Reply With QuoteFound some stuff.
http://secondavenuesagas.com/2007/06...-to-a-hearing/
The bad is that to accommodate the headhouse, the center mall is being widened, and the sidewalks narrowed to maintain traffic lanes.
There is no headhouse. Stairways on the sidewalks.
Found some stuff.
http://secondavenuesagas.com/2007/06...-to-a-hearing/
The bad is that to accommodate the headhouse, the center mall is being widened, and the sidewalks narrowed to maintain traffic lanes.
^ So will the circulation quandary be solved?
This cutaway shows access directly to the center and side platforms from the new headhouse (but those entering from the sidewalks will still need to cross under):
For subway riders, it seems yes.
Maybe no for pedestrians. I learned a new word from the MTA (a negative-positive, like calling a loss negative earnings) - "disbenefit."Passengers have to enter on either the southwest or southeast corners of Broadway. They must walk down one narrow staircase to reach the turnstile area. After swiping through, riders then have to walk down another set of narrow staircases to each a tunnel underneath both the uptown and downtown platforms. Then, straphangers have to walk up yet another staircase to reach the platform.
It will also reduce the total elevation change for passengers from 43 feet (down-down-up) to just 19 feet (down)
As a native of the Upper West Side, though, I’m much more concerned with the decrease in available sidewalk space. The new plans call for moving Broadway nine feet on either direction to compensate for the wider island in the center of Broadway. While the sidewalks would be 15 feet wide, that’s a big decrease from their current width of 23 feet.
Removing 25 trees.
Originally Posted by brianac
September 10, 2009 3:37 PM
Yair Levy declares Upper West Side project bankrupt
End for 95-unit Park Columbus is latest of series of setbacks for developer who hit partner with ice bucket.
By Amanda Fung
Beleaguered real estate developer Yair Levy, a partner in the failed condo conversion of the Sheffield57 in midtown, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on another one of his projects—Park Columbus, an Upper West Side condo conversion.
YL West 87th Holdings, which is part of Mr. Levy's YL Real Estate Developers, owes $20 million to its creditor, Manhattan-based Garrison Investment Group, according to a recent filing with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court Southern District of New York. Gary Kushner, an attorney at the law firm of Forchelli, Curto, Deegan, Schwartz, who represented Mr. Levy in the filing, confirmed that the developer has filed bankruptcy on the property, but could not elaborate immediately. YL Real Estate and Garrison could not be reached immediately for comment.
Park Columbus, formerly a rental building known as Columbus Green located at 101 W. 87th St., was a 95-unit condo conversion. Earlier this year, the project's construction stalled and shortly afterward the New York state' Attorney General's office declared the Park Columbus' offering plan ineffective, according to sources. In addition, Halstead Property, which was retained by YL to market the condo units, sued the developer for $75,000 in outstanding fees and expenses. The status of that lawsuit could not be determined immediately. Halstead declined to comment.
This Upper West Side conversion is the latest of a string of failed projects for Mr. Levy, who several months ago was charged with assaulting his business partner Kent Swig with an ice bucket. Earlier this month, Anglo Irish Bank moved forward with its plans to foreclose on Mr. Levy's Battery Park City condo conversion at 225 Rector Square. Mr. Levy reportedly defaulted on a $165 million mortgage loan to convert that 304-unit rental building. The bank is reportedly preparing to put the building up for auction shortly.
http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article...FREE/909109984
© 2009 Crain Communications, Inc.
Streetscapes | The Evelyn
The Building Denies It Ever Met That Showgirl
By CHRISTOPHER GRAY
The P & G Cafe now occupies the bottom portion of the Evelyn, an 1885 apartment house
at Columbus and 78th Street, pictured left at around 1913 and today.
THE P & G Cafe, as famous on the West Side for its neon sign as for its beer, has pulled up stakes from Amsterdam Avenue and 73rd Street and moved to the bottom of the Evelyn, an 1885 apartment house at Columbus and 78th.
The owners intend to reinstall the sign, but in the meantime something else has returned: the famous story about the building having been named for Evelyn Nesbit, Stanford White’s mistress.
Certainly, that was a neat trick — considering she was an infant at the time.
