A new project right in the middle of Bond Street, 2007's block-of-the-year, now has the honor of becoming the first Landmark-approved building since that expensive stretch of street was added to the NoHo Historic District a few months back. 41-43 Bond is a design by architect Steven Harris and is a classic eight stories of simple limestone with white bronze shutters. The project is bankrolled by owner-mogul Adam Gordon, who has surmounted any number of problems at this site. He's now put the pedal to the metal and is ready to build. On June 24 DOB gave Approval to the application to combine the two zoning lots, but disapproved the new building plan. Have no fear. The way this project is now moving there's little doubt that the Harris - Gordon team will get those wrinkles ironed out and things will be rising here in no time. All the details, including canopies and flower boxes, not to mention a rear wall of glass, come by way of our roving reporter at CB2 and the pages of City Realty.
· Burgeoning Bond Street Mogul Not Allowed to Demolish, Yet [Curbed]
· Destructoporn: Noho's 41-43 Bond Torn to Pieces [Curbed]
· Landmarks approves revised design for 41 Bond Street [City Realty]
In the early '90s, before Tribeca had an established historic district, architect Vincenzo Polsinelli won accolades for restoring the cast iron façade at 172 Duane Street while adding modern touches. Now, however, he is not winning many fans with his plan to add a four-story concrete and steel addition behind several three-story sheets of glass. While not totally opposed to the proposal, which would create an 8,000-square-foot single-family megamansion, the Landmarks Preservation Commission did send Polsinelli back to the drawing board, suggesting that a scaled-down version may work. According to the Dowtown Express, the 15-foot void between the glass and new structure would be taken up with a winter garden. The commission "voiced concerns that the proposed addition’s modern façade would overpower the two-story building’s historic frontage below," but opponents were more direct, calling the plan to demolish the bulk of the building while saving the frontage "façadism." Well, it ain't Pearl Street, that's for sure.
· Landmarks to Tribeca architect: Addition needs some subtraction [Downtown Express]
The Grange!!! After month's of planning and a pinch of controversy, Alexander Hamilton's 206-year-old Harlem country home was finally wheeled from its cramped spot on Convent Avenue, down West 141st Street and onto its new plot at the northwest corner of St. Nicholas Park. The Times' David Dunlap writes that the Grange was moved with "surpassing dignity and surprising agility," which sounds a lot like our last girlfriend—Hi-yo! The trip took nearly four hours, at blistering speeds of about .04 mph. After a restoration by the National Park Service, the Grange will be reopened next year, when it can go back to being nearly forgotten except for the occasional mandatory field trip. Nah, just kidding, Grangey. We love ya!
· Witnessing a House, and History, on the Move [NYT]
· Harlem Mansion Move Ready For a Shove [Curbed]
· Preparations Begin for Mansion Move in Harlem [Curbed]
1)James Delayo, the Buildings Department crane inspector arrested on Friday for taking bribes and selling copies of a crane operators' exam, was released on his own recognizance after appearing in court. The charges against him include bribe-receiving and tampering with public records, both felonies that could carry seven year prison terms (and can we tack on some extra time for wearing a bandana as a belt?). The 26-year DOB veteran, who was promoted following the March 15 crane collapse that killed seven, allegedly took money in exchange for issuing licenses to Class C crane operators (smaller than the tower cranes that have been falling on the city) that worked for Nu-Way Crane Service in Copiague. Delayo has been suspended without pay. ['Top City Crane Inspector Accused of Taking Bribes'/NYT]
2) When the moneyed citizens of the Upper East Side aren't busy fighting churches, they turn their attention to those banners that the Department of Transportation hangs on lampposts to advertise things going on in New York. One staunch blue blood even refers to them as "dirty laundry." [The City/Gregory Beyer]
3) A graphic designer who grew up in Soho wants to move out of his parents' Broome Street loft, but his budget is $300,000. With not many places to turn, he opts for a studio on the Far West Side near the Lincoln Tunnel and West Side Rail Yards. It reminds him of the Soho of his youth, he says, and he digs the seediness and drug addicts. [The Hunt/Joyce Cohen]
4) Want to sell your apartment eventually? Then don't put any of your personality into it whatsoever. Yeesh, does anybody look at a home as a home anymore, and not just an investment? ['Start in Neutral'/Teri Karush Rogers]
Just because Robert De Niro put Tribeca on the map of mainstream America, that doesn't mean he can push the neighborhood around. So sayeth the Landmarks Preservation Commission, which now realizes that the top-floor addition to De Niro's Greenwhich Hotel does not match the approved design. LPC spokeswoman Elisabeth de Bourbon told Rush & Molloy: "We approved the addition of a seventh story in November 2004. Yet the structure that was built is steeper and its footprint bigger, making it significantly more visible [from the street] than originally allowed." Is that why the opening of the hotel was greeted with such an iron fist? They didn't want anyone to notice the chicanery? De Niro's team will now head to the commission on June 17 to try and get the structure retroactively approved. While it's not likely, the LPC could demand that the top floor be torn down. After all, they've done it before in Tribeca.
