You seemed shocked . . .Originally Posted by londonlawyer
Is anything finally going in to that big parking lot/flea market on the east side of 6th between 25th & 26th?
The redevelopment of 6th avenue between, say, 20th and 30th, is one of the biggest changes in NYC in the past decade. In 1996, 6th avenue around 23rd St was windswept, barren and somewhat scary. The change in that neighborhood is incredible.
The building site mentioned at 868 Broadway (Block 846, Lot 55) is on Broadway at 18th Street ( http://maps.google.com/maps?oi=map&q...,+New+York,+NY ).
I'm confused why there is mention in the article of a parking lot, as no such parking lot exists along Broadway in that area.
Definitely the area along Broadway north of 25th St. could use some renovation.
Interestingly that particular rundown stretch of Broadway is not protected as either a historic or landmarked district, as is so much of Broadway to the south (Ladies Mile District, NoHo, SoHo, Tribeca, African Burial Ground ...).
Historical sidenote to 868 Broadway: James McNeil Whistler was repped by an art dealer (H. Wunderlich & Co.) at this address in the late 1800's.
Link to a letter to Whistler c/o Wunderlich: http://www.whistler.arts.gla.ac.uk/letters/07233.asp
The lot is fenced off and excavation is taking place for a new residential building on the site:
http://www.therealdeal.net/issues/SE...1125432522.php
https://www.nypost.com/realestate/comm/50846.htmThe Real Deal
September 2005
Flatiron
55 West 25th Street
A rental building is going up in place of one of the last Sixth Avenue flea markets. Rose Associates and Alan Locker plan to build a 36-story building for about $205 million. The building is expected to have 407 units and 20 percent of those will be reserved for people with low incomes, the New York Post reported.
NY POST
July 27, 2005
SAY goodbye to good buys.
One of the last remaining Sixth Ave. flea market sites at 55 W. 25th St. will soon fold up its tables so a $205 million 36-story rental can rise in its place.
To create the project on the east side of the Flower District avenue, attorney Alan N. Locker has teamed up with city development and ownership pros Rose Associates.
According to public records, the 407-unit building would reserve 20 percent — or 82 units — for those with low incomes.
Of those, 14 units will go to those with even lower incomes.
The project, still in its formative stages, would also include a parking garage and about 34,000 feet of commercial/retail space. Adam Rose declined to comment and noted that the project is still in its early stages.
"You're about a year too early," he said. Locker declined comment, too.
Almost as scary as what is there now -- the new 3rd Avenue.
Dull buildings. Lots of baby carriages.
I agree it's somewhat sterile and still somewhat lacking in pedestrian traffic. Some of that has to do with lack of retail---or at least incredibly boring retail (I'm thinking of 6th ave north of 23rd St. South of 23rd St is obviously a different story---it's just packed with pedestrians).
Almost as scary as what is there now -- the new 3rd Avenue.
Dull buildings. Lots of baby carriages.
Seems to me that site would make a great multipurpose building, like the building that contains the Loews Cineplex in Lincoln Sq---multiplex on the bottom, perhaps some retail, apartments on top.
November 21, 2005
Two new "manufacturing" buildings in North TriBeCa to be considered
The landmarks committee of Community Board 1 has unanimously approved plans by Joseph Pell Lombardi & Associates, one of the city’s leading preservation and residential conversion architects, to erect two similar, industrial-style buildings diagonally across from each other on Washington Street between Vestry and Laight Streets in TriBeCa.
The city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission will hold a hearing on the two buildings tomorrow.
Mr. Lombardi’s application is for "manufacturing" buildings but he anticipates they will be able to be converted to residential use as the City Planning Commission has proposed rezoning this area of North TriBeCa to a C6-2A district, which permits residential use as-of-right.
The sites at 414 and 415 Washington Street are in a M1-5 Special TriBeCa North Historic District that is expected to be rezoned to C6-2A that will permit residential use and have a floor-to-area-ratio (F.A.R.) of 7.5. Both buildings will be built with a lower F.A.R.
Both buildings will be clad in red brick and feature large, multi-paned windows, many slightly arched, corrugated steel canopies over their entrances and three-foot-high loading docks around their bases.
The larger building is 415 Washington Street, which will also be known as 55 Vestry Street, has 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 about 28 large apartments and it will be called the Fairchild and Foster Atelier after the enzyme company that once had a building on the site.
The other building at 414 Washington Street, shown above, which will also be known as 78 Laight Street, is smaller in plot size and will only have about a dozen apartments. It is diagonally across from 415 Washington Street and just to the north of a building with a very large hanging marquee. It will be called the Pearline Atelier after the soap manufacturer that once occupied the site.
