0001349065&allboroughname=&allnumbhous=&allstrt=) ISSUED @ 10.11.07:

Architect: Gary H. Handel / Handel Architects

15 stories
150'
291,692 Sq. Ft
291 Residences
166 Parking Spaces

Lot Size: ~ 175' x 210' = 36,750 sf

***

A separate but related PERMIT for STRUCTURAL WORK (http://a810-bisweb.nyc.gov/bisweb/JobDetailsServlet?requestid=5&allisn=0001397301&allboroughname=&allnumbhous=&allstrt=) was ISSUED to the PE on 10.10.07:

FILING HEREWIT FOR STRUCTURAL WORK RELATED TO NEW BUILDING AS PER PLANS ...


***

Based on that ^^^ there are completed plans for the site.

The Handel website (http://www.handelarchitects.com/main.html) has no info onthis project.

[sfenn1117]

Thanks to the height limit this will be one bulky building. Let's hope it's nothing like the Caledonia.

[Derek2k3]

This has got to be among the top 10 most ridiculous development stories I've ever heard. The LPC has allowed dozens of preservation-worthy buildings to be torn down, but orders a developer to demolish a 2 story addition on top of a former warehouse because it is 7' too tall. Enormous waste of resources, time, and money.


The New York Sun
http://www.nysun.com/article/67981

A Glass Penthouse Rises for a Second Time
Landmarks Woes Plague a TriBeCa Developer

By BRADLEY HOPE
Staff Reporter of the Sun
December 13, 2007

In 2005, the Landmarks Preservation Commission told a TriBe-Ca developer he would have to tear down a pair of glass, duplex penthouses he had constructed atop a historic building because they rose seven feet higher than the permit allowed.

Now, a new penthouse is nearly finished, but for brokers who lost commissions and were unable to move their buyers into their apartments for more than three years because of the reconstruction, old wounds have been opened.

The reason? The new structure is also two stories, and it is a modern design made of glass.

"What is there now is not a prewar structure that blends in beautifully with the neighborhood," a Prudential Douglas Elliman broker who said he lost $140,000 in commissions when buyers walked away from deals he brokered at the building, Leonard Steinberg, said. "In terms of protecting the visibility of a landmarked building, it is in no way different to what was there before. What exactly did Landmarks achieve?"

The development struggle began in 1996, when the owner of the building, Stanley Scott, set in motion plans to transform several floors of the industrial building that once held his printing business into high-end loft apartments. The crown jewel of what he would eventually call Sky Lofts was to be a pair of duplex penthouses encased entirely in glass built on top of the building.

During construction, the rooftop structure rose to some seven feet taller than the original permit allowed. In 2005, the Landmarks Preservation Commission delivered Mr. Scott a stinging decision: The rooftop structure would have to come down and be replaced with a more appropriate one. Many of the apartments had sold out in 2002, when the building was shown to the public, but none of the residents could move in because the building couldn't obtain a certificate of occupancy while construction of the new penthouse was ongoing.

"It makes me sick in my stomach," another broker, Viviane El-Yachar, said. "The lesson I draw from this is a lack of trust in a city agency."

Ms. El-Yachar said a client of hers, Adriaan Van Der Knapp, bought an apartment at the building in 2002. They were told he and his family had only to wait a few months to move in, but every few months they were told of another delay.

"His whole life was a mess," she said. "He couldn't move into what was going to be his home. After three years, his kids were in different schools. It was too late. For him it was a horror."

"There were delays that were only half explained," a broker from Sotheby's International Realty, Glenn Norrgard, said of his experience with the building. "I never really understood why they had to change the roof, and no one told us."

A spokeswoman for the Landmarks Preservation Commission, Elisabeth de Bourbon, said she could not comment on the new structure because the commission hasn't yet reviewed it, but she said the drawings the commission approved show it "will relate better" because it is centered on the roof and made of unreflective glass.

Of the decision to require the structure to be torn down, she said: "They built something illegally and they had to correct it." The new structure will include just one penthouse instead of two. The asking price could reach as high as $30 million, according to sources who have been briefed about the property.

Where the first structure was made of reflective glass and had a roof that sloped away from a flat top, the new one is made of a clearer type of glass and is shaped like a rectangle.

Another point of contention is whether the new structure is more in line with the historical context of the building and the neighborhood. The first rooftop addition was designed by Joseph Pell Lombardi to resemble a kind of glass skylight structure that was in a draft of the 1929 building's original plans. In 1997, the commission approved the plan, albeit at one story, not two.

The new penthouse, designed by Rogers Marvel Architects, will take up 7,493