[T]he team is anticipated to continue with selective hand demolition on the interior and exterior of the building ... the demolition team will start major hand demolition of the building from the east and west elevation working toward the middle of the building. This will include concrete chopping and torching the metal decks.
"It seems highly suspect that the developer of a 21-story office tower is paying barely more than the operator of a 2-story appliance and electronics store for use of this incredibly valuable land. This is and has been from the beginning a sweetheart deal for political allies of and donors to the mayor. There was absolutely no transparency to the process by which RAL were chosen to get this incredibly valuable piece of public land for a song."
Berman pointed to a lack of any documented evaluations of bids on the development deal, which is supported by the results of Freedom of Information requests made by his group to the city’s Economic Development Corporation. In response to a request for notes, ratings or a scoring sheet regarding the selection of RAL over several other applicants, EDC responded that it located "no responsive records."
The Food Hall will enhance the street life and activate the mid-block area on 14th Street between 3rd and 4th avenues. Food and other vendors will provide amenities to the local community and the building tenants. 25% of all booths will be reserved for first time, local entrepreneurs and new businesses. The event space within the building will also provide catering opportunities to help support these new businesses while the digital skills training center will provide access to training to both vendors and employees.
Please join us on Saturday at 11th and Broadway, in front of the old St. Denis Hotel, for a demonstration to save our neighborhood. The historic former hotel, built in 1853, is to be demolished for a large glassy office tower.
This is part of a broader trend of demolitions and completely inappropriate new development in this area south of Union Square, fueled by a lack of zoning and landmark protections, the expanding tech industry in the area, and the commercial upzoning for the Tech Hub recently approved nearby on 14th Street. That deal, passed by the City Council and local Councilmember Rivera, failed to include any of the promised meaningful protections for the affected adjacent Greenwich Village and East Village neighborhoods.
Developers now increasingly see this area of our neighborhood as an extension of the ‘Midtown South’ office district and of the tech industry’s “Silicon Alley” ... we are continuing to push for landmark protections that will preserve this and other buildings in the area.
The requirement of a special permit for hotels will have little to no effect on the development problems the Tech Hub will exacerbate. First, any hotel can still be built with the approval of the City Council. Second, this really only applies to a portion of the affected area, since the zoning for about half the area already prohibits or restricts hotels. Third, hotels are only one of many forms of bad development this area is experiencing which this measure will not address, such as office buildings and high-rise condos, as well as doing nothing about affordable housing which the community rezoning plan Rivera promised to hold out for would have.
During her campaign, Rivera had promised to seek a separate rezoning for the surrounding neighborhood to establish height limits and, in some cases, cap commercial square footage in exchange for her support of the hub. The administration had balked at the idea of curtailing office space, and a compromise was expected to take the form of landmarking some buildings and requiring special permits for new hotel development.
The City Council's deal approves the Mayor’s Tech Hub with just a fraction of a fraction of the protections the surrounding neighborhood needs and called for, and which Council member Rivera promised to condition her vote upon. The approval of the Tech Hub will accelerate the transformation of the adjacent Greenwich Village and East Village neighborhoods into an extension of ‘Midtown South’ and ‘Silicon Alley,’ which many developers and real estate interests have already begun to call them. It’s a shame that the Mayor is so invested in protecting his real-estate donor friends that he would not consider real but reasonable zoning protections for the area that would have prevented this kind of unnecessary development, and encouraged residential development that includes affordable housing.
Proud 2 work 4 a strong Latina - born & raised in the LES - who gave #District2 residents, especially our Black & Brown communities, workforce & training opportunities. It's not everyday a kid from the PJs can experience this reality but because of @CarlinaRivera it will happen.
— John M Blasco (@JBlascoNYC) August 8, 2018
Big thanks to NYC Councilwomen @CarlinaRivera for her leadership and support for @civichall's tech training center on14th St, which the council approved today. The community benefits will be substantial and long-term. #civictech
— Micah Sifry (@Mlsif) August 8, 2018
Really proud of my @NYCCouncil sister @CarlinaRivera. These things are NEVER easy but CR managed to thread the needle with skill & grace ensuring benefits reach the communities that need them most AND that the surrounding neighborhoods are protected. Boom. https://t.co/OSNDRalIcY
— Justin Brannan (@JustinBrannan) August 8, 2018
In particular, I need to thank my Councilwomen @CarlinaRivera for balancing the demands of facilitating @civichall's project, so that the TechHub will fulfill its mission of providing jobs training & activating civic engagement, while ensuring all her constituents can thrive. https://t.co/YwCjrdLGaC
— Jerry Weinstein (@tummler10) August 8, 2018
Many thanks to @CarlinaRivera’s leadership, @CivicHall’s Union Square project can begin to level the #tech playing field 🙏🏼🎉 #letsbuildtogether #civictech https://t.co/TC952X7aid
— Fiona Teng 鄧穎恆 (@feeteng) August 8, 2018
@CarlinaRivera You sold us out. I thought you were good on protecting our community.
