While walking around Astor Place this morning... we were thinking that the crawler excavator was awfully close to the Alamo, aka the Astor Place cube... where work continues on the reconstruction of Astor Place...
Maybe someone else noticed...because workers later put up protective plywood around the Alamo for now...
Boarding up the cube at Astor place #nyc https://t.co/9l9UjyiY6E
— Chris Alexander (@alexandermania) October 15, 2014And some day... the area will look like this...
Previously on EV Grieve:
Five years later, Astor Place apparently ready for its 2-year reconstruction project
I saw that this morning - so they have peter cooper in a box and now the alamo - this construction is ridiculous - we don't have money for libraries and schools and cops are stealing money from citizens under guise of stop and frisk.
ReplyDeleteThe rendering looks nice - but I don't think the trees will be quite so healthy with the death star blotting out the sun. On the plus side, everyone gets a free look at a giant balloon animal. Jeff Koons: surfing finance douches with a ton of money and zero taste through two consecutive art bubbles.
ReplyDeleteWork continues to c r a w l along. Now it's getting dangerous. Can't wait for the winter.
ReplyDeleteI'm with grump. This project is a waste of taxpayer money, again. Is there an app where we can vote on the hiring and firing of CB-3, Castro, union hugging mayor and Cuomo who doesn't give a
ReplyDeleteMany are not aware that this plan was devised by Cooper Union. In exchange for the 3 horrific buildings, that Cooper Union built, the "giveback" to the community was this Astor Place reconstruction. Usually the developer, in this case Cooper Union, has to pay for the "giveback". Here we, the taxpayers, and paying for this ridiculous plan. Fourth Avenue is being narrowed, by a lane, and CU gets the additional sidewalk space. Astor Place, which is an old Indian trail, is being closed down next to the Alamo, once again Cooper Union gets a "plaza" in front the Related Company building. Cooper Union owns the land under the building, and leases the site to Related. Where are the buses going to park? This will surely create more traffic, which causes noise and air pollution. At one point CU owned Peter Cooper Park. CU did not want to maintain the park and gave it back to Parks. Once again our taxpayer dollars maintain the park. What do we do we give Cooper Union an even bigger park, that we will maintain. All this construction is aggravating the rat's. You can't walk down 7th Street without rat's running across your feet. In essence the City of New York is creating a campus for Cooper Union.
ReplyDeleteIt looks like that utopian city I remember seeing in all the 1970's sic-fi movies, I'm so glad I lived long enough to see the 70's become a reality. I wish the city would put up signs telling us where the money comes from to create these Moses wet dreams. Perhaps this mini park comes courtesy of every tourists that buys an NYPD or NYFD tee or cap. It took the presence of IBM and other hi tech companies to guzzy up da hood so they can pretend this is Silicon valley. Mid-town south has landed.
ReplyDeleteI like how this will look. Much better than now!
ReplyDeleteThe city is always screaming for cash because it spends so much on its unionized workforce and its retirees. Since liberals and profressives love unions and because they donate so much money to politicians this won't change. Unions elect politicians and then "negotiate' contracts. The city is in long term trouble with this.
ReplyDeleteFrom EVT:
ReplyDelete"I like how this will look. Much better than now! "
Of course. On schedule. And to Anony 6.30 PM. Again, cops and fireman. Have the balls to include them in your anti-union rants. And zero mention of the huge tax breaks accorded to the luxury developers. Oh yes, NYC is so much better now after 12 years of Bloomberg and Burden.
Right, EVT?
Some of those guys can pick up a quarter with the bucket, still best to protect the artwork. As for the project, I'd rather they re-pave some of the horrible streets.
ReplyDeleteI doubt that East Village Today will be in the East Village Tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteHer comments are more of taunts. Just ignore and maybe and hopefully she'll eventually go away and go back to Greenwich Connecticut Today.
The city is doing this to make driving in the city more tedious, aggravating and slow as possible.
ReplyDeleteI have been driving in nyc since 1992 and I definitely notice the increase of unnecessary stop lights and narrow, choke-hold traffic patterns that make driving a needlessly frustrating experience for any New Yorker with a car.
yeah east village today is annoying. Why does EV grieve allow the bland comments to get through the screening and vetting process?
ReplyDeleteOnly in New York do people complain about green space, upgraded infrastructure, and beautification. Everything in NYC should look like a low-class dump, right?
ReplyDeleteThis is why NYC will never be on the same level as Paris and London.
I think the rendering looks great - certainly an improvement over what's there now. There is too much traffic in Astor Place currently, and walking to the downtown 6 is a nightmare!
ReplyDeleteAgree with Anon 3:52 - what is there to complain about?
Some misguided person is calling this a green space? The few paltry trees in the rendering will never get that big, if they survive at all. There's no soil for the roots to grow in. The fashion-victim culture of NYC is allergic to green. Did you happen to notice how many big existing trees were cut down for this project and the death star building? The new death star trees don't look very healthy to me.
ReplyDelete"Unions elect politicians and then "negotiate' contracts. The city is in long term trouble with this." Bill O'Reily what are you doing posting here?
ReplyDeleteI am all for more pedestrian and walking space. However, this project would be more valuable if the green space of the park were actually increased, along with more benches.
ReplyDeleteThis entire project (including the expansion all the way down 4th ave to 4th street) adds enough space that there could be a proper park here. Why only a concrete plaza with a few trees? In fact, since that stretch of 4th Ave gets so little use, why didn't the plans go all the way and close that stretch of 4th ave, an make a new park Square?
Still, I find the project even in this limited state to be an improvement, and am glad it is happening.
- East Villager