Monday, May 15, 2017

Demolition watch: 112-120 E. 11th St., future home of a Moxy hotel


[Photo from May 2016]

Workers have been bringing down the five walk-up buildings at 112-120 E. 11th St. in recent months.

Here's where the demolition stands as of Saturday... hard to say what's left behind the construction netting. Maybe two floors?





Plywood signage points to a summer completion for the demolition...



And then! One day!


[Rendering via Flintlock Construction]

As previously reported, the buildings are coming down to make way for the 13-story hotel for Marriott’s Moxy brand here between Third Avenue and Fourth Avenue. The Moxy website shows that the 11th Street hotel is expected to open in late 2018.

Local residents, preservationists and local elected officials have all spoken out about the demolition of the "landmark-elegible" buildings and loss of housing.

The Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation posted this on Instagram Friday...

These historic ca. 1890 Beaux Arts tenements in which a young Pete Seeger and his brothers once lived are being demolished because Mayor de Blasio refused to honor a 2008 Landmarks Preservation Commission determination that they were "landmark eligible". Now they will be replaced by a 120-room 'Moxy' hotel geared towards party-hopping millennials, to be built by the Mayor's campaign donor and political ally. And the Mayor is opposing our rezoning proposal for the area which is widely supported by the community and elected officials to discourage this kind of hotel and office development and instead encourage residential development that includes affordable housing. Tell the Mayor this is unacceptable and to support the rezoning -- go to www.gvshp.org/mayor, and learn more at www.gvshp.org/savemyneighborhood. #eastvillage #eastvillagenyc #tenements #mayordeblasio #activism #affordablehousing #zoning #savemyneighborhood #savenyc #preservation #beauxarts #peteseeger

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Previously on EV Grieve:
6-building complex on East 10th Street and East 11th Street sells for $127 million

Report: 300-room hotel planned for East 11th Street

Preservationists say city ignored pitch to designate part of 11th Street as a historic district

Permits filed to demolish 5 buildings on 11th Street to make way for new hotel (58 comments)

At the Moxy hotel protest on 11th Street last evening

20 comments:

Giovanni said...

Welcome to the New Sunset Strip, the next phase in the Mallification of the East Village. This is just a high rise, yuppified version of those cheap hotels you see in Hollywood, full of people on a weekend binge who are hell-bent on having a good time no matter how miserable they make everyone else around them. Based on all of the oversized and poorly designed real estate development that seems to be either for luxury condos and or tourist destinations, pretty soon we will be able to call this town New Yuck City.

Anonymous said...

Unforgivable. Brings a permanently poor choice to the neighborhood for its residents, while ushering in a red carpet for tourists who will trash the block night after night.

Anonymous said...

City Hall has it's own agenda and it is to make friends of the mayor and the real estate industry and developers even wealthier at the cost of the middle class and lower income families.

Anonymous said...

Why are modern commercial buildings so ugly? Admittedly this is not as bad as a huge glass tower (hello 51 Astor Place), but the interesting facades and architectural details have been replaced with glass panes.

gimme a U
gimme a G
gimme a ...

Anonymous said...

You'll notice from the sign that the owners are in Lakewood, NJ. You can be sure THEY won't hear the noise or be kept awake by obnoxious, drunk revelers staying at the hotel.

So it boils down to this, basically: Screw the residents of the East Village & let them suffer; meanwhile we get the $$ AND the quiet to sleep at night in NJ.

Nice trade-off of OUR collective quality of life for THEIR enrichment, isn't it?

Maybe future owners should be required by NYC to "live above the store".

Anonymous said...

Would the local community board know about/be notified about having the
buildings being torn down to be replaced ?
And if they did, would the developer need the community board approval ?
Or is the procedure just to file plans downtown ?
How can this just happen ?

Gojira said...

Heartbreaking. I did not think there could be a worse mayor than Bloomturd, but I see I was wrong - at least he was blatant and upfront about his distaste for the old New York City, and his desire to remake it, whereas di Blahblahblahsio hid behind the mask of "social consciousness" to make it seem like he would side with New Yorkers, rather than real estate developers and the monied class who seem to have an overwhelming, never-ending desire to trash our city.

Anonymous said...

Slight inconsistencies here. As someone with knowledge of the deal, I want to advise that there were approximately 20 stabilized units. Those renters were moved to the other building acquired on the back side (elevator building that is nicer). So the the real story here is trading approximately 80 market rate apartments for a hotel that will create approximately 60-100 jobs. I think this is a very thoughtful project.

Anonymous said...