— Susan Schindler (@SusanSchindler) August 8, 2018
The "local protections" are a fraction of a fraction of what we were fighting for, what we need, & what you promised to condition your vote upon. This will result in an acceleration of bad=out-of-character development in Greenwich Village+E. Village: https://t.co/2PhJeEDKKs
— GVSHP (@GVSHP) August 8, 2018
Give me a break. These "protections" are paltry. You sold out the community, and we won't forget it.
— Lloyd Bergenson (@dieterknickbock) August 8, 2018
Good bye my community! @CarlinaRivera @ydanis sold out our communities. Shame! Very disappointed! @Met_Council @GVSHP @NMN4S_NYC
— Kathy Wakeham (@WAKEHAMNYC) August 8, 2018
Shame on you, @CarlinaRivera. I voted for you because you promised to make zoning restrictions in our community your top priority. You did no such thing with your vote. Is this how you keep commitments to your constituents? https://t.co/8tsxY8xv6l
— daisy17 (@daisy17) August 9, 2018
Please read my letter to my community about today’s vote. The Tech Hub will build a bridge for our neighbors to great jobs & with local protections secured. We will continue working towards preservation & making our neighborhood stronger. https://t.co/rmIST9vZ3j pic.twitter.com/rZtyzMjXVE
— Carlina Rivera 利華娜 (@CarlinaRivera) August 8, 2018
Rivera indicated that while she voted yes at the committee level, she is still working on securing some sort of rezoning or study for the surrounding neighborhood.
"I am doing this so that I can continue negotiations with the mayor's office toward the possibility of reaching a deal that would satisfy all impacted communities," she said before giving the thumbs up. Her district includes the project site, so she expects her colleagues to follow her lead, per council tradition.
@CarlinaRivera did you go back on your promise to protect the area? Pls I don’t want to believe it? @NY1 no historic protections? None? How? Why? @NYGovCuomo @BilldeBlasio @NYCMayor
— John Leguizamo (@JohnLeguizamo) August 2, 2018
Thank you, but very disappointed you seem to be approving development of the “Tech Hub” on 14th St. without protections for the neighborhood against further outsized developments. As I understand it Rosie agreed to that and so did you. What’s up?!
— Charles J Browning (@Cbrow46) August 3, 2018
It is very hard to understand @CarlinaRivera's action when she strongly verbalized support of the community and @GVSHP in it's oposition to the Tech Hub and now she voted in favor. We need an explanation. https://t.co/DYwLVLRoqA
— Rosalie Grossman (@GrossmanRosalie) August 3, 2018
@CarlinaRivera as a new homeowner (& 9 yr resident) of the village, I want civil+economic progress, and I also want reasonable rights to shield from irrational overdevelopment. You stood for both, what happened? What next?@GVSHP @evgrieve @RosieMendez @GrnVillageNYC @jeremoss https://t.co/PZwbEeuelE
— Kat Stewart (@kat_stewart_) August 3, 2018
When @CarlinaRivera runs again in 2021, the destruction of our neighborhood she unleashed today will be fully visible.
— Peter Feld 🔥 (@peterfeld) August 2, 2018
Her fingerprints will be on every glass office tower, condo & party hotel that goes up.
We will hold her #accountable. https://t.co/qyPyBQFhOV
Please join me in
— Smith Houses (@smithhouses) August 3, 2018
Thanking Councilmember Carlina Rivera for making sure that our communities are given more opportunities to succeed by approving the tech training center!
Thank you for remembering the thousands of NYCHA families in District 2 and 1.
Thanks @CarlinaRivera for doing the right thing for your constituents today by approving both the Tech Hub and more housing on E 33rd Street. The results will be job training for low-income NYers, over 40 permanently affordable apartments, and myriad other community benefits!
— Open New York (@OpenNYForAll) August 2, 2018
Thank you Councilwoman @CarlinaRivera for supporting the Tech Hub project on 14th Street. The 21 stories of #union work will provide great jobs for many hardworking New Yorkers, including many of our own members. We look forward to making these blueprints a reality. #1u #NYC1u
— CarpentersNYC (@CarpentersNyc) August 2, 2018
It is deeply disappointing that the Council would approve this rezoning without anything even remotely resembling the protections for the surrounding neighborhood that had been under discussion. This will turn Greenwich Village and the East Village into extensions of Silicon Alley and Midtown South, with more out-of-scale and out-of-character tech office buildings and condo high-rises going up in the area.
Councilmember Rivera publicly pledged during her campaign that she would not vote for the Tech Hub without the comprehensive neighborhood protections which have been under discussion for more than two years. This falls very far short of that pledge she made to her constituents.
[Yesterday's] vote is an important step forward for the innovative and inclusive Tech Training Center at 124 East 14th Street. We are dedicated to developing a new property model for inclusive community and economic impact, embracing and interacting with its local community and in permanent support of emerging and existing local entrepreneurs and industries.