The big Dakota, at Central Park West and 72nd Street, was in midconstruction in 1882 when an inventor, James O’Friel, began work on a less ambitious apartment house at Columbus and 78th. It was to be eight stories high with a mansard roof, and according to a press account, was to have a “Russian bath” in the basement.
Emile Gruwe, a Belgian-born architect who had done at least one other large apartment house, designed a blocky red-brick structure peculiar for its second-floor portrait sculptures of giddily smiling female figures with bare breasts. The Landmarks Preservation Commission describes it as “Free Classic.”
Something went wrong, and with the 1882 new building application is a note that says: “Stopped — no money.”
In March 1885, the building, then five stories high, went into foreclosure and was bought by Phineas Smith and Edward Milliken, iron merchants.
Their architects, Douglas and John Jardine, then requested permission to complete the building, although they did so only through the seventh floor.
Seen from the street, the sixth and seventh floors are obviously from a different hand.
In November 1885, The New York Times carried an advertisement for “elegant suites of apartments” in the Evelyn, the earliest known use of the name. A later advertisement said that rents for the one- to three-bedroom apartments ranged from $80 to $150 a month.
An early plan for the Evelyn shows an awkward layout, with many long halls and, in one case, a bathroom in a two-bedroom apartment accessible only through the second bedroom.
Early tenants included a lumber dealer, a carpet merchant, a cheesemonger and a few lawyers. Some idea of their social expectations may be inferred from an 1887 ad placed by a resident of the building in The Times: “Wanted — a Protestant girl to cook, wash and iron.”
The Evening Telegram reported in 1904 that passers-by had noted “strange and uncanny shadows” on the curtains of a third-floor apartment at the Evelyn, “as if some one were being savagely beaten.” The police investigated and determined that the alarming shadows were cast by “a young student who indulges in physical culture by means of ‘home exercises.’ ”
The legend that the Evelyn was named for Evelyn Nesbit is not only well worn, but also full of holes. Introduced to Stanford White in 1901, at about age 16, she was his mistress until he moved on to other dalliances. She married Harry K. Thaw in 1905; he killed White in a jealous rage a year later.
Google yields almost 2,000 hits for a Boolean search of “Evelyn Nesbit” with “Evelyn Lounge,” the bar that occupied the building’s basement space until recently.
James Trager’s book “The New York Chronology: The Ultimate Compendium of Events, People and Anecdotes From the Dutch to the Present” (HarperCollins, 2003) even maintains that the Evelyn was built by the Thaw family.
But neither Nesbit nor Thaw ever lived there, before or after their marriage.
When they were in New York, their residences tended to be boarding houses and hotels, like the old Lorraine, at the southeast corner of Fifth Avenue and 45th Street.
The Evelyn has been in a landmark district since 1990, and is listed in both the 1988 and 2000 editions of Norval White and Elliot Willensky’s “AIA Guide to New York City,” so it is not difficult to establish that the building went up when Nesbit was but a babe in arms.
We also have her mother’s word: In an interview in The Times in 1906, she maintained that her daughter, despite her showgirl past, was completely virtuous and that “I have thought more than once of that Christmas in 1884 when that sweet, pure and lovely child was born.”
So who was the Evelyn named for? Builders have always seen a name as a way to give their projects a little personality. So by World War I, it was possible to live in the Rochambeau, the Salome, the Yucatan, the Yosemite and the Ben-Hur. Some developers incorporated family names: Julius Sandler called his 500 West 122nd Street building Reldnas Hall. And Charles Hensle named his apartment house at 449 West 123rd Street after his daughter Ruth.
As for the iron merchants who took over the building, Mr. Milliken was unmarried, and his mother was named Hettie or Hetta.
The 1880 census for Mr. Smith lists his wife, Ella, and three sons: Clarence, Stewart and Phineas Jr. Later records also record a daughter, born on April 15, 1884, perhaps just learning to walk when the partners bought the building a year later.
Her name? Eveline.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/01/re...apes.html?_r=1
P & G Cafe
Browsing around on Google Maps street view, and came upon the site of the old P & G Cafe on the corner of Amsterdam Avenue and W73rd St.