I think most people have a great misconception about "landmarked" buildings. Just imagine if you own something and the city tells you you no longer have the right to decide what you do with it. Most people who want buildings to be landmarked are for clean energy. If you wanted to change your old oil burning furnace to a clean energy one in a landmarked building you have to go through 10 times more hoops in the city beuracracy and owners of the buildings say forget it. Same with regular facade maintenance. The city has to approve what type of paint you use and what color. You have to also get extra permits. The result - landlords leave the building unpainted and looking like crap becasue it i not worth the hassle. The reason the rents in those buildings are lower is becasue the owners don't bother to maintain them as they narmally would becasue it is not cost effective. Basically, the easiest thing for a mom and pop owner to do is sell and get out which is what all the big boys including the city want. Then once they own everything they will pay to get the landmarked status recinded and everything will be big block buildings. Everything has unintended (or intended) consequences. The city is also anti mom and pop stores becasue the city collects a tax on rent that commerical spaces pay. Think about that - a tax on an expenditure not on profit. That is theft. Basically every storefront in NYC pays half a month's rent to the city a year in tax based on their rent. This means the city is interested in higher commercial rents and getting rid of cheap mom and pop stores.

Anonymous said...

You said it, Gojira. I also thought Bloombucks was the worst, but we have been proven wrong about that.

I feel like this area is becoming Times Square South - just really for tourists. And hey, tourists, ignore those people who live here b/c they don't really matter at all.

Anonymous said...

Look the reality is this building is right in front of Webster Hall.. who the hell wants to live in front of that zoo?

chris flash said...

Mayor DeBlazio (nee Wilhelm) does NOT work for the citizens of NYC -- don't you get it by now????

Threatening to not vote for him in the next election means NOTHING to corrupt scum like him, as he is backed by the monied interests that control the fucking city....

WHERE the fuck were our "representatives" on the LES to stop this from happening? They're readily available for photo-ops, twirling the cube in Astor Place, but NO WHERE when it really matters.

Anonymous said...

So fucking sad. I really rooted for DeBlasio but the development shit has only gotten worse. Can't blame the guy for everything but I really thought things would get better on that front.

cmarrtyy said...

In their recent presidential election, The French, threw out their major parties and voted for change and a chance for a better life. We've been holding on to one-party-rule in this city as if it was something of a blessing as opposed to what it really is - abusive. Since the Dems won't allow anyone to run against Mayor Bill, we need to find an independent to run. If not don't vote for any of our incumbents. JUST DON'T VOTE!

Anonymous said...

@12:01pm: Weak argument you make; the same could be said of a brothel! What you ignore is what the hotel does to destroy the fabric of this residential neighborhood.

@12:22pm: I have never ever heard that having a landmarked building means you can't upgrade the boiler system. I think you are wrong about that.

Anonymous said...

@ 9:54 I didn't say you can't upgrade the boiler system I said you have to jump through many more hoops and get many more permits to do so so landlords avoid the extra hassle. But thanks for putting words in my mouth.

Anonymous said...

Bloomberg vs. de Blasio. Bloomberg had a lot of power and could get things done the way he wanted with rezoning and big business. He wasn't going to waste his time on certain things knowing that they would fall in to place on their own. Take for example the HDFC coops. He just left those alone knowing that the selfish simple minded hypocrites would figure out how to bring the buildings to market rate for their own retirement. de Blasio should put the restrictions on the HDFC's and stop allowing city owned land to go to developers. As bad as this is, I think it is worse when it's city owned property.

Anonymous said...

@9:54 I think that the primary thing that has destroyed the neighborhood, really, is the loss of affordable housing. while nothing has been in our favor. I prefer a hotel to more market rate luxury housing and higher. Hotels are transient while market rate is permanent.
We need to be protecting and adding affordable housing and doing something about retail diversity of the storefronts. The bars and restaurants play into tourism. I'm sick and tired of people thinking that the attempt to stop the restaurants and bars does nothing. The nightlife industry and real estate industry live here and push for all of this. If you look at the storefronts in Ageloff Towers, NYCHA and the other building with Croissanteria, you see a diversity. If we could just could just get rid of more of the restaurants and bars then the neighborhood wouldn't be a foodie, boozie target for tourists and bridge and tunnel, that would help the situation.

Anonymous said...

Wow 60-100 jobs. That's it? Sounds like a thoughtless (as in stupid) project. How long will someone hold one of those jobs? What will thosee jobs pay? Enough to live in NYC, or will the workers have to live in NJ the only state that's a reasonable commute to NYC? How many will pay enough someone to save enough for a downpayment on a house where? Certainly not NYC.

DeBlasio has this air of "Trump's president so I can do whatever I want." Time for an independent to challenge him - too bad one won't. We're stuck with him for another four years.

The real issue here is who gives a shit at this point? A project like this shows you this is what the city cares about in 2017.

DeBlasio is Bloomberg Lite, or a nicer Bloomberg, nothing more or less.

Anonymous said...

These buildings were privately owned. The rent stabilized tenants were apparently relocated to a better building away from Webster Hall. The hotel is a better option than more luxury housing. If they landmarked the buildings, they would have ended up as luxury housing and possibly could have been torched up.
I find it alarmingly atrocious that city owned land and buildings are being sold to developers for more luxury housing.
There is an organization called LESEN whose mission is to work in partnership with CB 3 and local not for profit organizations to place residents of the LES in jobs. One of the best employers are the hotels that have sprouted up in the LES, with most jobs paying above minimum wage and offering benefits. I hope that East Village residents will get these jobs.