Proposed hotel next to the Merchant's House Museum returns to the Landmarks Preservation Commission

EVG file photo

A developer's decades-long effort to build a hotel next door to the landmarked Merchant's House Museum on Fourth Street between the Bowery and Lafayette is back in the news. 

Merchant's House officials learned yesterday that the Landmarks Preservation Commission will hold a public meeting on Tuesday, Dec. 12, to discuss — and possibly vote on — the proposed development for an 8-story hotel. (Find the meeting and registration info at this link. A PDF of the presentation is here. A livestream will be on the LPC YouTube page. Village Preservation has more details.)

Per the Merchant's House: 

At the last LPC hearing nearly three years ago, the LPC declined to vote on the proposed development. If the LPC now votes to approve the project, the Merchant's House will be forced to close to the public for at least two years to safeguard the house and the collection. Construction next door will cause significant structural damage to our landmark 1832 building. 

Shockingly, landmark status does not guarantee protection.

The development firm Kalodop II Park Corp. has been trying to build the hotel for nearly 12 years. 

In January 2019, the developers sued New York City, the City Council and Councilmember Carlina Rivera over the rejection of their Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP) application for the project. (Not sure whatever happened to that suit.)

The developers have been seeking a spot rezoning to build an 8-story hotel on the site — higher than the current zoning allowed. The full City Council ultimately voted down the rezoning in September 2019. 

Preservationists, not to mention the leadership of Merchant's House, the circa-1832 building, were concerned that the construction could permanently damage the structure, one of only six residences in NYC that is both an exterior and an interior landmark. Local elected officials and Community Board 2 have all opposed the current application for the 8-story hotel. 

The developers have promised to take extensive measures to ensure that the neighboring structure would not be harmed during the hotel construction. 

This project dates to 2011.

The proposed site of the hotel, 27 E. Fourth St., currently houses Al-Amin Food Inc., which houses carts for street vendors. 

Cathedral preservation meeting ends in deadlock; mediator next

Jill at Blah Blog Blah attended last night's CB3 meeting regarding the preservation of the Historic Russian Orthodox Cathedral of the Holy Virgin Martyr on East Second Street. In a comment, she reported:

[T]he two sides are really at odds, which is so strange because ultimately they want the same thing — to preserve the church they love.

The meeting ended with both sides agreeing to go to a mediator to try to work it out.

Apparently there is a group that helps with financing and all the red tape that the church is worried about. But the anger seemed to go beyond that. What I got from the speeches was that the church members feel like they felt like they are being invaded by strangers who want to proclaim landmark status on the building without engaging the occupants of the building. Like their opinion on the matter was an afterthought.

However, if this fight has been going on since before the rezoning (which is why they say they can't add an addition even if they want to), then the 8-story addition was probably a real threat, and the landmark status was meant to stop them, so engaging them wouldn't have made much sense then, as it was a strategy to stop them from proceeding with their plan.

I wonder if it is possible to could get landmark status in spite of what the church members want. It seems to me that if the EVCC et al are worried that the church, or their future congregants will try to change the building in any way (8 story addition not withstanding) then they are exactly who landmark status is meant to protect the building from.

Patrick Hedlund has more on the story at DNAinfo.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Looking for support of the proposed landmarking of the Historic Russian Orthodox Cathedral

[Cathedral image courtesy of Barry Munger]

Not everyone wants landmark protection for the East Village

[Photo last week by Bobby Williams]

As you know, the Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) unanimously voted to create the East 10th Street Historic District* on Tuesday. (Perhaps we should include that name with an asterisk because of Ben Shaoul's last-second approval for a rooftop addition at 315 E. 10th St.)

Preservationists are now hoping that the LPC will give another swath of the East Village landmark status as well... an area that takes in some 330 buildings:

The LPC has not placed this item on their calendar just yet.

Today, in an article titled Preservation Push in Bohemian Home Stirs Fear of Hardship, The New York Times reports on the opposition to the landmark protection. Per the article by Joseph Berger:

Almost a dozen houses of worship, including the late-19th-century Cathedral of the Holy Virgin Protection and a crumbling century-old synagogue, argue that they are dependent on donations and that including them in a landmark district would make simple projects like repairing a window or fixing a roof more expensive and bureaucratically time-consuming.

Even worse, it would make their buildings and the valuable property on which they sit much less attractive since developers would be restricted in what they could do.

Now what?

Landmarks Preservation Commission rejects hearing for 316 E. Third St., paving way for 7-floor condo

Preservation groups had been working to try to protect 316 E. Third St., a circa-1835 house bound for the condo after life. Unfortunately, the Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) has rejected a hearing on the matter, according to a post yesterday at the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation website (GVSHP). As GVSHP noted, "in 2008, as part of their own evaluation of the structure for the Environmental Review for the East Village/Lower East Side Rezoning, the LPC called it 'eligible for landmark status.'"

Last week, though, the LPC "again responded by refusing to consider holding a hearing on potential landmark designation of the endangered structure." (Read the LPC letter here, PDF)

So, this will be the fourth pre-Civil War building in the East Village to be demolished of late. The others: 326 and 328 E. Fourth St. and 35 Cooper Square ...

And so, the historic townhouse between Avenue C and Avenue D will become a Karl Fischer-designed, 33-unit condo that will destroy the home and the bucolic adjacent garden space.