· City could floor De Niro [NYDN]
· De Niro Shows Off His Hotel, Offers Some Bargains [Curbed]
· In Which We Almost Get Inside the Greenwich Hotel [Curbed]
St. Vincent's Hospital and developer Rudin Management brought their scaled-back proposal for St. Vincent's Greenwich Village campus to the Landmarks Preservation Commission yesterday, and the hospital argued that if the LPC did not grant them permission to tear down the O'Toole Building at Seventh Avenue between 12th and 13th Streets to make way for a modern new hospital tower (above), then St. Vincent's will become obsolete and be forced to close. No word on whether a tiny violin was played while hospital officials addressed the commissioners. The hardship plea appears to be bolstered by City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, who both opposed the original plan but praised the revisions in statements read at the hearing, the Times reports. The LPC did not rule on the matter, and more hearings are planned.
· St. Vincent’s Says It Will Close if It Can’t Build Tower [NYT]
· St. Vincent's Gets Shorter, But Will it Fly? [Curbed]
· Landmarks Commission Says No to St. Vincent's Plan [Curbed]
The greatest show in town right now is up in Harlem, where Alexander Hamilton's historic home is—as previously mentioned—hanging out over Convent Avenue before the mansion is moved to its new home in nearby St. Nicholas Park. Tht move won't happen until June 7, so there's plenty of time to check out this curious little scene. A Curbed tipster sent us the above photos, including one from Hamilton Terrace showing the rear of the site where the house used to sit. It's like we're witnessing a gradual, painful divorce of inanimate objects. Won't someone think of the children?!
· Harlem Mansion Move Ready For a Shove [Curbed]
· Founding Father FeudWatch: Where Will the Ham Land? [Curbed]
Alexander Hamilton's historic home won't be moved to its new plot in St. Nicholas Park until June 7, but prep work on the 206-year-old national monument is complete in advance of today's baby step. The house, NewYorkology notes, is sitting on top of three stories of thick wood beams, like a very delicate game of Jenga. This afternoon, the Hamilton Grange will be slid out onto Convent Avenue, before its big move around the corner at 141st Street and then into the park. The slightly controversial move will give the home—wedged between a church and an apartment building—some breathing room. Check out this photo set from Flickr user ngke5 for more Grange-on-sticks fun. Perilous!
· Hamilton Grange literally up in the air for June 7 move [NYology]
· Founding Father FeudWatch: Where Will the Ham Land? [Curbed]
· Preparations Begin for Mansion Move in Harlem [Curbed]
In what should be an epic shitshow, tonight Rudin Management and St. Vincent's hospital will present their revised development proposal to Manhattan's Community Board 2, in advance of bringing the plan back to the Landmarks Preservation Commission in June. The LPC smacked down the extremely controversial hospital/residential plan a couple of weeks ago, which was cause for much celebration amongst Greenwich Village preservationists. So what will Rudin/St. Vincent's suggest this time around? For one, they still want to demolish the O'Toole Building on Seventh Avenue for a new elliptical hospital tower (against the LPC's wishes), and they are filing an application to raze it on the grounds of hardship. But they will reduce the height below 300 feet, and reduce the width by 53 feet. Across the street, the main residential building proposed by Rudin would be reduced 30 feet in height and 60 feet in width. The LPC also suggested that existing mid-block hotel buildings be reused instead of razed, so the new plan calls for the preservation and renovation of four buildings east of Seventh Avenue within St. Vincent's campus. Will the tweaks be enough?
