[Jularc]

http://www.pbase.com/image/77838628.jpg


50 West Street
New York, New York

Client: 50 West Street Equities
Architect: Murphy/Jahn Architects

Located at 50 West Street between Joseph P. Ward and Rector Streets in lower Manhattan, this new 69-story, 700 foot tall tower is expected to contain approximately 542,000 sf. The building will provide 349 residential units, 143 hospitality guest rooms, 2 floors of parking and lobby amenity areas. The building is expected to have 10 foot floor-to-floor heights and floor plates of approximately 7,500 sf.


http://www.de-simone.com/projects/residential/50west.html

[Jularc]

Two New High Rises Coming to WTC South


February 21, 2007

Real estate development is on the rise in the area south of the World Trade Center, with two new towers recently added to the construction slate.

The first is 50 West Street, located between West and Washington Streets at J.P. Ward Street (just north of the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel Entrance). The project involves abatement and demolition of the location's three existing buildings, which will be replaced by a new 65-story residential tower and hotel. Pending abatement and demolition-plan approval by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and other agencies, the developer hopes to begin several months of deconstruction work as soon as spring 2007, followed by 32 months of construction.

Nearby at 111 Washington Street (at Carlisle Street), abatement and demolition of the parking garage and two neighboring buildings (numbers 109 and 107) are planned in the coming months. The project's start also depends on EPA approval, with plans to rebuild the site as a 50-story residential tower and hotel. The developer expects construction to last approximately two years.


http://www.lowermanhattan.info/news/two_new_high_rises_85333.aspx

[NYguy]

http://www.pbase.com/image/77802907.jpg

Looks kind of sleek. I'm sure we'll grow to love it with a better rendering. There's info in there about 111 Washington, was wondering when they'd take down that garage. I'll post that information there as well.

[Scruffy]

at 700 feet this will make a very very big impact on the skyline seen from the harbor and liberty island which is one of the most famous views of the city in movies, tv, and print. this will not go hidden. not quite as in the foreground as the curved state street tower but in the ballpark

[colemonkee]

I wonder if this will end up looking like Jahn's 600 N. Fairbanks tower going up right now in Chicago. It has a similar diagonal cantilever effect and very, very transparent glass.

[NYguy]

Just when you think the lower manhattan canyons couldn't become more dense...

[NYguy]

http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/77833800/original.jpg

[Stephenapolis]

That is an extremely sharp looking tower.

[NYguy]

I can't wait until we bet a better rendering. I'd also like to see it with the backdrop of the other Downtown towers.

[Jularc]

:cool: Lets make the rendering much bigger...

http://www.pbase.com/image/77838587/original.jpg

[Stu]

Has potential to be very elegant.

[CoolCzech]

Has a "Flatiron" kind of panache to it...

[NYguy]

With the larger rendering, I notice more detail in the base. Has the potential to be Downtown's nicest residential. Could be better than Gehry's, though we need really good renderings of both.

[sfcity1]

Good to see downtown NYC being all ambitious and reaching for the sky again. This is where Manhattan started, and not a place for where nimbys rule.

[spyguy]

With the larger rendering, I notice more detail in the base. Has the potential to be Downtown's nicest residential. Could be better than Gehry's, though we need really good renderings of both.

Jahn usually uses very good materials, so I think it will probably look stunning.

[Lecom]

Great, great news. That neighboring is up and coming. I collected a good deal of material/photos on it last summer, will have to find the disk where I put it all, and then will probably make a thread with all local project updates, etc for others to post.

[Patrick]

The Lower West Side dose need more skyscrapers, its pretty cool.

[ZZ-II]

looks great, please build it

[Adyton]

Just south of this 50 West Street tower will be this 60 story beauty by Frank Williams right above the Battery Park tunnel entrance:

http://www.archfwa.com/default.aspx?page=5&type=90&project=558&focus=1

What a wonderful combo!:worship:

[Thefigman]

another fine addition to the ever changing downtown skyline!

[NYguy]

Just south of this 50 West Street tower will be this 60 story beauty by Frank Williams right above the Battery Park tunnel entrance:

http://www.archfwa.com/default.aspx?page=5&type=90&project=558&focus=1

What a wonderful combo!:worship:

Wasn't sure if that one was being built, but they will make an awsome combo.
That corridoor will have a great concentration of residential towers...

http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/77925037/original.jpghttp://www.pbase.com/image/77838587/original.jpg

[Jularc]

^ That will be awesome! :cool:

[Antares41]

So this makes three 50+ story bldgs. either under construction, 123 Washington/4 Albany ,or, proposed, 111 Washington, and now 50 West Street, on the west side of downtown below the WTC. Is that right? So hard to keep up!

[Adyton]

That's four (4) 50+ story buildings.

The Jahn 69 story tower will replace the 12 story building on the corner just north (left) of the battery tunnel 60 story tower designed by Frank Williams.

[NYguy]

That's four (4) 50+ story buildings.

The Jahn 69 story tower will replace the 12 story building on the corner just north (left) of the battery tunnel 60 story tower designed by Frank Williams.

Not to mention 10 Barclay and Silverstein's 60-story residential going up just north of the WTC. And there's also Gehry's 74-story tower to the east. Who needs residential on ground zero itself? All of those calls for it were premature.

I like the way these 2 towers will contrast each other.

[CoolCzech]

Who needs residential on ground zero itself? All of those calls for it were premature.

I like the way these 2 towers will contrast each other.


People should remember that the Free Market will deliver far more housing AND office space to New York than any government body like the PA or LMDC ever could. Just look at the incredible explosion of development going on all over New York, when only 24 months ago naysayers were all dire warnings of office gluts!

[NYguy]

Just look at the incredible explosion of development going on all over New York, when only 24 months ago naysayers were all dire warnings of office gluts!

Especially where the WTC was concerned, yet the new space already planned for Midtown is more than twice the amount...

[NYguy]

May as well add 123 Washington...

http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/77925037/original.jpghttp://img338.imageshack.us/img338/5483/15sqft2190xf6.jpghttp://www.pbase.com/image/77838628.jpg[img]

[Jularc]

http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/77833800/original.jpg

I wonder if the building on the corner, right underneath the circle you made, will be demolished for this tower. Looks like this one takes a big parcel.

[MolsonExport]

Nice. Reminds me of King West in Toronto:
http://www.hotels.com/hotels/TOR_KING-exter-1.jpg

[NYguy]

I wonder if the building on the corner, right underneath the circle you made, will be demolished for this tower. Looks like this one takes a big parcel.

I need to look at that location a little more closely next time Im there. You have four decent sized residential towers going up there on what is basically just a block long stretch. I don't know what the 50-story tower at 111 Washington will look like though.

[dbklyno]

i like it, simple and sophisticated. let's just hope the rendering does some justice.

[CoolCzech]

Speaking of the LMDC... weren't they supposed to go out of business? I guess Spitzer decided to keep them around?

[NYguy]

Speaking of the LMDC... weren't they supposed to go out of business? I guess Spitzer decided to keep them around?

He did, and named a new head not long ago.

[Dac150]

:previous: :previous: :previous:

From what I hear they are actually headquartered in 1 Liberty Plaza. That tells me there not going anywhere anytime soon.

[NYguy]

More on Downtown's booming residential market...
http://nymag.com/news/intelligencer/31826/

Great Wall Street
Downtown as Asian bedroom community.

By Arianne Cohen

http://newyorkmetro.com/news/intelligencer/wallstreet070521_560.jpg

(Photo: Lauren Lancaster/Veras Images)


As more and more people move into the office-tower wastelands of the financial district, the area is also, curiously, becoming increasingly Asian. A new census commissioned to study the impact of 9/11 on lower Manhattan, covering all neighborhoods south of Canal Street excluding almost all of Chinatown, found that the white population grew by 15 percent while the Asian population ballooned by 35 percent from 2000 to 2005. Now East and South Asians make up nearly one third of downtown Manhattan.

The rest of the city is only 10 percent Asian. “It’s dramatic,” says Arun Lobo, deputy population-division director at the Department of City Planning, who co-authored the study.

The new demographics are a surprise to city planners, real-estate agents, and even Asians who live downtown. “Whoa, that’s a lot!” says Valerie Lai, 28, who lives at 99 John Street. “I am noticing a lot of young Asians around. It wasn’t like that when I first moved here a couple years ago.” For younger Asians, the financial district is the center of the boom. “My building is largely Asian, and I have no idea why,” says John Provenzano, who lives in the Crest Building at 63 Wall Street. “I thought it was surprising when I moved in. But it’s normal on my block. It’s mostly young Chinese and Koreans.” Nearly all Asian downtowners (95 percent) are American-born—60 percent are Chinese, 15 percent are Korean, 9 percent are Indian.

Everyone has a theory. “I think it has to do with the people now working in the financial district,” says Lobo. Real-estate agents point to the Chinese predilection for new condos. “Chinese culture believes in ownership of real estate. It’s difficult for them to understand co-op policy,” says Cindy Yin, a Douglas Elliman real-estate agent with a large Chinese clientele. “They have a tendency to look only at condos.” Others, like Lai, point to the youthful allure of cheap luxury buildings in proximity to nightlife. Many of the new Asian residents are homeowners. “Young Chinese people invest a lot more in real estate than Americans,” says Yin. “At least 35 to 40 percent of my clients are parents buying for children.” Meanwhile, other downtown neighborhoods remain status quo. “I certainly would not agree with those statistics in my neighborhood,” says Sonali Das, 28, a Tribeca resident. “Tribeca’s pretty homogenous, in terms of being a lot of wealthy, predominantly Caucasian people. I was watching a school get out yesterday, and I hate to say it, but the area’s very geared toward Caucasians.”

[BANKofMANHATTAN]

May as well add 123 Washington...

http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/77925037/original.jpghttp://img338.imageshack.us/img338/5483/15sqft2190xf6.jpghttp://www.pbase.com/image/77838628.jpg[img]

Sweet! These will look great together & with (mostly) everything else being built!