We look forward to continuing our dialog with the community and local officials, working together to make sure the Tech Training Center responds to the community’s needs and becomes a vibrant addition to the iconic Union Square area in Lower Manhattan.
.@CarlinaRivera says vote on Tech Hub is “seriously in question” following negotiations with City Hall where “the community’s requests have not been seriously considered.” https://t.co/iEPOLU6F92
— Jeremy Unger (@jeremyunger1) July 10, 2018
We’re pleased to continue through the ULURP process with the broad support of the community and elected officials. We are committed to making the 124 East 14th Street Tech Training Center a reality; an innovative and inclusive project that will stimulate local business growth and community interaction, and promote the next generation of companies, not for profit organizations, and industries. We will continue to work with community representatives and local officials in making sure the project responds to the community’s needs and look forward to the Tech Training Center’s addition to the iconic Lower Manhattan area.
"[Rivera] has been negotiating with the mayor's office throughout the process," a spokesman said. "She's going to be working on securing zoning protections that preserve affordable housing and the character of the neighborhood."
"Our conversation with council member Rivera has been productive," an EDC spokesman said in a statement. "We look forward to continuing to gather feedback from her, community stakeholders, and the City Council subcommittee as we present on this important project that seeks to diversify the city's tech sector."
[I]t is worth noting that newly elected Councilwoman Carlina Rivera expressed support for the tech hub during her campaign – only if the city agrees to the rezoning.
As the local councilmember, Rivera has a large say in the outcome of the project.
Last Friday, Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer released her recommendation on the proposed 14th Street Tech Hub, as part of the required public approval process. Brewer initially pledged not to include the need for neighborhood protections to accompany Tech Hub as part of her recommendation, as GVSHP and many others have called for, calling them “unrelated.”
However, GVSHP worked hard to persuade the Borough President that the Tech Hub without neighborhood protections would accelerate rampant overdevelopment in the University Place, Broadway, and 3rd and 4th Avenue corridors, as did thousands of neighborhood residents who wrote or called her. Following this, Brewer issued her recommendation (read the PDF here) including mention of the potential impacts upon the adjacent Greenwich Village and East Village neighborhoods and the need for neighborhood protections, as GVSHP has proposed and called for.
Outrageously, directly following this, the City scheduled the sole City Planning Commission public hearing on this matter for this Wednesday, May 9 with virtually no public notification (as of this morning, the city’s own Land Use Tracking System had still not shown that the City Planning Commission hearing had even been scheduled). Adding insult to injury, this item is scheduled as the LAST item on a long agenda for the day, making it virtually impossible to say how late in the day this item will be heard.
DON'T LET THE MAYOR CUT YOU OUT OF THE PROCESS FOR DETERMINING THE FATE OF YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD!
“Consistent with previous board support for rezoning the Third and Fourth Avenue corridor, including the December 2017 board resolution, CB3 urges the city to commence the process of rezoning this area as well as incentivize affordable housing and exclude certain use groups such as hotels and big box stores.”
"This sends an important message to Mayor de Blasio and developers that we do not want the East Village and Greenwich Village transformed into Silicon Alley or Midtown South. A Tech Hub on 14th Street which provides training and services to New Yorkers and small start-ups can be a valuable addition to our city; but it must be accompanied by zoning protections for the surrounding residential neighborhood which ensures that tech and other development doesn't push out longtime residents and businesses, or fundamentally change the character of these neighborhoods.
What we are proposing is a win-win – the Tech Hub proceeds on 14th Street, and the Mayor lives up to his rhetoric about preserving and promoting affordable housing by advancing this rezoning for the surrounding area that would prevent out of scale development and encourage affordable housing development and preservation. So far he has adamantly refused, only supporting the zoning changes for the Tech Hub, which is to be developed by his campaign donors. We hope he will now listen."
On Tuesday evening, Community Board 3 voted unanimously in favor of a resolution supporting site specific rezoning and a special permit to allow the development of the proposed tech training center at 124 East 14th Street, the former P.C. Richard site, by RAL Companies to proceed.
Community Board approval of the 124 East 14th Street development was not conditioned upon any broader rezoning being enacted. The final text of the Community Board resolution requested the City to consider a broader rezoning in the area, but did not connect that process to the approval of 124 East 14th Street.
“We’re thrilled to receive the Community Board’s unanimous support for our proposal, which is designed to fit within the City’s broader plan to expand and diversify the tech workforce,” said Josh Wein, Financial Director of RAL Companies. “We look forward to proceeding through the ULURP process and are thankful for the opportunity to develop this exciting project with its full community benefit intact.”
124 East 14th Street will be a training and education center for all New Yorkers regardless of race, gender, age, or immigration status. It will establish a new model for inclusive community and economic impact, one that embraces and interacts with its local community, and supports emerging and existing local entrepreneurs and industries, in the heart of New York City at Union Square. The 240,000 gross square foot, multi-level project will include a Public Food Hall, Civic Hall — a communal and collaborative workspace for social change-, an Event Space, a Digital Skills Training Center, Step Up Office Space, and Modern Class-A Office Space.