SOHO—Brooklyn is not the only borough getting some snazzy new bike lanes, of course. A Curbed correspondent sends the above photos from Prince Street, where a brand new bike lane is, for the moment at least, minty green. Do recall that Prince Street may also become car-free on summer Sundays. Some wacky stuff going on down there. [CurbedWire Inbox]
FAR WEST VILLAGE—In addition to giving the go-ahead to the extended Noho Historic District, the Landmarks Preservation Commission also voted to calender 110-112 Horatio Street, the former Devoe Paint Factory just south of MePa. Writes the GVSHP: "The building is one of eight individual landmarks the LPC promised to designate in the Far West Village in 2005 in response to the push for extension of landmark and zoning protections in the area led by GVSHP. The Keller Hotel, 159 Charles Street, and 354 West 11th Street were designated in March of last year, while Westbeth, Charles Lane, and 370 and 372 West 11th Street are the four remaining promised individual landmark designations which the LPC has not yet acted upon." [CurbedWire Inbox]
1) The trend of Heal Estate—the conversion of churches and synagogues into residential and commercial developments—has claimed two dozen houses of worship in Manhattan and Brooklyn since the '80s, according to this report. The latest is the Sanctuary in Fort Greene (above), which, it turns out, is not a hoax. Here's the enlightened website. [Posting/C.J. Hughes]
2) In this real estate market of ours, where glorified storage lockers sell for $800,000, one of the few places to find a deal is on the top floor of a walk-up: "While the average price last year for a first-floor unit in a walk-up was $680,940, the average price for one on the fifth floor was only $515,723, a discount of around 24 percent." If there's no outdoor space, the price is even lower. Start working those calf muscles! ['Worth the Climb'/Vivian S. Toy]
3) It wasn't long ago when the residents of Ridgewood entered into a love/hate relationship with the incoming waves of hipster gentrification. Now that the process is complete, here comes the next wave of pilgrims: well-to-do yuppie parents. [Habitats/Stephen P. Williams]
When the "Buy This Mansion" signs came off the Cabrini Stuyvesant Polyclinic building on Second Avenue in the East Village, it was rumored that perhaps the old mansion of death was finally sold. Not so! The Villager reports that the brokers did not get permission from the Landmarks Preservation Commission to install the signs, and the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation reported the violation. Said a non-Andrew Berman of the signs, "They are particularly troublesome because they are bolted into the masonry and the decorative terra cotta of the individual landmark, potentially causing serious damage to the building’s architectural fabric." Only the exterior of the building is landmarked, and the mysterious owners received permission to begin interior demolition. Meanwhile, the hunt for an "eco-mansion" buyer or private club operator continues.
· Poly owners pitch ‘eco-manse’ or club, but are nailed on signs [Villager]
· A Look Inside the East Village's Mansion of Death [Curbed]
· East Village Landmark Hits Market as 'Mansion' [Curbed]
The Landmarks Preservation Commission has turned down the big expansion plan by St. Vincent's Hospital with Rudin Management. The signs weren't good for the hospital after the marathon two days of meetings last month, but today, the commission made it formal, rejecting the proposal to demolish nine buildings in the Greenwich Village Historic District and put up 1.3 million square feet of condos and a new hospital. The LPC, according a gleeful press release from the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, "issued a stunning rebuke" of the plan and "urged preservation" of a number of structures including the O'Toole Building and "urged a complete re-working of plans for development on the remaining sites to match the scale and character of the surrounding neighborhood." The LPC left open the possibility of a tower on top of the O'Toole building. St. Vincent's and Rudin have three options: file new plans, give up or file a "hardship case" to seek approval for demolition and new construction anyway. Rudin issued a statement afterward that said, in part: "we've heard a great deal of thoughtful comments from the community and the Landmarks Preservation Commission...we will evaluate the feedback we've gotten and hopefully identify a viable alternative that would address the concerns of the Commission and the community, and allow us to move forward in meeting the needs of this great hospital." They will, apparently, be going the "hardship" route. According to the Municipal Art Society, only one of seven "hardship" applications filed in the last 26 years has been denied.