I like the Frank Williams because it has some tapering/crown etc - not just a box. It echos some of the older architecture in the area. Anyone have a height (in feet) guess for this??

[NYguy]

I like the Frank Williams because it has some tapering/crown etc - not just a box. It echos some of the older architecture in the area.

That's true, it looks like it belongs in that area. I'm not sure about the height.

[-GR2NY-]

East and South Asians make up nearly one third of downtown Manhattan.

Wow, thats nuts. Very cool.

[Adyton]

The Jahn tower... the far right of the 3 images above, will be located on the corner of West Street north (left) of the Frank Williams' 60 story tower above Battery park Tunnel. So, the two will look quite striking together! :D

[NYguy]

The Jahn tower... ther far right of the 3 images above, will be located on the corner of West Street north (left) of the Frank Williams' 60 story tower above Battery park Tunnel. So, the two will look quite striking together! :D

And we still don't know what 111 Washington will look like. It will rise just below this one, 50+ stories...

http://img338.imageshack.us/img338/5483/15sqft2190xf6.jpg

[beanhead4529]

its nice to see downtown booming (or at least it WILL)

[Scruffy]

Even though I grew up loving the littlebuilding with the slanting green roof, Im ok that its getting torn down for this one. I took some goodbye pics. See them here tomorrow.

[NYguy]

Here's one that won't be joining the Downtown housing boom afterall...
http://www.cityrealty.com/new_developments/news.cr?page=2

Top of Woolworth Building to revert to offices

http://www.cityrealty.com/graphics/uploads/1178223682_wool111.jpg

03-MAY-07

The owners of the Woolworth Building at 233 Broadway, one of the city's greatest skyscraper landmarks, have decided not to convert the top of the tower to residential condominiums.

Randy Gerner of the architectural firm of Gerner Kronick & Valcarcel PC, told CityRealty.com yesterday that his firm is now working on plans to convert the top floors back to office space. He said the plan is to make the space as exclusive as space at Lever House or 712 Fifth Avenue and that amenities will include a concierge and a separate lobby.

The building, which also has an address of 2 Park Place, was erected in 1913 for F. W. Woolworth, the owner of the famous 5 & 10 cent store chain. It was designed by Cass Gilbert and was the world's tallest building from 1913 to 1931.

It dominates City Hall Park as can be seen in the photograph at the right and its mosaic-lined lobby is the most glorious in the city.

The building was acquired in 1997 by 233 Broadway Owners LLC of which Steve Witkoff and Ruben Schron are principals and plans were disclosed to convert the top floors to apartments last year. A plan was approved by the Department of Buildings last June 15 for "plumbing work for the proposed conversion of floors 30 through 58 to residential use."

In their great book, "New York 1900, Metropolitan Architecture and Urbanism, 1900-1915," Robert A. M. Stern, Gregory Gilmartin and John Massengale described the building as "a masterpiece which culminated the development of the Composite Era skyscraper and anticipated the monuments of the Era of Convenience."

The building, they continued, offered a "convincing demonstration of the aesthetic power and potential urbanistic amenability of the base and tower formula...[and convincingly inhabited its height....The eighty-six-by-eighty-four-foot tower, which set back near the top, rose twenty-six stories above the building's twenty-nine-story base to produce a slightly squat profile that Gilbert's brilliant handling of the vertical ribs did much to help counteract." "The Woolworth Building was remarkable for its free Gothic silhouette and detail, which elevated a rationally composed structural system to heights of lyricism seldom achieved in a commercial building. Truly a 'Cathedral of Commerce,' as the Reverend S. Parkes Cadman dubbed it, the Woolworth Building set the standard for tall buildings for a generation, and Gilbert's Gothic style - 'Woolworth Gothic,' as it came to be known, replaced the Modern French as the most flexible and symbolically appropriate style for tall buildings....With the completion of the Woolworth Building the twentieth-century character of the Manhattan skyline was firmly established."

The remarkable acceleration upwards of office rents in the city in the last year or so has led several owners to reconsider plans to residentially convert some office buildings such as 200 Fifth Avenue facing Madison Square Park where the owners of the Metropolitan Life Insurance clocktower building are also restudying their conversion plans.

[Scruffy]

So this 3 story building which is numbered 50 West Street is going down.
http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z70/Scruffy66/DSC04918.jpg

http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z70/Scruffy66/DSC04616.jpg

But so is this little green top tower that for some off reason I connected with as a kid.
http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z70/Scruffy66/DSC04917.jpg

I was kind of bummed. But this new 700 footer looks cool and it would be really good for the neighborhood, so I started to take pics as my own tribute for it. And now that im done, im ok with it going by way of the dodo. Bring on the 69 story one.

But if you allow the 'jack. This is what the new tower will replace.
http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z70/Scruffy66/DSC04621.jpg

http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z70/Scruffy66/DSC04638.jpg


http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z70/Scruffy66/DSC04640.jpg

http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z70/Scruffy66/DSC04644.jpg

http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z70/Scruffy66/DSC04648.jpg

http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z70/Scruffy66/DSC04649.jpg

http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z70/Scruffy66/DSC04682.jpg

http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z70/Scruffy66/DSC04687.jpg

[Scruffy]

And the Williams one would be next door over this
http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z70/Scruffy66/DSC04919.jpg

[Adyton]

Thanks Scruffy for posting those photos... giving us all a clear idea of what the city will be losing and gaining. The current 50 West building with the nice Beaux Arts copper top is "ok". Sad the lower 7 floors were "modernized" with the Beaux Arts top remaining the same. Too bad the old owner never refurbished the entire building to its Beaux Arts glory... and if so, it would have been a REAL loss to the city. In its current state... its not such a loss... just sad that no one was willing to renovate... too costly to update using only 7-12 stories when the owners can maximize profit and air rights by throwing up a new "GIANT". With Jahn's design, it will be a beauty however...;)

[NYguy]

http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z70/Scruffy66/DSC04687.jpg

Love this view with 7 WTC and the Deutsche Bank tower. This gives you an idea of just how closely spaced
all of these developments will be. By the way, didn't know you were so young Scruffy...;)

[Scruffy]

Love this view with 7 WTC and the Deutsche Bank tower. This gives you an idea of just how closely spaced
all of these developments will be. By the way, didn't know you were so young Scruffy...;)

HA HA. Thats not me. Thats my bud, Lecom. Im older.

[Fabb]

:cool: Lets make the rendering much bigger...

http://www.pbase.com/image/77838587/original.jpg

It's good to see a non-retro residential tower in NY for a change.

[NYguy]

HA HA. Thats not me. Thats my bud, Lecom. Im older.

Same applies. By the way, with all of these developments, in a couple of years the Downtown skyline will resemble of forest of cranes in the sky. You have all of the WTC towers, the Beekman, the residential towers north of the WTC, and all of these towers to the south. More of a rebuilding than anyone thought.

[Scruffy]

this is more than rebuilding at this point. rebuilding signifies replacing what was lost. we've gone far past that. This is now an evolution of sorts. We are being upgraded to a level that downtown has never seen. And I couldn't be more excited to be in the middle of it.

[NYguy]

this is more than rebuilding at this point. rebuilding signifies replacing what was lost. we've gone far past that. This is now an evolution of sorts. We are being upgraded to a level that downtown has never seen. And I couldn't be more excited to be in the middle of it.

That's true, but just as with the WTC itself, the "rebuilt" Downtown will be better than it was before (new transit hubs, better subway connections, more retail, etc). I wonder if many of these developments would have taken place if not for 9/11. Probably so because of the residential market in the City. I know that a large number of these Downtown initiatives were a direct result of 9/11, the government's response. The LMDC also contributes to a lot of Downtown's rebuilding.

[NYguy]

http://www.newyorkbusiness.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070520/FREE/70519014/1010/toc

Hotels find room to build downtown
2 dozen projects planned or under construction in growing area

http://cnimg.sv.publicus.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=CN&Date=20070520&Category=FREE&ArtNo=70519014&Ref=V3&Profile=1010&MaxW=520&border=0&title=1

By: Kerry Murtha
May 20, 2007


By the end of the decade, downtown Manhattan will boast the city's tallest building, a host of new parks, a pair of new transit hubs, the World Trade Center Memorial, scores of new shops and restaurants and thousands of new full-time residents.

With all that in the works, it's no wonder that developers are in the process of making the area the city's hottest market for new hotels. Two dozen such projects are currently either under construction or on the drawing boards. Together, they will add 3,000 hotel rooms south of City Hall within the next few years, more than doubling the current count of nine hotels with a total of 2,197 rooms, according to the Alliance for Downtown New York.

Underserved market

"It's an incredibly strong market and currently underserved," says Rex Hakimian, chief executive of The Hakimian Organization, which is converting the former J.P. Morgan headquarters at 75 Wall St. to an upscale hotel and condominium.

Next year, the 43-story brick tower will reopen with a 250-unit Hyatt Hotel and 350 condominiums. The hotel will capitalize on 360-degree views, 10-foot ceilings, large windows, and a landscaped plaza between Pearl and Water streets.

On the other side of downtown, The Moinian Group is making a similar bet at 123 Washington St., where it is building a 57-story tower that will house the W New York-Downtown Hotel & Residences. The hotel, which is also slated to open next year, will be operated by Starwood Hotel & Resorts Worldwide Inc. and will feature 217 hotel rooms and 222 residential units.

Affluent audience

The hotel's front door sits just one block from the site of the Freedom Tower, which is expected to draw more than 5 million tourists a year. Among the W's amenities will be a 24-hour concierge who can provide guests with everything from a bed covered in rose petals to private jet service. As those amenities suggest, downtown hotels are increasingly catering to an audience of more than businesspeople.