Both sites are now occupied by parking lots.
The developer of both projects, according to the Downtown Express is Atlantic Walk L.L.C., whose principals are Gerard Longow, Shiraz Sanjava and Joseph Scarpinito.
Copyright © 1994-2005 CITY REALTY
I went by there yesterday. Through the gaps in the fence (and through the open gate) you could see that they've dug a pretty deep hole (and the site is not small, so it's a big wide hole) and have lined much of it with concrete already. This is not going to be a small building.
Glad to see that they're wiping out those vacant lots. Hate them.
This building is to go on the small parking lot just up the street from the new River Lofts (seen at the far left):
I walked by there yesterday. It's strange that there are still relatively derelict (or underused) sites in Tribeca. For instance, there's a block-long row of two-story garages on Greenwich just north of the Citigroup buildings. Perhaps Citigroup employees pay an incredible amount for parking, but you'd figure that there would be a better use for this land.
November 22, 2005
Seminary presents tower plan to Chelsea community
The General Theological Seminary gave an presentation last night at a raucous meeting of Community Board 4 of its plans for a 17-story, mixed-use tower it wants to replace Sherrill Hall, the low-rise building along Ninth Avenue between 20th and 21st Streets that is part of the full-block seminary campus that is one of the major landmarks of Chelsea.
Because the seminary is in the Chelsea Historic District, approval of the plans will be needed from the city's Landmarks Preservation Commission.
The seminary occupies the full block bounded by Ninth and Tenth Avenues and 20th and 21st Streets and many of the buildings date to the 19th Century except for Sherrill Hall, which was designed in 1960 by O’Connor & Kilham.
The Very Rev. Ward B. Ewing, Dean and President of the seminary, said it was "at a critical moment in its 190-year history" and is faced with "urgent problems." He said that Sherrill Hall and other structures "are severely damaged." He said that since 1999, the seminary has spent $9 million on restoration but “needs $50 million to $60 million to preserve its buildings.
The seminary’s buildings enclose attractive gardens and the seminary’s block has about 240,000 square feet of unused air-rights and the proposed building would only use about 185,000 square feet.
The Polshek Partnership is the architect for the new building, which would include 50,000 square feet for the seminary’s library and offices and 135,000 square feet of apartment space. The developer is the Brodsky Organization.
The base of the building would continue the 51 1/2-foot-high brownstone streetwalls of the campus and the southwest corner at 21st Street would have the brownstone cladding rise up much of the height of the new building, which will be covered mostly in glass.
The building would have a double-height lobby along Ninth Avenue that would permit views through the building to the close. The northern part of the frontage along the avenue would be used by the seminary’s bookstore, but Robert Trentline, a Chelsea resident, argued at the meeting last night that it should be used for major high-end retail space that would bring the seminary more money and permit it to build a less tall building.
About 30 people, including many students at the seminary, signed up to speak in favor of the plan and about 50 people signed up in opposition, but because the hearing was regularly interrupted by a front-row heckler not everyone was able to be speak.
The seminary maintains a daycare center, a homeless shelter and Alcoholic Anonymous meetings on its campus. Most of those speaking in opposition were concerned about the height of the building, despite the fact that it is the same height as a 1928 apartment tower just across Ninth Avenue. The new tower would be a bit higher than the seminary’s church spire in the center of the block. One speaker said that the seminary "has far more space than it needs" and another one declared that the community "certainly doesn’t need any more luxury housing" and Michael Thayer said "a garden is not more important than air and space." Several of those in opposition also said that the seminary until very recently did not make its gardens readily available to the public.
The sidestreets facing the seminary campus are among the loveliest in Chelsea.
The plan calls for the building to have about 80 apartments, and a garage for about 130 cars.
In a four-page letter distributed at the meeting, Dean Ewing said that the new building will "replace a shabby and forbidding structure with something far more attractive and welcoming." "It will contain an expanded and improved child-care center…," he said, "and will provide a spacious room that will be available for exhibits or meetings by community groups and organizations."
Copyright © 1994-2005 CITY REALTY
The above article should answer your question. It's in Chelsea but the reasons are the same.
About 10 years ago I was told that many of the sites in that area of Tribeca are owned by the people who have the F. Illi Ponte Ristorante on Debrosses ( http://newyork.citysearch.com/profil...istorante.html ).
Once the zoning changes go through those blocks between Greenwich and West St. north of Laight will see major changes.
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