Writes a hardworking youngster: "Attached is a map I created for a graduate GIS course at Columbia. Thought you might find it interesting." Indeed we do. Hey, Far West Side, WaHI and Roosevelt Island: you suck! Um, according to the Landmarks Preservation Commission, that is.
· Landmarks [Curbed]
The fate of the historic Provincetown Playhouse at 133 MacDougal Street has turned into a public relations nightmare for NYU. After building up all that goodwill with local preservationists following the non-binding agreement regarding how to sensitively pursue a six-million-square-foot expansion over the next 20 or so years, the school now threatens to piss it all away with the replacing of the beloved Greenwich Village theater. The NYU counter-offensive began this morning, when the school and architect Morris Adjmi explained that the façade would be restored to its original 1930s look, and the new building would be only slightly larger. Now, any second now, NYU will post the full proposal (warning: PDF) on its website, along with a note from Vice President for Government Relations and Community Engagement Alicia D. Hurley that basically says chill out, dudes, because the theater will be rebuilt and the design is super contextual. Seen above is Adjmi's design, but like a good drama, this story cannot be fully told in one act.
The controversy swirling around NYU's plan to demolish and replace the famed Provincetown Playhouse at 133 MacDougal Street in the Village takes a new turn today, as the Landmarks Preservation Commission and the university itself react to the pleas from preservationists to save it. Yesterday, the LPC released a statement that said the building lacked the "historical and architectural integrity required for individual New York City landmark designation." Smackdown! And according to the school and project architect Morris Adjmi, the replacement—which would be used by NYU's law school and include a new theater—would have an exterior even more reminiscent of the theater's '30s look, seen above. The Times reports: "The new building would be three feet higher than the existing one, and six stories rather than five. The canopy would be removed, and the doorway would become more intricate and reminiscent of the building before its 1940s renovation." Your move, preservationists.
· N.Y.U. Plan Threatens Historic Theater [NYT]
· Honeymoon Over: NYU Has Playhouse Fight on its Hands [Curbed]
· NYU Ain't Playing with Provincetown Playhouse [Curbed]
The first major campaign in the war over Greenwich Village is over, with the Landmarks Preservation Commission having completed its two-day public hearing into the St. Vincent's and Rudin Managament building razing/hospital moving/condo building megaplan (got all that?). So, who won the battle? It looks like the preservationists did, kinda. The LPC hasn't handed down a decision on the matter, and won't discuss the issue again until May, but the Sun quotes an e-mail from chairman Bob Tierney that goes a little something like this: "You can reasonably infer from some of the lines of questioning that aspects of this proposal should be rethought and restudied." It's not a pan, sure, but it's not a ringing endorsement, either. One line of questioning toward Rudin officials during the hearing was about creating lower buildings with wider footprints, so maybe that will be the plan's ultimate fate. Would opponents be happy with that? Probably not, if buildings in the Greenwich Village Historic District have to be leveled. But still, it looks like they've got some momentum.
· 'Rethinking' Necessary for Hospital Plan After Hearing [Sun]
· St. Vincent's Hearing Ends After Too Many Hours [Curbed]
· CurbedWire Special AM Edition: St. Vincent's, the Sequel [Curbed]
· CurbedWire: Report from the St. Vincent's LPC Hearing [Curbed]
The marathon has ended. Day two of the Landmarks Preservation Commission hearing regarding the St. Vincent's/Rudin plan in Greenwich Village finished up at 2 p.m. Here's a follow up to the earlier report on the day's activities:
Statements from the public ended at 11:30 and out of the 24 additional speakers since my last update, only a couple were in favor of the proposal. The St. Vincent's team has been answering the commissioner's questions since then. Highlights include a comment by their land use attorney referencing a Jane Jacobs quote about how hospitals serve the public in such a way that they overcome preservation goals. One of the LPC commissioners has been questioning the architects on the possibility of decreasing the height of the hospital proposal. He asked if they considered using the triangle, building bridges across 12th Street, etc., which they did. Later he suggested that since the Village is already a jumble of dead end streets, the possibility might exist to close that section of 12th Street to allow a larger floor plate and a lower hospital. All just a thought, of course.
