Reply With QuoteIf they issued this permit, I'm afraid LPC will not attempt to do anything but it's still worth a try.
The only other thing is to appeal to McSam.
Originally Posted by lofter1
That's still more than anyone here have bothered to do.
If they issued this permit, I'm afraid LPC will not attempt to do anything but it's still worth a try.
The only other thing is to appeal to McSam.
What about the Community Board?
Will / can they do anything?
lofter, you will get a reply to your email from LPC saying that you need to fill out an Request for Evaluation form. It's a formality but that's how it goes.
No doubt the Demo permit is the nail in the coffin, but I had to do something (day late, dollar short, eh?)
Didn't get one of those ^^^ in reply (yet), just this:
Thank you for contacting the City of New York. Your message has been forwarded to the appropriate agency for review and handling.
For future reference, your service request number is _______________.
Sincerely,
The City of New York
I've just printed that out and will drop it in the mail tomorrow ...
antimimby: please know that Im in no way disparaging your efforts. They are much appreciated and admired by me and Im sure everyone here. I was only trying to make a general point.
Is anyone interested in joining with me to somehow do something? This is getting out of control now and I've been feeling the above sentiment for some time. A few letters to those ba$tards doesn't seem like it will do much. Admittedly, I'm not great at organizing things, but I'll collaborate with anyone who's willing, and put my body(big mouth included) where it needs to be as well as donating my creative time. Maybe it IS just hopeless.New York needs a militant Act-Up style preservationist group
Joan Gerner, LPC Commissioner, works at Bovis-Lendlease as an SVP for Preservation and Restoration projects. You might want to write directly to her and, at least, get a sympathetic ear. She is extremely educated on preservation issues, but is extremely diplomatic. Keep the letter positive and pleasant. She is likely to respond.
The biggest problem I have with this particular case is that not only are they demolishing a nice building but replacing it with a horrible Gene Kaufman POS.
It's one thing if you're going to get rid of something nice and replace it at the very least, with something equally nice but they're not.
That's what makes me so angry.
MidtownGuy, I have thought this through and I notice that many a times we only respond to a situation when plans to raze it are announced.
Unfortunately, by that time, it's usually too late. (see Shelly's, 2075 Broadway, the West 56th St. townhouses, etc.)
I say if we're going to be serious about this, we should walk around town and look for potential buildings that are worthy of saving and petition LPC to landmark it beforehand.
I did a little more digging on the issue of Demolitions last night while trying to figure out how to anticipate Demolitions in the hope of taking action before DOB gives final approval. My post regarding that is HERE.
I found that 50 Trinity Place doesn't appear on DOB's Full Demolition list
What this means, who knows? Perhaps Kaufman's plan is to incorporate the exisitng building into the new hotel ...
Law Suit filed over work at Sheraton Four Points Hotel:
Chang Named as Defendant
Contractor Flintlock Construction Services filed suit on November 29, 2006 in NY State Supreme Court, New York County against defendants Tritel Construction Group, James Wu, Sam Chang and FSC Construction citing that "defendants Tritel, Wu and/or Chang improperly induced FSC's breach" of contracts between Flintlock and Chang regarding work at the Sheraton Four Points Hotel project (326 W. 40th Street).
The case is listed at the Court Website:
Court: New York Civil Supreme
Index Number: 117771/2006
Case Name: FLINTLOCK CONSTRUCTION vs. TRITEL CONSTRUCTION
Plaintiff Flintlock as Contractor was contracted in 2006 by Times Square West LLC as Owner to provide "certain labor, materials and equipment for the construction of a building located at Sheraton Four Points Hotel" ... "for the agreed upon price and reasonable value of $24,500,000.00 (the "Sheraton Contracts")." ...
Subsequently "Flintlock, as Contractor, and FSC, as Subcontractor, entered into a written agreement pursuant to which FSC agreed to provide certain labor, materials and equipment for the Sheraton Project for the agreed upon price and reasonable value of $4,000,000.00." ...
Plaintiff Flintlock claims that in October 2006 defendant FSC was "contacted by defendant Chang and was offered money by Mr. Chang "not to do" the two projects for which they were under contract." ...