"Five years ago, lower Manhattan was a Monday-through-Thursday hotel market primarily for businesspeople," says Noel Hecht, director of the hotel transactions group for Cushman & Wakefield Inc. "Downtown's shift to a 24/7 community is key to drawing weekend hotel business."

That transition is in full swing. In recent years, downtown has become the fastest-growing residential market in the city. Today, the area has a population of 40,000, up from around 25,000 just six years ago. That burgeoning, affluent crowd has in turn attracted a number of high-end retailers eager to serve them — including Cartier — and restaurants announcing plans to open downtown.

"We are counting on the continued growth of downtown to increase the guest room demand," says Gary Wisinski, chief operating officer for Queens-based McSam Hotel Group, which has several projects under way in the Wall Street area. He notes that occupancy rates for downtown hotels are currently running "in the mid-80% range."

Among McSam's developments are a 113-room Wyndham Garden Hotel at 20 Maiden Lane, a 192-room Doubletree at 8 Stone St. and a 112-room Holiday Inn Express at the corner of Wall and Water streets. All three are expected to open next year.

Capitalizing on downtown's increasing popularity with younger people, some developers are creating small boutique hotels. A classic example is the Wall Street Inn at 9 S. William St., which developer Norman Rutta opened in 1999. The 46-room boutique is in the old headquarters of investment bank Lehman Brothers, and hints at its former grandeur with a lobby that features mahogany paneling and a granite floor.

Vibrant market

Mitchell Adelstein, president of CRG Realty Capital, a boutique hotel financier, says he has been involved in at least half a dozen boutique hotel projects downtown. "The interest in creating this kind of destination here is a testament to lower Manhattan's shift from a purely commercial base to a vibrant, hip, young hotel market," he says.

In response to the changing downtown market, owners of some existing hotels are pouring money into upgrades of their facilities. LaSalle Hotel Properties, for example, recently lavished $60 million on a renovation of the Holiday Inn Wall Street District.

The hotel, located at the corner of Gold and Platt streets, offers free PCs equipped with high-speed Internet access in every one of its 138 rooms. Visitors are also offered access to personal trainers and private yoga classes.

[NYguy]

http://downtownexpress.com/de_211/developerplansto.html

http://downtownexpress.com/de_211/time.gif

http://downtownexpress.com/de_211/ward.gif

This narrow walkway on Ward St. would be widened into a landscaped plaza under the plan.

Developer plans to knock down West St. ‘copper top’ to build 63 stories

By Skye H. McFarlane


The developer has called it a “shot in the arm for the neighborhood.” More than one Financial District resident has called it a “dangerous precedent.” The chair of Community Board 1 has called it a “huge decision.”

On June 6, Downtowners will get a chance to decide for themselves how to describe the 63-story, mixed-use development proposed for 50 West St. The developer, Time Equities, will make a full presentation on the project before C.B. 1’s Financial District, Battery Park City and Quality of Life Committees.

In addition to informing the public, the Wednesday meeting will be one of only two opportunities that the board will have to formulate an official position on the development. The other will be next month’s full board meeting. Because 50 West St. has applied for several zoning tweaks, as well as the purchase of air rights from the city, the project must undergo the city’s complex Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP). By city law, the community board has until July 2 to submit its opinion on the project.

“We’ll meet as long as we need to meet Wednesday to answer everyone’s questions on this,” said Julie Menin, the chair of C.B. 1. “We are going to speak with a very loud voice on this.”

However, Menin isn’t sure just yet what that voice will say. No matter what the community board says, there will be a significant development at 50 West St. Under the area’s commercial zoning, Time Equities can build a 30 to 40 story building on the site’s current footprint. The company has already submitted preliminary applications for the demolition of the 1912 “copper top” 13-story building that currently occupies the space, just north of the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel. The development will contain hotel rooms, luxury condominium units and ground floor retail, all to be designed by well-known architect Helmut Jahn.

If the developer’s ULURP application is approved, the building could gain an additional 180,000 square feet of space, putting it at 63 stories under the current plans. The ULURP would also clear the way for a public plaza on the site, with landscaping and outdoor seating for a proposed café and restaurant. The plaza would be created by enlarging the narrow Ward St. walkway near the garage that leads from West to Washington Sts.

Menin, City Councilmember Alan Gerson and representatives from the community board and the local schools have been meeting with Time Equities to discuss potential “community benefits” that the developer might be willing to offer. Community benefit negotiations are common in cases of large-scale developments, especially those that require zoning variances or regulatory approvals. Previous negotiations with Downtown developers have yielded three schools, two community centers and funding for youth programs.

Gerson, Menin and Phillip Gesue, Time Equities director of acquisition and development, all declined to comment specifically on what community amenities have been discussed. However, both Gerson and Menin stressed that the developers will have to make accommodations for the additional children they would be bringing into the area’s overcrowded schools, as well as address the dearth of affordable housing Downtown. Others with knowledge of the negotiations were more specific, saying that Time Equities has offered to purchase laptops and other technology for P.S./ I.S. 89 in Battery Park City, and to beautify a small local park on Trinity Place.

Some community members have complained about the “closed door” negotiations for community amenities. Gerson responded that the talks were only preliminary, to let the developers know what concerns they would have to address in their presentation. Menin and Gesue both stressed that it was not possible to have full-blown public presentation until the 50 West ULURP application was officially submitted to the board. That happened on May 2 and since then, Menin said, a number of board members have taken the time to review the proposal.

Though it is not contained in the ULURP plans, Menin said that she expected Time Equities to include the possibility of a pedestrian bridge in its presentation to the board. Residents of south Battery Park City have long wished for a bridge to connect them to the Rector St. subways without the hassle and danger of navigating the at-grade traffic near the Battery Tunnel. Financial constraints and logistical questions over where and how to construct the bridge have long stalled the project. Gesue said that Time Equities is “absolutely” supportive of having a pedestrian bridge in the neighborhood. He added that the 50 West project could help the community by getting involved in any number of urban planning efforts.

In general, though, Gesue believes that the 50 West project is its own community benefit. With Jahn’s name and talent attached, he said, the building will be an “architectural landmark.” Gesue declined to release any renderings before the presentation. The building is also aiming for a gold rating from the U.S. Green Buildings Council. The current plans call for a clear glass building surrounding an exposed concrete skeleton. The building would be narrower at the bottom, to allow room for the public plaza, and wider on the upper floors — what architects call a cantilever.

The public plaza, Gesue said, will give Battery Park City residents a clean, attractive walkway to the Financial District. With a better access path, the merchants in the Greenwich South area will benefit from an increase in foot traffic. In general, he believes that the development will bring tourists, shops and street life to an area that is better known for commuter traffic and parking garages. Gesue admitted, however, that those neighborhood qualities will make the new 50 West St. property a challenge to market.

“This is why we need all the help we can get,” Gesue said. “We’re taking what is not a great area and we are making it better. This will be a real shot in the arm for the neighborhood, but that’s a challenge and a risk for us. That’s why we need the community’s help and not resistance.”

Some community members are already resistant, fearing that the rumored laptops, park improvements and pedestrian bridge will not compensate for the stress that the building’s increased population will put on the neighborhood’s schools and parks. While new laptops will become obsolete in five years, C.B. 1 member Catherine McVay Hughes said, the community will be stuck with 20 extra stories forever. Hughes also worried that the developer’s plan to build green would be presented as a “community amenity” at the meeting.

“A green building is great,” Hughes said. “But any smart developer these days who wants to attract luxury condo owners would want to make their building green. So it’s not a community amenity.”

Other community members are vowing to oppose the project, no matter what community amenities Time Equities offers. The height of the building would be out-of-context with the neighborhood, they say, (most nearby buildings are in the 20- to 30-story range) and the purchase of air rights from over the Battery Tunnel would set a bad precedent in an area that will likely see more large development in the coming years.

“I think it’s time to save the community contextually,” said C.B. 1 member and Battery Park City resident Tom Goodkind. “I don’t think community boards were meant to negotiate money out of realtors.”

Menin also believes that the process of community boards negotiating with developers needs to be reformed. She said that instead of having communities beg and plead every time a new development comes along, the city should institute a formal process whereby large projects must be analyzed to find out exactly what impact they will have on community infrastructure. Developers would then have a legal mandate to mitigate that impact.

While Gerson also supports a more regulated process at the city level, he said Wednesday that he was “guardedly optimistic” that the community and Time Equities could reach an amenable agreement under the current system. Though she is waiting to see the final presentation and hear the community’s reaction, Menin was a bit more guarded than optimistic.

“It’s a huge decision,” she said. “It may be that the impact is simply too great. At a certain point, we would have to say, ‘No, this is not acceptable.’”

The opinions of the community board, the Borough President’s office and the City Planning department all carry weight in the ULURP process, but because the 50 West application involves a change to the city map, the final approval or disapproval will be made by the City Council. The June 6 public meeting will take place at 6 p.m. in the Assembly Hearing Room on the 19th floor of 250 Broadway.

[Busy Bee]

The height of the building would be out-of-context with the neighborhood, they say, (most nearby buildings are in the 20- to 30-story range) and the purchase of air rights from over the Battery Tunnel would set a bad precedent in an area that will likely see more large development in the coming years.

You. Live. In. Fucking. Lower. Manhattan! Idiots.

[NYguy]

^They'd like to think they're in the suburbs.

Here's the building in question again. The top is nice, but otherwise, the
building is nothing special. In fact, if you just cut off the copper top, we'd
be calling for its demoliton...


http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z70/Scruffy66/DSC04917.jpg

http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z70/Scruffy66/DSC04621.jpg

[http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z70/Scruffy66/DSC04687.jpg

[CoolCzech]

Who's bright idea was it to drag thousands of suburbanites into the nation's most important financial district, anyway?

Great going, guys! Now how 'bout them daycare centers, huh? :rolleyes:

[NYguy]

Who's bright idea was it to drag thousands of suburbanites into the nation's most important financial district, anyway?

