Meanwhile, we don't know for sure what's coming here. The listing is no longer active at the Massey Knakal site, which stated "the property has Landmark’s Approval for a 6-story steel and glass building for residential, commercial or hotel-use." The property was listed at $4.4 million.
Around 6 this evening, protesters took to the BP gas station on Lafayette and Houston ... (which was conveniently closed in advance) to condemn BP's involvement in the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster (read more about the protest here via Gothamist) .... here are a few photos from the protest ... (BoweryBoogie was also there... you can read his report here.)
I've been so distracted by Harrison Ford's gargantuan cranium of late that I haven't even noticed the 13-story Great Jones Hotel creeping up the downtown skyline...
Ah, here it is upclose at 25 Great Jones Street at Lafayette. One day it will be home to all sorts of fancy eateries and bars and stuff.
(In fact, I saw Close and his assistant enter the building the other day... I was going to ask him about the latest developments, but decided against it...)
So you'd better enjoy the graffiti in this lot while you can...
The Meineke Car Care Center on the southwest corner of Lafayette and Great Jones has been on the market for several years... I took the photo below for a post back in February.
As I noted in February... According to the Massey Knakal Web site: The property has Landmark’s Approval for a 6-story steel and glass building for residential, commercial or hotel-use. The property is listed at $4.4 million. It could look something like this:
Anyway, the "for sale" signs have been removed...
Perhaps a buyer has been found? The property is still listed at Massey Knakal.
Meanwhile, next door...Massey Knakal is arranging for the sale 8 Bond Street and 358-364 Lafayette. According to the listing:
This exciting and rare site can be delivered vacant which allows for immediate development to meet the ever increasing hotel/commercial office demand in New York City. Alternatively, a developer could obtain a special permit for residential use from the city, a precedent that has been set by a variety of projects in the immediate area. Currently, the site is generating approximately $333,000 annually. All of the current leases are cancellable on either 30 or 90-day notice.
And what might this space look like...?
No price listed...the owner is requesting proposals because..."This property represents a truly rare opportunity to capitalize on the strong demand for a premier residential, commercial, or hotel development site on one of the most sought after streets not only in NoHo, but in all of Manhattan."
Well, five weeks later, Fox News yesterday, for unknown reasons, trots out folks from central casting to be OUTRAGED over this, this...smut. Cue the prudey out of towner:
"It's soft pornography is what it is," said Laurie Baranowski, who said she was in New York for a visit. "I don't think that just because you put Calvin Klein's name on it makes it acceptable. It's a beautiful picture, but I don't think that that's the place for it."
(Has she ever seen soft pornography?)
Then there's the do-goody association spokesperson that exists only to be outraged for the media:
"I think that this company has a moral obligation to our country to display their product in an appropriate manner, especially in a public venue where you have thousands of thousands of children who will see this ad," said Randy Sharp of the American Family Association. "I find this kind of ad repulsive, I find it disgusting, I find it inappropriate for a public venue. For my family of five, Calvin Klein will never see a dollar of our money."
(Do they sell Calvin Klein at Wal-Mart?)
Then there's the seen-it-all-New Yorker:
Joaquin Liguas, who heard about the billboard when he woke up in the morning, told FOXNews.com he wasn't bothered by it; he's seen much racier stuff on city streets.
(Who told him about the billboard when he woke up? Where has he been the last five weeks?)
Outrage story complete! Mr. Klein, please pay your publicity team.
Meanwhile, WIVB-TV in Buffalo checks in...
Other news coverage of this controversy via Google....
I couldn't let my previous post on the corner of Lafayette and Great Jones pass without an appreciation of the former occupant of the southeast corner (the one with the new hotel) -- the Jones Diner. We lost this one in September 2002.
Jones Diner is in an area zoned for manufacturing because, when it was built, the big cast-iron and federal-style brick buildings along Lafayette, Great Jones, and neighboring Bond and East 4th streets were filled with woodworking and machine shops and small garment plants. At breakfast and lunch, workers swarmed through the diner's narrow door, plunking themselves on the green padded stools and into the brown booths. Most of those businesses are long since gone; however, their lofts are now occupied by well-heeled residents and swank high-tech offices.
But Jones Diner has endured. Its $3 breakfast specials (juice included) and the never changing plastic-lettered menus above the big gleaming coffee tureens, offering meat loaf sandwiches for $3.25 and pot roast for $4.50, still lure passing delivery workers as well as employees of the neighborhood's last industrial outposts, the lumber yard down the block and the muffler shop across the street. There is also a loyal cadre of local residents who, in a swath of urban landscape that boasts three Starbucks, an Au Bon Pain, a Wendy's, a McDonald's, and an ever expanding universe of mid- to high-end restaurants, still find the Jones the most comfortable dining place within walking distance for simple meals.
For further reading: The Fate of a Fabled Greasy Spoon Raises Questions About Landmarking (New York Times)
The Meineke Car Care Center on the southwest corner of Lafayette and Great Jones is still for sale. Haven't been by this corner for some time...I recall talk of either a condo, and later, a hotel, for this space back in the summer of 2007...I thought it was a done deal.
The property has Landmark’s Approval for a 6-story steel and glass building for residential, commercial or hotel-use. The development opportunity at 372 Lafayette Street has tremendous potential. The location alone sets the site apart as there is tremendous demand for this type of development project. This property represents a truly exceptional opportunity to capitalize on the strong demand for a premier residential, commercial, or mixed-use development site within the trendiest retail corridor in the NoHo neighborhood of Manhattan.
The property is listed at $4.4 million. It could look something like this:
Meanwhile, here's what it looks like now...enjoy it while you can...
Meanwhile, across the street, work continues on the Great Jones Hotel. Which the sign says will be completed in February 2010.