Plaintiff Flintlock cliams that defendants are "withholding $500,000.00 due FSC by Tritel, on other projects." ...
Plaintiff Flintlock claims that defendent is offering FSC "(a) an exclusive deal to perform work only for Tritel; (b) a bonus of $1.5 million; and (c) 15% of the profit on any third project performed by FSC on behalf of Tritel." ...
And Plaintiff Flintlock claims that "as a direct and proximate result of defendants Tritel, Wu and/or Chang's actions, Flintlock has sustained damages in an amount to be determined" ...
Plaintiff Flintlock seeks a Judgment from the Court "in an amount to be determined at trial plus interest thereon" and further seeks "an injunction permanently enjoining and restraining defendants" and, finally, "such other and further relief as this Court may deem just and proper."
More on this case as it moves forward ...
Last edited by lofter1; December 12th, 2006 at 07:10 PM.
That could mean they intend to strip off the ornamentation.I found that 50 Trinity Place doesn't appear on DOB's Full Demolition list
What this means, who knows? Perhaps Kaufman's plan is to incorporate the exisitng building into the new hotel ...
2007 New York City Hotel Openings Preview
Tue Dec 12, 2006
According to the NYC & Company, New York City is adding nearly 5,000 new hotel rooms to its current inventory of 70,723 by the end of 2007. That is a lot of hotel rooms, right?
Regardless, we have way too much fun following all the supposed NYC hotel openings, and once in awhile these places even toss us a bone and sell rooms for half price during their opening phase--yeah, that is still about $250 a night in Manhattan. So it is time to rundown the most buzzworthy 2007 New York City hotel openings--according to us, of course. As always, these are scheduled openings, and scheduled can quickly turn into delayed or even dead projects.
Read more to get our prognostications on six Manhattan hotel openings HotelChatter will be keeping a watchful eye on in 07. We will update the story throughout the year as hoteliers open or delay their NYC openings.
The Standard New York
344 Rooms
West 13th Street between Washington and West Streets
Scheduled Opening :: Late 2007
André Balazs is taking it up a notch. He just opened the Beaver Bar, ahead of the William Beaver House condo project. He is rumored to be thinking about opening his flagship Standard brand hotel in both London and Seattle. However, most impressively, AB is shooting for a late 2007 opening of the Standard NY--an opening that was previously reported for early 2008. AB is hard at work with Polshek Partnership Architects to design his High Line district property and according to the AB website, Standard NY will open soonish. The hotel is also rumored to have a rooftop pool, which is rare for New York but almost compulsory for Meatpacking District hotels. While we still think the start of '08 is a more likely open date for Standard NY, we are not about to doubt Balazs, after all he opened both Standard Miami and QT Hotel on time. That said, we are rooting for a December 2007 opening.
Opening Date Prediction :: December 2007
Sanctuary Hotel New York
132 West 47th Street
Scheduled Opening :: Fall 2007
Major renovations to the Portland Square Hotel are scheduled to turn the property into a "urban lifestyle resort" from hotelier Keith Menin, much like the current Sanctuary resorts in Miami and Arizona. Will its "high style, low service" reputation follow this hotel to NY? If you glance at the reviews of Sanctuary SoBe you will see that the low scoring reviews tend to come from New Yorkers. A foreshadowing? Let's all just give the place a chance first, k? One word of warning to the Sanctuary New York crew: If you institute a "Forbidden City" policy in Manhattan, the i-bankers will buy up the hotel models, er, "work out partners" in no time. Actually, could turn into a regular bidding war.
Opening Date Prediction :: November 2007
The Downtown Hotel
83 rooms
377-383 Greenwich St
Scheduled Opening :: September 2006 Summer 2007
Actor/hotelier Robert DeNiro and partner Ira Drukier have built $43 million, six-story luxury hotel in TriBeCa, now they just need to open the damn thing. What is being called "the most hyped hotel in the country" doesn't even have an officially website, that we can find. Why is it that as soon as Hollywood types get involved in hotel projects things go awry?
Despite that the hotel is yet to open, people have complained about the hotel noise, the hotel architecture, and one website even named it one of the "Top 10 New Best Hotels for Romance for 2006". What? It will have 90 rooms, and a restaurant called Ago when it finally opens.