Great going, guys! Now how 'bout them daycare centers, huh? :rolleyes:

How about this one?

both Gerson and Menin stressed that the developers will have to make accommodations for the additional children they would be bringing into the area’s overcrowded schools, as well as address the dearth of affordable housing Downtown.

Menin, City Councilmember Alan Gerson and representatives from the community board and the local schools have been meeting with Time Equities to discuss potential “community benefits” that the developer might be willing to offer. Community benefit negotiations are common in cases of large-scale developments, especially those that require zoning variances or regulatory approvals. Previous negotiations with Downtown developers have yielded three schools, two community centers and funding for youth programs.

"Affordable Housing" and "Downtown" are two words that really don't belong in the same sentence. Ideally, everything would be "affordable" to everyone. But if it costs to move Downtown, then it costs to move Downtown.

[Scruffy]

I love the fact that we all are so ahead of the curve. We talk about stuff for a couple weeks before the media picks it up and brings it the masses. we rule.

cantilevered? interesting.

If they are buying air rights from the battery tunnel, to me that sounds like the williams tower that was going over the parking lot is a vision only and will not happen. im thinking that they would be competing for the same air rights.

[NYguy]

I love the fact that we all are so ahead of the curve. We talk about stuff for a couple weeks before the media picks it up and brings it the masses. we rule.

cantilevered? interesting.

If they are buying air rights from the battery tunnel, to me that sounds like the williams tower that was going over the parking lot is a vision only and will not happen. im thinking that they would be competing for the same air rights.

I was surprised to see it there in the Express. Maybe they took a cue from your photos. Perhaps you can go down to the meeting and get more detailed information on this process:

On June 6, Downtowners will get a chance to decide for themselves how to describe the 63-story, mixed-use development proposed for 50 West St. The developer, Time Equities, will make a full presentation on the project before C.B. 1’s Financial District, Battery Park City and Quality of Life Committees.

[BayRidgeFever]

63-story mixed-use tower planned for 50 West Street 07-JUN-07

http://i11.tinypic.com/5zqusyc.jpg

Time Equities, a real estate company headed by Francis Greenburger, made a presentation last night to the Financial District, Battery Park City and Quality of Life committees of Community Board 1 of its plans to erect a 63-story hotel and residential condominium development at 50 West Street across from Battery Park City.

The slim tower has been designed by Helmut Jahn of Murphy/Jahn Architects of Chicago, who designed CitySpire, Park Avenue Tower and 425 Lexington Avenue in New York and the great State of Illinois Center in Chicago, and Gruzen Samton LLC.

The curved south side of the tower would have a plaza that would provide an alternate and more attractive pedestrian walkway from Battery Park City to Greenwich Street than the existing walkway through the Battery Tunnel Garage.

The proposed building would house a 155-room hotel on floors 1 though 13, 48 "full-service residential units" on floors 14 through 18 and 259 residential condominium apartments on floors 20 through 63. It would have an illuminated top, but no garage.

The ground floor of the tower, which would be designed to achieve a Gold LEED rating, would contain a "light-art gallery showcasing some of the most innovate light installation artists in the world, a caf¿/bar, a restaurant and a "gourmet" corner store grocery.

The project requires text changes to allow a plaza at the site and to permit the transfer of development rights above the Battery Tunnel garage to be used "only in the at-grade area north of J. P. Ward Street, and by special permit only."

In addition, the project requires the demapping of a 8-inch strip between J. P. Ward Street and the applicant's site and a demapping for "a plane above J. P. Ward and the portion of the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel Approach located 37.2 feet above the area between West, Washington, Morris and J. P. Ward Streets.

The Brooklyn Battery Tunnel Approach has about 2.7 million square feet of unused air rights and the 50 West Street project plans to acquire about 183,000 square feet of those air rights.

The project's site is just to the north of the 8-acre Greenwich Street South project that would deck over the Manhattan entrance to the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel, create a new park and a new, automated, green-roofed bus garage and five residential towers, a plan that was initiated by Mayor Bloomberg in 2002 and which the chairman of the Hugh L. Carey Battery Park City Authority, Jim Gill, said last year he would like to take charge of.

An urban design study for that project was prepared in 2005 envisioned a new, curved pedestrian bridge over West Street to connect the southern part of Battery Park City to Greenwich Green, a new park between Morris and Edgar Streets between West and Greenwich Streets.

Members of the community board indicated they wanted any income from the sale of air rights to the project to be used for projects in Lower Manhattan, indicating that they were concerned about schools, a new pedestrian bridge over West Street, and the area's need for more cultural institutions and affordable housing.

Philip Gesue, director of development and acquisitions for Time Equities, told the meeting that it was considering giving a local school 159 laptop computers with four-year maintenance contracts, to help address the area's school needs. Mr. Gesue said that a bridge from Battery Park City over West Street to his company's site would be difficult to accommodate because of the small size of the site.

Julie Menin, chair of the community board, said that board needed more time to study what amenities it might seek from the development and scheduled another meeting for June 18, the day before it must make recommendations for the project's Uniform Land Use Review (ULURP) applications.

The redevelopment of the 50 West site would involve the demolition of the 12-story, 1912 building once known as the Crystal Building that has a 3-story-high mansard roof.

http://www.cityrealty.com/new_developments/

[NYguy]

http://www.pbase.com/image/77838587/original.jpg_http://i11.tinypic.com/5zqusyc.jpg
Old & New rendering

Very sleek design. Could be the same design from the looks....

[NYguy]

The Brooklyn Battery Tunnel Approach has about 2.7 million square feet of unused air rights and the 50 West Street project plans to acquire about 183,000 square feet of those air rights.

I had no idea there was that much there....

[Antares41]

Elegant design! hope the community board recommends this beauty.

[NYguy]

Elegant design! hope the community board recommends this beauty.

They probably won't...

Members of the community board indicated they wanted any income from the sale of air rights to the project to be used for projects in Lower Manhattan, indicating that they were concerned about schools, a new pedestrian bridge over West Street, and the area's need for more cultural institutions and affordable housing.

Philip Gesue, director of development and acquisitions for Time Equities, told the meeting that it was considering giving a local school 159 laptop computers with four-year maintenance contracts, to help address the area's school needs. Mr. Gesue said that a bridge from Battery Park City over West Street to his company's site would be difficult to accommodate because of the small size of the site. Julie Menin, chair of the community board, said that board needed more time to study what amenities it might seek from the development and scheduled another meeting for June 18, the day before it must make recommendations for the project's Uniform Land Use Review (ULURP) applications.

But it may not matter...

However, Menin (the chair of C.B. 1) isn’t sure just yet what that voice will say. No matter what the community board says, there will be a significant development at 50 West St. Under the area’s commercial zoning, Time Equities can build a 30 to 40 story building on the site’s current footprint. The company has already submitted preliminary applications for the demolition of the 1912 “copper top” 13-story building that currently occupies the space, just north of the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel. The development will contain hotel rooms, luxury condominium units and ground floor retail, all to be designed by well-known architect Helmut Jahn.

If the developer’s ULURP application is approved, the building could gain an additional 180,000 square feet of space, putting it at 63 stories under the current plans. The ULURP would also clear the way for a public plaza on the site, with landscaping and outdoor seating for a proposed café and restaurant. The plaza would be created by enlarging the narrow Ward St. walkway near the garage that leads from West to Washington Sts.

[Master Shake]

I have always thought there should be tall buildings over the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel. Good to hear that its happening.

I am sorry to break the news to you guys, you can huff and puff all you want, but New York really is not about tall buildings anymore, its about slipping in a 30 story building here or there where a developer can. As we have become a city of property owners as opposed to renters, anyone wth an apartment and half a brain knows its best to limit supply to maximize the value of your investment.

[antinimby]

Downtown Tower Developer Seeks CB1 Approval

http://tribecatrib.com/photos/news/june07/50%20West-Julie.jpg
http://tribecatrib.com/photos/news/june07/captions/west1.gif


By Andrea Appleton
POSTED JUNE 8, 2007 (http://tribecatrib.com/news/newsjune07/50west.htm)

One more towering glass building—this one 63 stories—may soon join the bumper crop planned for Lower Manhattan. But first the 725-foot tower at 50 West Street, near Rector Street, must survive an extensive city-mandated review.

That’s what brought the developer, Time Equities, Inc., before combined committees of Community Board 1 on June 6 as they sought the board’s advisory approval. The transparent glass building would house about 300 condos and a 155-room high-end hotel, and would include a public plaza.

A Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP) is required because the developer wants several exemptions to the current zoning, as well as permission to purchase air rights from the Brooklyn Battery Garage across the street. Once CB1 has reviewed the plans, they will go to Borough President Scott Stringer’s office, followed by the City Planning Department, and finally to the City Council.

At the meeting of CB 1’s combined Financial District, Battery Park City and Quality of Life/Affordable Housing Committees, Philip Gesue, acquisitions director for Time Equities, Inc., argued that the city was getting something special in the bargain. The tower’s design is by the well-known architect, Helmut Jahn, and a plaza along the Joseph P. Ward and Washington Street edges of the lot would provide a pedestrian-friendly route between the southern part of Battery Park City and the rest of Lower Manhattan. Now, the only direct route from West Street to Washington Street in the area is through the Brooklyn Battery Garage or up a dark sidewalk hemmed in between the garage and the adjoining building.

http://tribecatrib.com/photos/news/june07/50%20West-plaza.jpg
http://tribecatrib.com/photos/news/june07/captions/west3.gif

“Everybody who crosses the street here winds up walking up the middle of Joseph P. Ward Street because this sidewalk is so narrow and dirty,” said Gesue. “It’s dangerous and illegal, and doesn’t contribute to the fabric of the community.” He added that developers are aiming for gold-level LEED certification, the U.S. Green Building Council’s highest rating.

But CB 1 members seemed unconvinced that the development would be good for the community.