GREENWICH VILLAGE—It's tax day, sure, but April 15th is marked by a big red "X" on the Curbed calendar because today is also Part Two of the Landmarks Preservation Commission's hearing regarding the planned redevelopment of St. Vincent's Hospital, a massive project that also involves luxury condos from Rudin Management and the razing of several buildings within the Greenwich Village Historic District (hence LPC's involvement). Part One was an epic shitshow, and today should be no different. We spared Curbed staffers from having to attend, but luckily, an attendee has committed to sending us updates on the proceedings. Here's how we begin:
I got here at 10:00. Five of the last 13 speakers have been in favor of approval. Two have been from the Greenwich Village Chelsea Chamber of Commerce. One represented AIANY. The crowd shows no support for these people. Big laughs when the chair of the chamber said 'new doesn't mean it can't be a landmark. This has landmark potential in its future.'
As reported yesterday, Pritzker Prize-winning French starchitect Jean Nouvel was forced to defend his plan for a dazzling and momentous Midtown skyscraper in front of a crowd of ornery locals waiting to savage him and his work. Such is the state of development in New York in 2008, but Nouvel took it all in stride. His attendance at the Landmarks Preservation Commission hearing—which heard arguments for and against the transfer of air rights from a couple of local landmarks to the developers of Nouvel's 53 West 53rd Street—was not a surprise, given the mounting community opposition to the so-called MoMA Tower (which the Times reports is now called Tower Verre). What was a surprise, however, was Nouvel bringing in starchitecture frat brother David Childs to speak on his behalf. That's two starchitects for the price of none, people! Curbed had two correspondents seated in the crowd, and the combined report is after the jump.
In what is just the latest twist in the recent bizarre history of Stuyvesant Town/Peter Cooper Village, a group of tenants are mounting a campaign to win the 110-building complex landmark status. And that campaign is kicking off with a square dance. If the movement gains momentum, this could be a classic showdown. Sure, Stuy Town is an important historical artifact of Manhattan's once-existent middle class, but think about the ulterior motives at play here. Rent-stabilized tenants are living in fear (if the forums are any indication) of what changes new landlord Tishman Speyer will impose next, and a landmarking could protect the grounds and buildings and prevent, for example, a luxury all-glass condo building plopped down on the Stuyvesant Oval. On the other hand, Tishman Speyer would probably just blow the whole place up on the eve of the designation if the winds were blowing in that direction. So grab your partner, swing her 'round, and get this craziness off the ground!
· Let's Landmark Stuyvesant Town [stpcvta.org]
· Stuy Town Follies: Here Comes the Cavalry [Curbed]
· Stuy Towners Debate What's Ruining Their Lives More [Curbed]
[Crowd shot, and a guy holding up signs that no one could read.]
GREENWICH VILLAGE—The marathon Landmarks Preservation Commission hearing regarding the ultracontroversial St. Vincent's/Rudin Management plan is probably still going on, but we had a Curbed informant planted in the seats at 199 Chambers Street for the early stages of the throwdown. Here's the report:
Today's LPC hearing took a temporary leave of its modest meeting room in the Municipal Building for an arena with enough space for all the Greenwich Village curmudgeons to take to the microphone and shake their shaking sticks at the proposed St. Vincent's Hospital/Rudin development. A full day was set aside for the event, and most of the early time was dedicated to lessons in architectural and medical building history along with a few heartfelt pleas from some people with personal ties to the hospital, including the chairman, Al Smith, who asked that a building named for his grandfather be destroyed, and a nun who spoke on behalf of St. Vincent's founders, the Sisters of Charity. One historical landmarks consultant, an architectural historian, an architectural consultant, a chief medical officer, and a president and CEO of St. Vincent's Hospital later, and we finally get to the proposed designs.
Comments
1) James Delayo, the Buildings Department crane inspector 
Just because Robert De Niro put Tribeca on the map of mainstream America, that doesn't mean he can push the neighborhood around. So sayeth the Landmarks Preservation Commission, which now realizes that the top-floor addition to De Niro's Greenwhich Hotel does not match the approved design. LPC spokeswoman Elisabeth de Bourbon told 
The first major campaign in the war over Greenwich Village is over, with the Landmarks Preservation Commission having 
