Wednesday, November 25, 2015

The Alamo has been away from Astor Place for 1 year now


[Photo from last Nov. 25 by John M.]

One year ago today, workers packed up and carted off The Alamo for safekeeping for the duration of the reconstruction of Astor Place. (Gothamist captured the moment on video.)

Anyway. One year later. And the cube, which was installed here in 1967, remains in storage somewhere.



Well, except for on Halloween...


[Photo by 8E]

The CB3 website has a page dedicated to local construction projects, including the reconstruction of Astor Place. Plans for the multi-year(s) project have included reconfiguring/revamping the Astor Place/Cooper Square streetscape with three new permanent plazas, additional seating, trees and a new design for Peter Cooper Park.

There's a link to a weekly bulletin (PDF), noting what's happening now. This week, workers are continuing to install new granite slabs in Peter Cooper Park...



Sidewalk excavations/installation continue on Cooper Square West...



... and well as new sidewalks along the Cooper Union building...



While there is noticeable progress, it still seems like a bit of a mess...



However, there isn't any word among the city updates about the status of the cube. A "community advisory notice" dated Oct. 21, 2104, notes:

The Alamo Cube is slated to be removed and hoisted off by crane from the site and transported to a storage and conservation facility for rehabilitation by the end of the year. The exact timing and details of the removal are still pending. Once confirmed, further details will be provided. After rehabilitation is complete, the Alamo Cube will be reinstalled into its rightful place, along the new Alamo Plaza.


[A rendering of the new Astor Place]

We haven't seen anything about a possible completion date. The CB3 site still lists August 2015. A reconstruction project page via the Cooper Union Library on Facebook says January 2016.

So might as well pull up a comfy chair and just enjoy the rest of the construction...



Previously on EV Grieve:
The Alamo returns to Astor Place this Halloween

Five years later, Astor Place apparently ready for its 2-year reconstruction project

This is what it might be like living inside the Alamo on Astor Place

RIP Tony Rosenthal, the sculptor who created the Astor Place cube

18 comments:

  1. I only see 1 or 2 people steadily working on this, what a scam. A couple teams of guys from outside a suburban Home Depot would've had this done in a week.

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  2. Perhaps an opportune time for a reminder that the trees formerly at the Astor Place subway entrance between Eighth and Ninth Streets were cut down in October 2013:

    http://evgrieve.com/2013/10/revamped-astor-place-subway-plaza.html

    No work that needed those trees to be out of the way has been done in the over two years since then.

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  3. Amanda-Burden ChristNovember 25, 2015 at 9:52 AM

    I can assure you, the beloved Alamo sculpture is safe and sound in my sculpture garden and will be returned promptly when I'm bored looking at it.

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  4. I don't understand why they didn't divide this project up into smaller projects rather than rip up and abandon entire blocks of the neighborhood. At night it's so dangerous by the area with the Koons sculpture because it's dark, there's construction shit blocking views, and bikes zooming through like kamikaze pilots.

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  5. Has anyone been into the basement during this time?

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  6. They've made lots of progress making the area inhabitable and attractive to junkies. For example, the young guy with the long brown hair who hangs in front of Chase, steals from the food vendors, and occasionally gives BJs within the piles of construction junk.

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  7. The new sidewalks along Fourth Avenue next to and across from the Cooper Union building are a few inches below street grade -- so presumably the avenue itself will be graded down by several inches. Any ideas why this is required from an engineering perspective?

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  8. the pace has picked up recently, but damn this project is moving slow. Imagine the soon to be winter will halt everything again.

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  9. @ Anon. 10:46- No need. I got my ride back. Thanks!

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  10. The new Mid-town South is looking like something in Chicago, sterile and unthreatening just the way corporations like it.

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  11. There was NO ONE there all spring and summer. They did nothing. This, the Houston Street project, it's all bullshit. Last month they resumed and on the weekend people were removing the barriers because there were no sidewalks anywhere.

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  12. I'm impressed that CB3 managed to time-travel 90 years into the future. I wonder what the rents are like.

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  13. tax payer money gone to waste. No one cares, go back to sleep.

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  14. The benchmark remark when considering how long these projects take is to remind everyone that the Empire State Building was built in one year.

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  15. 10:46: There are thousands of uses for corn!

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  16. I remember The Alamo like this guy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cHLoHou8uY

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  17. Whoever the contracted crew is doing this project has been giving the pedestrians the flimsiest, most dangerous "pedestrian walkways" I've ever seen, constantly changing and confusing, separated from speeding cars, buses and eighteen-wheelers (when did these become an acceptable thing on Manhattan streets btw?) only by a ribbon and some plastic barrels that would scatter if hit. This is crazy for a long-term project like this. In addition, their vehicle-drivers have frequently been careless about watching out for pedestrians in those walkways. They need to hurry it up and get gone.

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