“You keep using very negative words to describe our neighborhood,” said board member Linda Belfer, a Battery Park City resident. “’Desolate’ and ‘gritty.’ We love our neighborhood, and what you’re proposing to do is going to vastly change it.”

Among the changes they foresee, board members mentioned the increase in traffic and the burden on local schools from the influx of new residents, as well as the overall change to the neighborhood’s character the tall glass building would bring.

To help mitigate effects on P.S./I.S. 89 Gesue said Time Equities, Inc. plans to buy 159 laptop computers for the schools. These would be distributed to all of the classrooms, making the computer room that the two schools now share obsolete and allowing P.S. 89 to add a classroom. Gesue said Time Equities, Inc. would also fund a full-time computer maintenance person for the schools for four years.

“The impact on the school, the growth, directly affects P.S. 89,” said I.S. 89 principal Ellen Foote, who attended the meeting, “but indirectly affects I.S. 89. We’re being squeezed and the only way to maintain an appropriate level of technology is to go by this route.”

While board members applauded the offer, it did not seem to appease them.

“What we’re trying to do tonight,” said chair Julie Menin, “is give you a sense of our needs, and how you can mitigate the severe impacts which this project will have on our community.”

Menin suggested some projects the developer might undertake, such as improving two small parks on Edgar Street, and adding benches and lighting to the streetscape around 50 West St. Others on the board suggested the building should include a cultural amenity.

Board member Bill Love proposed that the plans should include a new pedestrian bridge. “We need a permanent bridge connecting the southern part of Battery Park City to the other side of West Street,” he said. “It seems to me that your building is really an ideal location for such a bridge to terminate.”

Gesue said he would be open to considering the bridge proposal once the ULURP process was successfully completed. But about most of the other requests, he was noncommittal.

“We didn’t come here tonight with a stripped-down building that doesn’t offer a whole lot to you and expect to be in a trading session here,” he said.

The committees will meet again on June 18 to discuss the proposal and hammer out a resolution. The next evening, the full board will vote on it.

Among the complex zoning modifications in the application is a request to “demap” several areas associated with the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel Approach. This would allow the developer to purchase air rights from the city, essentially buying them from the garage across the street. This would allow the building to add 183,000 square feet to the only 275,000 square feet that is currently allowed in the zoning.

http://tribecatrib.com/photos/news/june07/50%20West-elevations.jpg
http://tribecatrib.com/photos/news/june07/captions/west2.gif

Board members were emphatic about where the money from selling the air rights ought to go if the application is passed.

“The city is obviously getting substantial money for them,” said Menin. “I feel strongly that these proceeds must go into Lower Manhattan to benefit our community.”

The committees will meet again to consider the application on June 18 at 6 p.m., at 49-51 Chambers St., Room 709.

The Tribeca Trib

[GFSNYC]

I am sorry to break the news to you guys, you can huff and puff all you want, but New York really is not about tall buildings anymore, its about slipping in a 30 story building here or there where a developer can. As we have become a city of property owners as opposed to renters, anyone wth an apartment and half a brain knows its best to limit supply to maximize the value of your investment.

I think that when demand for land is high, you might want to maximize your investment. I'm sure it would be a pretty bad move (to say the least) for a developer to purposely undersize their project to maximize profitability per unit. There will always be a developer willing to take less profit to build bigger. 50% profitability and making $100 is not nearly as good at 2% profitability and $900, in real estate cash flow > profitability.

But CB 1 members seemed unconvinced that the development would be good for the community.

“You keep using very negative words to describe our neighborhood,” said board member Linda Belfer, a Battery Park City resident. “’Desolate’ and ‘gritty.’ We love our neighborhood, and what you’re proposing to do is going to vastly change it.”

LOL, so the community wants beautification, amenities and benefits, but don't mention that they need amenities beautification.

Among the changes they foresee, board members mentioned the increase in traffic and the burden on local schools from the influx of new residents, as well as the overall change to the neighborhood’s character the tall glass building would bring.

If there were no change in character, I'm pretty sure we'd be a souless city full of cookie-cutter highrises.

Crossing the streets around there is annoying, I really do hope they improve pedestrian flow, the tower looks very sleek, I wonder how it would fit into the skyline.

[STERNyc]

I think that when demand for land is high, you might want to maximize your investment. I'm sure it would be a pretty bad move (to say the least) for a developer to purposely undersize their project to maximize profitability per unit. There will always be a developer willing to take less profit to build bigger. 50% profitability and making $100 is not nearly as good at 2% profitability and $900, in real estate cash flow > profitability.


Thanks for clearing that up, as if it that was really needed. There is no way that NY developers don't build in order to create a demand, that is just plain old silly. 99% of New York developments are built out to the largest possible build-out allowed under zoning. :koko: :koko: :koko: :koko: :koko:

[NYguy]

I am sorry to break the news to you guys, you can huff and puff all you want, but New York really is not about tall buildings anymore, its about slipping in a 30 story building here or there where a developer can.

You're either insane, or obviously out of touch with reality. Please keep your ignorance to yourself.

[NYguy]

http://tribecatrib.com/photos/news/june07/50%20West-Julie.jpg__http://tribecatrib.com/photos/news/june07/50%20West-elevations.jpg

So the tower will stand 725 ft. Nice addition to that area of the skyline...:yes:

I'm lovin this one more from the latest renderings.

[toddguy]

The new render makes this building look very sleek and elegant..kind of Hong-Kongish(in the good way). I hope it gets built. Wtf are they complaining about in that neighborhood? I do like that top of that building that is going down-too bad they cannot save or resurrect that part of that building for somewhere else.

[NYguy]

I do like that top of that building that is going down-too bad they cannot save or resurrect that part of that building for somewhere else.

It's the only decent part of that building...:yes:

[NYguy]

Enlarged...


http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/80296364/original.jpg

[Master Shake]

Thanks for clearing that up, as if it that was really needed. There is no way that NY developers don't build in order to create a demand, that is just plain old silly. 99% of New York developments are built out to the largest possible build-out allowed under zoning. :koko: :koko: :koko: :koko: :koko:

Yeesh, you missed my point completely. Of course developers build to maximize profits, but other property owners will seek to limit supply and object to a tall building. If I own a condo in Battery Park City, the last thing I want is a tall development nearby as it will increase supply and potentially reduce the relative value of my investment. Community opposition is often driven by economic interests of current property owners as it is driven by aesthetic reasons.

[antinimby]

^ You're giving the average New Yorker too much credit. They are not as knowledgable as you may think.

They usually don't know much about or even believe in that supply and demand business.

In fact, most will argue that lots of new development is causing the cost of living to rise, quite mistakenly but that is what the average person only knows.

Most of the NIMBYism in the city is generally based on, but not limited to these reasons:

1) fear of change
2) fear of too many new people / crowding
3) loss of view / sunlight
4) rising rents
5) gentrification / racism
6) dislike of new or modern (glassy) designs
7) dislike height / bigness

There are still other reasons but these are the most common ones. So while you are right in that they usually oppose developments for selfish reasons, you are wrong in the reason why they do.

[STERNyc]

^ You're giving the average New Yorker too much credit. They are not as knowledgable as you may think.

They usually don't know much about or even believe in that supply and demand business.

In fact, most will argue that lots of new development is causing the cost of living to rise, quite mistakenly but that is what the average person only knows.

Most of the NIMBYism in the city is generally based on, but not limited to these reasons:

1) fear of change
2) fear of too many new people / crowding
3) loss of view / sunlight
4) rising rents
5) gentrification / racism
6) dislike of new or modern (glassy) designs
7) dislike height / bigness

There are still other reasons but these are the most common ones. So while you are right in that they usually oppose developments for selfish reasons, you are wrong in the reason why they do.


Don't forget the noise and incovenience associated with construction. Nimby’s are selfish deplorable creatures, they feel that only they have a right to live in a major city, not realizing that where they live, when built, also made an impact on the neighborhood.

[NYguy]

Yeesh, you missed my point completely. Of course developers build to maximize profits, but other property owners will seek to limit supply and object to a tall building. If I own a condo in Battery Park City, the last thing I want is a tall development nearby as it will increase supply and potentially reduce the relative value of my investment.

Or increase the value. In this case, I would go with the increase. We're talking about what has basically been a "dead" area of Manhattan and creating a new neighborhood. Also, in New York, developers will build as allowed, despite whatever objections neighbors (or NIMBYs) may have.

[antinimby]

Don't forget the noise and incovenience associated with construction.Ah yes, how could I have forgotten? That's another common one.

[NYguy]

Ah yes, how could I have forgotten? That's another common one.

As far as that goes, most of Lower Manhattan will be covered with construction in some form or another...

[NYguy]

http://www.downtownexpress.com/de_214/developersays.html

Developer says ‘no’ to affordable housing, so C.B. 1 considers saying ‘right back at you’

http://www.downtownexpress.com/de_214/developer.gif

Time Equities plans to build a new 63-story luxury condo building at 50 West St.

By Skye H. McFarlane

A presentation on the proposed 63-story tower at 50 West St. last week left local community board members wrestling with two questions: What sort of community amenities would mitigate the impact of the project’s desired zoning variances? And when does the impact become so significant that no potential amenity could make the deal worthwhile?

The developers at 50 West St. formally presented their request for two separate land use actions on June 6. Now it is up to Community Board 1 to determine whether green design, a public plaza and a laptop program for a local school are reason enough to approve zoning variances that would allow Time Equities to add more than 20 stories to their planned hotel and condominium combo.

So far, the answer seems to be “no,” particularly since the developer refused a request by C.B. 1 members to consider building any affordable apartments in Lower Manhattan.

“We’re moving in right direction, but I don’t think we’re there yet,” said City Councilmember Alan Gerson, who helped negotiate the amenities with the developer. “The community voiced legitimate concerns and requests at the meeting.”