We are still a little scared of Bobby DeNiro so we are just gonna be positive and encouraging here. We should be talking actual guest reviews on this place sometime before the Ides of March.
Opening Date Prediction :: March 2006
Six Columbus
90 rooms
6 Columbus Circle
Scheduled Opening: 2005 2006 2007
AKA: "Hotel Big Dig", "Six Columbust", "Chinese Democracy Hotel", "666" "Groundhog Day Hotel"
This place should announce that Axel Rose will play at their opening, just to keep the joke going. First scheduled to open before Britney even married K-Fed, getting "six columbused" is now a verb according to Urban Dictionary.
You know the funniest part? This hotel is no longer even visibly mentioned on the Thompson Hotels website.
We are starting to believe 6 Columbus may try to quietly re-flag itself this year, but do you think we will let that happen?
Opening Date Prediction :: September 2007, but not as a Thompson Hotel.
The Lamb's Club Hotel
72 rooms
130 West 44th Street
Scheduled Opening: 2007
Has fatherhood softened Vikram Chatwal? In '06 he stopped hanging out with the Paris Hilton crowd, got married, opened Night Hotel on time, and had a daughter. Here is what Vikram had to say about pregnancy:
Ideally, a pregnant woman puts on weight because she eats for two people. In our case, I look the pregnant one. My appetite has increased, my ankles have swollen and I have put on weight. It's bizarre!
So who was pregnant, Vik or his wife?
As long as he isn't dragged down by a bad case of postpartum depression, the new softer, doughier Vikram should be able to transform the landmark 1904 Sanford White designed Lamb's Club into a luxury hotel on schedule in 2007. Architect Thierry Despont has signed on to design. Who knows, maybe family life will help Vikram focus and actually achieve his dream of becoming the first Sikh billionaire.
Opening Date Prediction :: October 2007
Allen Street Hotel
112 rooms
Allen Street (between Houston and Stanton Streets)
Scheduled Opening: September 2006 Summer 2007
Here is what we said last year:
Ok, this one is kinda laughable. If Jason Pomeranc is able to open his Lower East Side boutique hotel in the year 2006 we will personally rent out one of the suites and have an open bar party for the entire Allen Street hotel staff.
Oh, and Jason, we are going by the Gregorian calendar, just to clarify.
This opening isn't as laughable this year and we will make no such deals with the Allen Street staff (word is they have already made a couple hires). "Allen Street progress" is now Pomeranc's middle name and development is moving along at a decent clip. We still doubt this property will open by the summer, after all, we have been through this before, but we wouldn't be surprised to be checking this place out sometime in late 2007.
The hotel will feature 32 luxury condominiums plus a spa, and swimming pool--when it is finished.
Opening Date Prediction: December 2007
Other Hotel Openings List News
Hotels falling off the list: Loft Hotel Tribeca--changed its name and confused us.
2006 hotels successfully opened: Blue Moon Hotel, The Night Hotel
2006 list hold overs: Six Columbus, The Downtown Hotel
Other noteable 2007 scheduled hotel openings: The Plaza Hotel, Four Points Soho Village, Hotel Mela, Hilton Garden Inn Tribeca
© SFO Media LLC 2004-2006.
Hotel developer Chang sued by former partner
therealdeal.net
by Vanessa Londono
Two of Manhattan's biggest hotel developers - and former partners - are battling over a subcontractor that one claims the other tried to lure away illegally.
John Lam and Sam Chang - both active builders in the current hotel construction boom - were once partners in Orient Construction Group who went separate ways around two years ago.
Now the two hoteliers are involved in a lawsuit in which Chang allegedly offered Flintlock Construction Services, a subcontracted construction company working on Lam's Sheraton Four Points Hotel at 326 West 40th Street, an exclusive deal, a bonus of $1.5 million and 15 percent of future profits if the firm stopped working on Lam's projects and focused solely on Chang's hotels.
The lawsuit claims that one of Chang's companies, Tritel Construction Group, had threatened a subcontractor working for Flintlock, telling the construction company to stop work on the Sheraton project or else lose work from Chang.
Chang confirmed that he was once partners with Lam but declined to comment further on the case.
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