It all looks a little bit naked now.
This is how it looked in the 1999 Garry Marshall film "Runaway Bride".
And this is Richard Gere in the same film, as he approaches the P & G. Notice the rear of the Beacon Theatre on the left side of Amsterdam Avenue.
Last edited by brianac; November 30th, 2009 at 06:35 PM.
The new location for P & G is a pretty cool space - stone walls, arched openings between the more or less spacious rooms. I recently saw a friend's band there. The sign would certainly make it easier to find, you would barely notice it was there if you weren't looking for it.
Upper West Side prewars
You may be interested in my new book "Prewar Shopping: A Guide to the Finest Manhattan Prewar Apartment Houses".
It documents hundreds of UWS prewars, and has new color photos of many. Helping prewar lovers and buyers alike, search by architect, such as Rosario Candela and Emery Roth. Many other architects too. To find both their fabulous work, but their lesser known work, such as the fine center hall plans in 800 West End Avenue at 99th Street, by Rosario Candela.
Be interested in people's comments for the 2nd edition.
Looks like some progress on this.This cutaway shows access directly to the center and side platforms from the new headhouse (but those entering from the sidewalks will still need to cross under):
[Via Curbed Photo Pool/SpecialKRB]
A tipster dropped the above photo of the 96th Street subway station into our Flickr pool with the headline "new shroud, still loud." Indeed. Contrary to rumors that the renovation of the Broadway station has already been completed, it appears to be very much a work in progress. As of April, it was on track to be $26 million cheaper and done 20 months ahead of schedule. Until that day comes, we'll just have to use our imaginations and the smattering of available renderings.
http://curbed.com/archives/2009/12/1...akes_shape.php
Upper West Side: Empty Storefronts
January 11, 2010, by Fawnia Soo Hoo
Last November, we assessed the retail changes on the Upper East Side, so now let's take a look across town on the Upper West Side, where some interesting changes are taking place. So far, there are 27 empty retail storefronts (and that's not including the fifteen empty restaurant sites) along the main Broadway, Amsterdam and Columbus Avenues shopping corridors.
Doomsayers and recession porn fanatics may start to predict another retail bust area, but from what we can see, the situation is not so dire. The streets are still teeming with shoppers; stores like Loehman's, Victoria's Secret, Coach and Intermix, while offering sales, still stand strong. Plus, who can forget about the new Apple Store and the much-anticipated Trader Joe's opening? While Plaza Too, Shabby Chic and neighborhood faves will be missed, it seems like a good number of the empty spaces held stores that were just not resonating with the nabe shoppers anymore (goodbye copy shop and scarf store). Plus, as we gathered intel on foot, we even witnessed prospective new tenants calling landlords on the spot to inquire about empty spaces.
There are empty storefronts to keep an eye on though, including the mysterious Custo Barcelona that has been threatening to open in the former Penang restaurant space since Spring 2008 and the two still empty units in the former Reebok space on Columbus (while the third unit is now occupied by one of the infamous Uggs locations). To follow the action, we've mapped out all the empty retail spaces on the Upper West Side.
The map, this way>>
http://ny.racked.com/archives/2010/0...e_closings.php
West-Park Church Finally Gets its Landmark Status
January 12, 2010, by Sara
At long last, a victory for preservationists hoping to protect Amsterdam Avenue's West-Park Presbyterian Church: the building was landmarked today along with five other properties, according to the folks at the Landmarks Preservation Commission. The long-running controversy over the church's fate included a few serious demolition-nearly-in-progress scares and often pitted preservation cheerleaders in lengthy hearings against church officials, who hoped to add some kind of money-making residential development to the building. Nor is landmarking an absolute guarantee that the building's future is secure, since West-Park, like many houses of worship, lacks the cash it needs for serious restoration. Still, we're betting the UWS preservation-happy crowd will be partying tonight.
The other 5 Landmarks
West Park Presbyterian coverage [Curbed]
http://curbed.com/archives/2010/01/1...ark_status.php
That is good news, Merry. There's a beautiful church on the nw corner of 79th and B'Way that a greedy developer sought to raze when the market was booming. Hopefully, it will be landmarked too.
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