For some community members, the addition of park maintenance, cultural space or a pedestrian bridge could make the development palatable. For others, 50 West St.’s high density, out-of-context design and lack of affordable housing make the project a no-go, no matter what the developers offer the community. The board will hold another meeting this Monday to craft a resolution on the development. According to C.B. 1 chairperson Julie Menin, the board plans to write a conditional approval or disapproval, rather than a simple “yes” or “no.” The full board will vote on the resolution this Tuesday.

By law, the Department of City Planning must consider the community board’s opinion as a part of the official Uniform Land Use Review Procedure. The City Council, however, will have the final say on whether or not the 50 West St. project gets approved.

By right, the developer, Time Equities, can build a 30 to 40-story building on the site, which is next to the entrance to the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel. A 1912 office building will be demolished to make way for the new tower. If the developers’ land-use application is approved, they will be able to add 180,000 square feet of space through the construction of a public plaza along little-known Ward St. and the purchase of air rights from over the Battery Tunnel.

The building will be a slender, translucent glass cylinder designed by noted architect Helmut Jahn. Time Equities director of acquisition and development Phillip Gesue said that the building’s aesthetics made the most sense at its planned height of 63 stories. He pointed out that most of the city’s most significant and beloved buildings, such as the Woolworth Building, were out of context with the height and style of their surroundings when they were first constructed.

“Over time, everything blends in,” Gesue said of the building’s height. “I think this design is very different, very special.”


Despite his admiration for the design, Gesue would not release a rendering of the project for publication.

Several board members agreed that the Jahn design was appealing. Their concerns, they said, rested more with what will be inside the building — namely 300 luxury condominiums filled with new residents. The building will also contain a high-end hotel and ground-floor retail spaces. Community members worried that the new residents and their children would further stress the neighborhood’s already crowded schools, parks and ballfields.

In an attempt to mitigate that impact, the developer offered up a plan to provide laptops for every student in Battery Park City’s I.S. 89. Time Equities would provide laptops, backup equipment and a staff technician for four years. Asked why the developer was offering a temporary amenity to offset a permanent development, Gesue said that the laptop program was designed to see the school through until a new school can be built in the neighborhood, presumably at Site 2B in the neighborhood’s south end.

I.S. 89 principal Ellen Foote and David Feiner, an aide to Councilmember Gerson, both spoke in support of the plan. By giving the school laptops, they said, the developers will allow I.S. 89 to turn its computer room into two regular classrooms — thus reducing class size. Although I.S. 89’s enrollment is capped, P.S. 89, which shares the building, has experienced acute class-size problems in recent years.

Feiner also spoke in favor of 50 West’s plan to seek a “Gold” rating from the U.S. Green Buildings Council. In addition to the rating, Gesue said at the meeting that Time Equities was open to requiring the use of ultra low sulfur diesel fuel and emissions filters in its construction vehicles.

“This is the perfect place to have a green building,” Feiner said. “It’s important to set the standard and hopefully other developers will have to follow the standard and compete.”

One aspect of the building’s green plan, however, was a sticking point for local residents. To encourage the use of public transportation, the building will not have a parking garage. Community members said they feared that the building’s high-income residents and guests would bring cars into the neighborhood anyways, clogging up the streets and raising the price of parking in local garages.

At the Wednesday night meeting, the community debated back and forth with Gesue about other possibilities for community benefits in and around the site. Although the development will include a tree-lined pedestrian plaza along Ward St., Time Equities backed off of its earlier support for a pedestrian bridge connecting the area to Battery Park City.

Gesue said that a bridge landing inside the building would present space and cleanliness issues. A resident of the Greenwich South area himself, Gesue said that he was personally in favor of a pedestrian bridge landing in plaza, but that the developers would have to discuss the feasibility of such a project at a later date.

Gesue said that the developer would consider adding public art or cultural space to the building, so long as the cultural space was occupied by a paying tenant. He did not respond to suggestions that the developer might pay to improve the small parks and streetscapes in the neighborhood.

Menin said that if Time Equities did not choose to take on the park and streetscape upgrades, she hoped that the city would do it instead. If the ULURP application is approved, the city would stand to earn an estimated $18 million from the sale of its air rights. Because the sale of city air rights over a street is an unusual and (to some board members) unsettling proposition, Menin and others insisted that the neighborhood must reap the benefits of that sale from the municipal end.

“One-hundred percent of the proceeds must go to Downtown to support much-needed infrastructure,” Menin said. “That money cannot end up in Red Hook.”

The mention of Brooklyn drew the ire of community residents more than once during the meeting. Because the developer plans to take advantage of the 421-a tax abatement, community members asked whether Time Equities planned to include any affordable housing in the 50 West project. South of 14th St., any development can currently take advantage of the tax break, which was put into place during the 1970s economic crisis.

A new version of the law, however, is expected to pass the state legislature this session. If passed, the new 421-a law would require developers in Lower Manhattan to include at least 20 percent affordable housing in their projects to merit the tax break. The new law would take effect in the new year. The 50 West project plans to break ground in late fall, which would put the project under the old version of the law.

Gesue said last Wednesday that it would be financially impossible to include affordable housing at 50 West as it is currently designed, since the building’s complex architecture and green features have put the construction price tag at over $1,000 per square foot. Asked if Time Equities would consider putting affordable housing off site in one of the company’s other Downtown properties, Gesue said no.

Frustrated with that answer, board member Allan Tannenbaum asked Gesue if he believed that Lower Manhattan should be reserved only for the rich and the super-rich.

“I think that Lower Manhattan should be for the people who can afford to pay the prices that it currently costs to live here,” Gesue said, stressing his strong belief in the free market. He added that if he could no longer afford to live in Lower Manhattan, he would happily move to Brooklyn. He suggested that other neighborhood residents could do the same. “You move to the neighborhood that you can afford to live in.”

The comments — and the thought of another tower going up in the narrow streets of her rapidly developing neighborhood — brought long-time Washington St. resident Esther Regelson close to tears. She urged C.B. 1 to refuse the ULURP application. Gesue argued that the towers, particularly 50 West, would bring commerce and street life to a “gritty” area that currently houses strip clubs and parking garages in addition to its historic old buildings and tenement apartments.

In the end, the board members decided that they needed to go home and carefully weigh the many aspects of the 50 West St. proposal before making a final decision.

“It’s a very good looking building, but would we rather have smaller scale here with stoops and stairs?” asked board member Tom Goodkind. “It’s not just about what the developer is going to give us. We have to ask, ‘Will this improve the neighborhood?’ It might, but I don’t know yet.”

[GFSNYC]

“I think that Lower Manhattan should be for the people who can afford to pay the prices that it currently costs to live here,” Gesue said, stressing his strong belief in the free market.

This may open a huge flame war, but here goes. Affordable housing integrated in reasonable amounts to areas like this are definately anti-free market and a form of social promotion - things I often don't like.

In practice though, cities that leave things totally to free markets end up having ghetto neighborhoods, which will often have crime spill over into richer neighborhoods. Rather then have a strict police force putting opportunistic criminals in place, remove the opportunity to commit crime to begin with. I think people respond better to an incentive then a fear of punishment - affordable housing's purpose is to lessen the ghetto effect as much as possible, and make sure that civic services are distributed equitabily. Brasilia is comming to mind here.

Free markets are excellent for economic progress, but sometimes needs to be tempered by social realities. NIMBY's take it to an extreme oftentimes, but the total opposite is no better. As for this development, a little bit off the bottom line will go a long way from a social prespective.

[NYguy]

In practice though, cities that leave things totally to free markets end up having ghetto neighborhoods, which will often have crime spill over into richer neighborhoods. Rather then have a strict police force putting opportunistic criminals in place, remove the opportunity to commit crime to begin with.

Free markets are excellent for economic progress, but sometimes needs to be tempered by social realities. NIMBY's take it to an extreme oftentimes, but the total opposite is no better. As for this development, a little bit off the bottom line will go a long way from a social prespective.

Yeah. The City should just clear a whole swath of Wall Street and build housing projects down there. Since you say everyone is entitled to live everywhere, then let's just get right down to it. Because, as you know, even the "affordable housing" in New York often is not affordable to the poor. I can identify some prime sites for housing projects in the financial district, including Battery Park City.

As far as this development goes, even if the developer did agree to build some sort of affordable housing, it doesn't necessarily mean it will be at this site. As is done with other developments in the City, the affordable housing component could be built blocks, even miles away from this site. Would that really satisfy the objectors here?

[CoolCzech]

I think the chief social reality is that people need JOBS, and cities get jobs by having the private sector build places to work. Downtown and Midtown Manhattan are the BUSINESS heart of New York City. Everyone will benefit, in varying degrees, from all the development in NYC's immediate future, even if they don't live in the immediate vicinity.

"I think that Lower Manhattan should be for the people who can afford to pay the prices that it currently costs to live here,” Gesue said, stressing his strong belief in the free market. He added that if he could no longer afford to live in Lower Manhattan, he would happily move to Brooklyn. He suggested that other neighborhood residents could do the same. “You move to the neighborhood that you can afford to live in.”

Sounds pretty commonsensical to me.

[NYguy]

http://downtownexpress.com/de_215/cb1oksluxury.html

C.B. 1 OKs luxury tower on West with conditions

http://downtownexpress.com/de_215/sky.gif


By Skye H. McFarlane

The 50 West St. tower can rise to 63 stories, so long as a good chunk of the windfall lands squarely within Community Board 1 and the Greenwich South neighborhood, the board said Tuesday night.

Board 1 essentially yellow-lighted the proposed hotel and condominium. The board voted to approve the glassy tower’s two land-use actions, but only if the developer and the city fulfill a laundry list of 13 wide-ranging conditions.

To mitigate the impact of 150 hotel rooms and 300 apartments filled with new, wealthy residents, the community is insisting that the developer, Time Equities, fulfill its promises to provide a public art gallery within the building, as well as a laptop program for I.S. 89.

In addition, the community stressed in its five-page resolution that Time Equities must build affordable housing Downtown, overhaul two small neighborhood parks and facilitate the construction of a pedestrian bridge over West St. The developer must also conduct its demolition and construction work using the safest, greenest and least disruptive techniques available.

The board’s most stringent requirement, however, addresses the city. Because one of the land-use actions would allow Time Equities to purchase 180,000 square feet of air rights from over the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel, the city would stand to receive a significant profit from the development. The community is determined that 100 percent of the proceeds — likely in the tens of millions of dollars — be spent on projects within Lower Manhattan.

Chief among the community’s priorities for the money are the creation of affordable housing, the development of green space and sports fields, and the implementation of the Downtown Alliance streetscape program along Washington St. The board also asked the city to eliminate an extra 190,000 square feet of air rights that would be created by the land-use action, so that no future developer could ever apply to purchase them.

“These can’t just be pie-in-the-sky dreams,” said C.B. 1 Chairperson Julie Menin of the board’s conditions. “We really need concrete guarantees that we are going to get these things.”

Menin favored rejecting the project unless the conditions were met, but she couldn’t convince enough of her fellow board members to go along. She yielded when the language was change from “support” to “conditionally support.” The advisory resolution passed 34 to 5 with three abstensions.

Legally, the board’s opinion must be considered as a part of the city’s Uniform Land Use Review Procedure. However, the borough president’s office and the Department of City Planning also get to review the proposal. Because the application includes de-mapping a city street, the City Council will have the final say on the plan, even though C.B. 1 voted yes. Under most ULURPs, City Planning has the final say when the community board votes yes. If the Council approves the plan, Time Equities will purchase the air rights and create a pedestrian plaza along Ward St., the dark, narrow alley that separates the Battery Tunnel from 50 West St. to the north.

By rights, the developer can already take down the 13-story building on the site (known as the “copper-top” because the roof is painted green to look like copper patina). Current zoning, which caps bulk but not height, would then allow a 30- to 40-story building. By adding the 40-foot wide plaza — which would contain trees, cobblestone pavers and an outdoor café — the developer would earn the right to build another five to seven stories. That, combined with the air rights purchase, would put the building at a little over 500,000 square feet (63 stories under the current design).

There was much debate among board members over how to evaluate the proposed building. Many board members liked the building’s curving, near-transparent façade, designed by noted architect Helmut Jahn. They universally approved of Time Equities plan to seek a Gold rating from the U.S. Green Buildings Council. The building would also bring in customers to bolster the local retail scene.

To offset some of the building’s impact on the overcrowded local schools, Time Equities has proposed to provide laptops for all of the children in I.S. 89, along with maintenance and insurance for four years. The laptops would allow I.S. 89 to give its computer room to P.S. 89, which would convert the space into two regular classrooms to help alleviate acute class-size problems.

"There are other concerns with this project, but from a youth and education standpoint, we need the school space,” said Paul Hovitz, chair of the board’s Youth and Education Committee. “If we don’t do this, we are left to depend upon the [Department of Education] to address the overcrowding and we’ve seen how well that works out.”

After the community asked repeatedly for an art space in the building, Time Equities proposed to include a public art component, possibly light installations, in the hotel portion of the project. However, board members agreed that the laptops and the public art would not be enough to offset the extra stress that the new residents would put on local parks, schools and transportation systems.

Time Equities’ refusal to voluntarily include affordable housing in any of its Downtown projects also irked many board members, especially when a representative of the developer suggested that those people who could not afford to live in the neighborhood could always move to Brooklyn. Time will get state tax abatements as of right. A new version of the 421-a program would require Downtown developers to invest in affordable housing to get the tax benefits, but the bill, expected to pass June 21, will not take effect until June 2008.

“I really feel that the city can and should do more to press the developer to create affordable housing elsewhere in the district,” said board member Barry Skolnick.

A small number of board members wanted to reject the project altogether because of its large scale and precedent-setting use of city air rights. Others, including Menin, wanted to phrase the board’s opinion as a conditional rejection. The negative language, they felt, would make a stronger statement. The board compromised on “conditionally supports.”

Board members reasoned that since City Planning worked with the developers to craft the ULURP application, it would be unlikely that the City Council would outright reject the proposal. The Economic Development Corporation, the Battery Park City Authority and State Senator Martin Connor have also spoken in favor of the project. Councilmember Alan Gerson, who was involved in the negotiations with the developer, has not yet given his full support to the building, but his aide, David Feiner, has spoken in favor of the project at two different board meetings.

Therefore, the board decided it would be better not to fight the construction of the building, which will be very large regardless of the zoning variances. Instead they will fight to ensure that both the city and the developer make significant reinvestments in the neighborhood.

“I think it’s more than likely that we’ll get this building whether we like it or not,” said Battery Park City Committee chairperson Linda Belfer at a meeting Monday night. “We might as well get something in the way of mitigation.”

_______________________________________________

http://downtownexpress.com/de_215/editorial.html

50 West St. plan should be rejected

Community Board 1 gave conditional support Tuesday to a troubling 63-story luxury condo and hotel project in Downtown’s most perilous pedestrian area, without any commitment for affordable housing from the private developer in this government-subsidized project, or much improvement to the area. The battle over 50 West St. now moves to Borough President Scott Stringer, a strong affordable housing advocate, and to the City Council and Councilmember Alan Gerson, who was far too accommodating in the early negotiations with the developer.

Julie Menin, C.B. 1’s chairperson, was right to try and get the board to take a “no, but” position, but she didn’t prevail. The board did attach many sensible conditions to its approval, but its “yes with conditions” position weakens its ability to influence the developer and the project. The developer, Time Equities, now can truthfully say the board endorsed the thrust of the plan. We hope members stay on top of this project closely so their views are not distorted.

Under the estimated $550 million plan, Time Equities will demolish a handsome 1912 building and buy 183,000 square feet of air rights from the city at an undisclosed price, allowing the firm to build the most lucrative condos at the tower’s top. The developer will also get state tax breaks under the 421–a program. Had the developer made this proposal a year from now, the firm would have had to invest some of the subsidies in affordable housing, assuming Albany amends 421-a this week as is expected.

Not only is Time Equities refusing to invest even one dollar out of the millions of its tax subsidies in affordable housing, Phillip Gesue, the firm’s executive, bluntly told C.B. 1 members to move to Brooklyn if Downtown rents were getting too high for them.

What does Downtown get? Laptop computers for I.S. 89, which will also allow the computer room to close in order to free up two classrooms for one of our crowded schools, P.S. 89. Time Equities will offer temporary tech support for four years. The hotel lobby or some other part of the project will have public art space of unspecified size. Tiny unknown Ward St., a narrow pedestrian throughway near the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel and the West Side Highway would be widened with a public plaza that will also enable the developer to build bigger.

Almost five years ago, Mayor Bloomberg proposed transforming this pedestrian nightmare into a new residential neighborhood, Greenwich Street South, with new parks, and an easy walkway connecting the area to Battery Park City, along with residential buildings to help pay for the improvements. The idea has not progressed much beyond the pretty picture phase. Time Equities hinted about paying for a pedestrian bridge at first, but now is backing off. The city could presumably use the developer’s air right money to pay for the Greenwich idea, but none of that is clear.

What is clear is Time Equities has to offer a lot more in neighborhood improvements, specifically something toward affordable housing to justify receiving any public assistance. Stringer’s past record shows he understands these types of issues, and moments. Councilmember Gerson has also fought for affordable housing and we hope that his original enthusiasm for the developer’s offer is history. Gerson, Stringer, and the Council should either force dramatic improvements or tell Time Equities “No.”

[Jularc]

Community Board 1 approves 63-story tower at 50 West Street


http://www.cityrealty.com/graphics/uploads/1182542066_west50c.jpg


22-JUN-07

Community Board 1 voted this week to approve the plans Times Equities, a real estate company headed by Francis Greenburger, to erect a 63-story hotel and residential condominium development at 50 West Street across from Battery Park City.

The slim tower has been designed by Gruzen Sampton LLC and Helmut Jahn of Murphy/Jahn Architects of Chicago, who designed CitySpire, Park Avenue Tower and 425 Lexington Avenue in New York and the great State of Illinois Center in Chicago.

The curved south side of the tower would have a plaza that would provide an alternate and more attractive pedestrian walkway from Battery Park City to Greenwich Street than the existing walkway through the Battery Tunnel Garage.

The proposed building would house a 155-room hotel on floors 1 though 13, 48 "full-service residential units" on floors 14 through 18 and 259 residential condominium apartments on floors 20 through 63. It would not have a garage.

The ground floor of the tower, which would be designed to achieve a Gold LEED rating, would contain a "light-art gallery showcasing some of the most innovate light installation artists in the world, a caf¿/bar, a restaurant and a "gourmet" corner store grocery.

The project requires text changes to allow a plaza at the site and to permit the transfer of development rights above the Battery Tunnel garage to be used "only in the at-grade area north of J. P. Ward Street, and by special permit only."

In addition, the project requires the demapping of a 8-inch strip between J. P. Ward Street and the applicant's site and a demapping for "a plane above J. P. Ward and the portion of the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel Approach located 37.2 feet above the area between West, Washington, Morris and J. P. Ward Streets.

The Brooklyn Battery Tunnel Approach has about 2.7 million square feet of unused air rights and the 50 West Street project plans to acquire about 183,000 square feet of those air rights.

The project's site is just to the north of the proposed, 8-acre Greenwich Street South project that would deck over the Manhattan entrance to the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel, create a new park and a new, automated, green-roofed bus garage and five residential towers, a plan that was initiated by Mayor Bloomberg in 2002 and which the chairman of the Hugh L. Carey Battery Park City Authority, Jim Gill, said last year he would like to take charge of.

An urban design study for that project was prepared in 2005 envisioned a new, curved pedestrian bridge over West Street to connect the southern part of Battery Park City to Greenwich Green, a new park between Morris and Edgar Streets between West and Greenwich Streets.

Julie Menin, chair of the Community Board, urged the board not to recommend approval of the project, but a resolution approving it "conditionally" was passed by a vote of 34 to 5 with three abstentions.

Members of the community board indicated they wanted any income from the sale of air rights to the project to be used for projects in Lower Manhattan, indicating that they were concerned about schools, a new pedestrian bridge over West Street, and the area's need for more cultural institutions and affordable housing.

Time Equities has agreed to give a local school 159 laptop computers with four-year maintenance contracts to help address the area's school needs, but the board indicated it wanted the project to contribute more to the community's needs, which include affordable housing and a bridge over West Street.

The redevelopment of the 50 West site would involve the demolition of the 12-story, 1912 building once known as the Crystal Building that has a 3-story-high mansard roof.


Copyright © 1994-2007 CITY REALTY.COM INC.

[NYguy]

http://www.cityrealty.com/graphics/uploads/1182542066_west50c.jpghttp://downtownexpress.com/de_215/sky.gif

This one has turned into a pleasant surprise.

[Fabb]

So the tower will stand 725 ft.


It has nice proportions. Even though it's not extremely tall, it's handsome.

[Scruffy]

for lower manhattan, thats a tall roof height. its virtually on par with 7wtc, goldman sachs, and World Financial Center 1

[NYguy]

^ That's true.

It has nice proportions. Even though it's not extremely tall, it's handsome.

It's very tall for that small site also. At 725 ft, it's slightly taller than Foster's 709 ft tower that will rise in Midtown...

[Antares41]

I like the height and it will help to balance out the western downtown skyline south of the WTC complex. It will be very prominent at that location and promises to be another beautifully glistening bldg. in the orange glow of the setting sun.

[NYguy]

http://www.tribecatrib.com/news/newsjuly07/50west.htm

Lots of 'Ifs' In CB1's OK of New Tower

By Andrea Appleton
POSTED JUNE 29, 2007

http://www.tribecatrib.com/photos/news/june07/50%20West-Julie.jpg


Community Board 1 gave its advisory approval for a 63-story residential tower at 50 West Street, near Rector. Conditional approval, that is. The board says the 725-foot tower should only be built if an abundance of community amenities—including a new pedestrian bridge across West Street and a public art gallery—come with it.

Last month developer Time Equities, Inc., headed by well-known arts patron Francis Greenburger, sought the board’s advisory approval, the first step in an extensive city-mandated review. A Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP) is required because the developer wants several exemptions to the current zoning, as well as permission to purchase air rights from the Brooklyn Battery Garage across the street.

The full board voted on June 19 to lend its “conditional support” to the applications.

The tower would house about 300 condos and a 155-room hotel, and include a public plaza. The applications next go before Borough President Scott Stringer, followed by the City Planning Department, and finally City Council.

At a presentation earlier in the month, Philip Gesue, acquisitions director for Time Equities, Inc., argued that the building would benefit the city. Well-known architect Helmut Jahn designed the tower, and a plaza along the Joseph P. Ward and Washington Street edges of the lot would provide a pedestrian-friendly route between the southern neighborhood of Battery Park City and the rest of Lower Manhattan. Now, the only direct route from West Street to Washington Street in the vicinity is through the Brooklyn Battery Garage or up a dark sidewalk hemmed in between the garage and the adjoining building.

“It’s dangerous and illegal,” Gesue said, “and doesn’t contribute to the fabric of the community.”

While many CB1 members seemed unconvinced that the benefits of the development would offset what they saw as the negative impacts of the tower— increased traffic, the burden on local schools, and an overall change to the neighborhood’s character—the general sentiment was one of resignation.

“It’s more than likely we’ll get this building whether we like it or not,” said Linda Belfer. “We should figure out what amenities might sweeten this mess.”

To help mitigate effects on P.S./I.S. 89, Gesue said Time Equities would invest about $500,000 in the schools—to buy 159 laptop computers and fund a full-time computer maintenance person for four years. (Since the students will be able to use their laptops in class, the computer room would then be converted to a classroom for P.S. 89.)

“The impact on the school, the growth, directly affects P.S. 89,” I.S. 89 principal Ellen Foote said following a presentation, “but indirectly affects I.S. 89. We’re being squeezed and the only way to maintain an appropriate level of technology is to go by this route.”

While board members applauded the offer, it did not appease them.

“Five hundred thousand dollars is a drop in the bucket for these people,” Paul Sipos said at a meeting. “We should get twice as much money for the schools.”

In addition to the computers, CB1’s resolution stipulates that the developer must include a “significant” public art gallery in the building, improve two small parks at the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel approach, and redesign the plaza to include the landing of a new pedestrian bridge.

CB1 is demanding even more from the city, which would profit from the sale of the air rights.

Among the complex zoning modifications the building’s design requires is the “demapping” of several areas associated with the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel approach. This would allow the developer to purchase air rights from the city. They would essentially buy them from the city-owned garage across the street, adding 183,000 square feet to the 275,000 square feet currently allowed.

The city has not revealed how much revenue the sale would generate, but CB1 knows just where it should go.

“We need 100 percent of the money from the sale of the air rights to go to projects in the Lower Manhattan community,” chair Julie Menin said. The resolution lays out terms for how that money should be spent: affordable housing, green space and streetscape improvements.

On this count, CB1 may face an uphill battle. According to a City Planning source, the city has never targeted the proceeds of an air rights transaction on one area.

City Councilman Alan Gerson told the Trib that his office was looking at the legality of earmarking the funds. “But the underlying principle is that there should be additional benefits to the Lower Manhattan community,” he said. “I will be insisting on that before approving the transfer.”

http://www.tribecatrib.com/photos/news/july07/50%20West-today.jpg
http://www.tribecatrib.com/photos/news/july07/captions/50%20west.gif


http://www.tribecatrib.com/photos/news/june07/50%20West-plaza.jpg
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[Dale]

"...migh sweeten this mess..." ? Good grief.

[GFSNYC]

increased traffic, the burden on local schools, and an overall change to the neighborhood’s character—the general sentiment was one of resignation.

63 Story tower, lets see... half of the residents of the tower will have kids, of that maybe half of those would be enrolled at public schools, mind you, they all be of varying ages. A good portion will use their apt 3/4 of the year. Half may have cars, doubtful any will use it for communiting to work. Oh a luxury highrise?! In downtown!? footsteps from battery park! Why, a luxury highrise would be totally out of place!!!!! *sarcasm*

[fioco]

Obviously I live in the wrong neighborhood.

Now, if I could just move near a proposed major tower . . . then my new-found friends and I could demand a 3-star, Michelin-rated French restaurant, a small but significant gallery specializing in early Renaissance art, a Savile Row tailor, and an ATM that disperses cash free-of-charge to local residents -- as a scaled-down request for amenities to offset the hardships we would endure. I don't mind suffering. But, please, please, compensate me.

[fioco]

double post (but I hit enter once) ??

[NYguy]

Obviously I live in the wrong neighborhood.

Now, if I could just move near a proposed major tower . . . then my new-found friends and I could demand a 3-star, Michelin-rated French restaurant, a small but significant gallery specializing in early Renaissance art, a Savile Row tailor, and an ATM that disperses cash free-of-charge to local residents -- as a scaled-down request for amenities to offset the hardships we would endure. I don't mind suffering. But, please, please, compensate me.

Yeah, that's the spirit. Maybe we should all take a page from the NIMBYs on how to "sweeten the mess" around us...;)

These people live in one of the most densely packed skyscraper neighborhoods on earth. Yet, somehow this slender, 725 ft tower is seen as a "mess".


At a presentation earlier in the month, Philip Gesue, acquisitions director for Time Equities, Inc., argued that the building would benefit the city. Well-known architect Helmut Jahn designed the tower, and a plaza along the Joseph P. Ward and Washington Street edges of the lot would provide a pedestrian-friendly route between the southern neighborhood of Battery Park City and the rest of Lower Manhattan. Now, the only direct route from West Street to Washington Street in the vicinity is through the Brooklyn Battery Garage or up a dark sidewalk hemmed in between the garage and the adjoining building.

“It’s dangerous and illegal,” Gesue said, “and doesn’t contribute to the fabric of the community.”

Yet, somehow that doesn't qualify as a mess.

[fioco]

^ . . . which is why I wrote my silly, over-the-top parody. The new developments south of WTC will change this ever forlorn area. It's already so dark, tall towers would be merely casting shadows on the shadows. With several towers going up together, the area will gain shops and restaurants immediately . . . the very thing BPC folks claim they need. Plus, West Street is getting its 'Boulevard' makeover as well as one or more pedestrian crossings. Oh, the horrors!

I sympathize with the need for schools, and with the need to correct the difficult walking situation around the tunnel entrance. These are legitimate issues to negotiate with the developers. But even then, couldn't they be dealt with collectively, developers and community addressing common concerns? Instead of piecemeal extortion, CB 1 should put their cards on the table (schools, pedestrian crossings, the need for grocery stores, whatever) and let the developers respond. Where is city planning in this? Is there a chosen site for additional schools when the Battery Tunnel entrance is platformed? Other than for a few amenities, I don't agree with aggressive collective bargaining for every tower that's proposed. As is typical for nimbys, they are so short-sighted they actually hurt themselves and limit what the neighborhood could become. They're stupidly selfish. If they were smarter, they would actually end up with lots more.

I never hear about nimbys demanding improvements from the trashy developments around town (McSam and so forth). The day is coming; the day of the nitbyes (not in that backyard either). Saints preserve us.

[antinimby]

the area will gain shops and restaurants immediately . . . the very thing BPC folks claim they need.That's where you're wrong. The impression I get from them is that they don't like mix uses (retail on the ground, apartments on top). These people want a suburban atmosphere in the city. The thought of vibrant streets scares the hell out of these people.

That's why you don't see many BPC towers with ground floor retail. They want easy access to stores but just as long as those places are not immediately in their backyards. ;)