CB3 requests that the incoming de Blasio administration return P.S. 64 to the community

There hasn't been much activity (aside from a pop-up art show) to note at the former PS 64 and CHARAS/El Bohio community center on East Ninth Street.

For a really long time, developer Gregg Singer has been trying to turn the property into a dorm. Per previous reports, both The Joffrey Ballet School and Cooper Union have signed on to house its students here.

Meanwhile, some news to catch up on … back on Dec. 17, Community Board 3 passed a resolution requesting that the incoming de Blasio administration return the building to the community. (This was first reported by Off the Grid, the blog of the Greenwich Village Society for Historical Preservation.)

The resolution reads, in part:

Whereas, in 2004, the owner filed plans to demolish the building to construct a 20-story dormitory, “University House,” though the owner had no accredited educational institution participation; and

Whereas, after a concerted community effort, the NYC Department of Buildings denied the demolition permit, based on Rule 51-01 that governs the Classification of Student Dormitories, requiring submission of a full lease by an accredited educational institution for a minimum of 10 years, and a restrictive declaration that the building would only be used as a dormitory; and

Whereas, in an unprecedented community campaign, in 2006, the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the Former P.S. 64 school building as a landmark, recognizing both its physical, cultural and historical distinction; and

Whereas, after the landmark designation, the owner removed the building’s cornices and dormers, as well as removed the architectural detail at the roof line, leaving the building open to the elements; and

Whereas, the owner has allowed the building to fall into extreme disrepair; and

Whereas, the DOB has issued over 42 violations since 2008, including the failure to maintain the premises; and

Whereas, the owner currently owes the City of New York approximately $30,000 in unpaid penalties for ECB violations; and

Whereas, in 2012, again the owner filed to convert the building to a dormitory; and

Whereas, the owner’s current application for dormitory use does not meet the NYC Department of Buildings’ criteria for a dormitory under Rule 51-01, as there is no lease for the entirety of the facility with one or more accredited educational institution for a minimum of 10 years, nor is there a restrictive declaration that the building will be used exclusively as a dormitory; and

Whereas, it has been 14 years since the auction sale and the owner has been unable to comply with the conditions of sale to develop a community facility; and

Whereas, since the sale and privatization of 605 East 9th Street, the community has faced displacement of vital community services, community organizations and community space; and

Whereas, the building has not been properly maintained by the current owner and has become a threat to public safety due to, among other things, a lack of proper snow and ice removal and a failure to consistently maintain construction scaffolding; so

Therefore, be it known that Community Board 3 requests that the new mayoral administration return the former P.S. 64 school building to the community by legally retrieving and then selling or giving it to a well-established not-for-profit organization(s) with a long history of serving the people of the Lower East Side/East Village including, but not limited to restoring the not-for-profit organization known as CHARAS / El Bohio to the building located at 605 East 9th Street.

Off the Grid also pointed out that there is now (as of the fall) an active website for Singer's dorm — University House, which will be ready for the 2015-16 school year. Meanwhile, the city disapproved the plan for the dorm conversion last April 1. (According to DOB documents, the cost of the project is $16 million.)

Perhaps 2014 will finally be the year that something happens with the circa-1906 building.

Read Karen Loew's post at Off the Grid here for reaction from local activists.



Previously on EV Grieve:
Rebranded P.S. 64 up for grabs: Please welcome University House at Tompkins Square Park to the neighborhood

Deed for 'community facility use only' at the former P.S. 64 now on the market

Efforts continue to fight the dorm planned for the former PS 64 on East 9th Street

Testimony Of Councilmember Rosie Mendez regarding the former PS 64

[Updated] At the 'Save Our Community Center MARCH AND RALLY'

Landmarks Preservation Commission asks to see modified plans for former PS 64

The Landmarks Preservation Commission approves application for modifications at PS 64

Report: Preservationists speak out against making Union Square Park a city scenic landmark

[Photo from Oct. 30 via Bobby Williams]

Interesting story here via New York Yimby yesterday.

On Thursday, the Landmarks Preservation Commission held a public hearing about designating Union Square Park a city scenic landmark. (While it is already a National Historic Landmark, that designation doesn't protect it from changes within the park.)

Per NYY:

Jack Taylor, speaking for the Union Square Community Coalition, said that designating the park as it is today “would be a historical travesty.” “And it pains me personally, as a committed preservationist, to take a position that seemingly dismisses landmark protection for a fabled but now flawed part of New York City history,” he added.

For starters, there is about one block of actual park ... and that has been altered already through the years. In short, it lacks "historical integrity," as a rep from the Historic Districts Council put it.

Head on over to Yimby for the full story and an archival photo.

A call to expand the proposed East Village historic districts

The City's Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) is considering proposing two historic districts in the East Village. (See that here.)

Here's a letter on the matter from Andrew Berman, executive director, Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation (GVSHP):

[T]he scope of the LPC's current study areas is limited, and only covers a fraction of the neighborhood's important historic resources. The LPC has said that they are willing to consider other areas of the neighborhood for possible historic district designation in the future, and it is important that we make clear that such additional consideration is essential. However, we also believe that, given the areas the LPC is looking at right now, they can and should expand the boundaries of their study areas to include other important nearby historic resources.

Therefore GVSHP, the Historic Districts Council and the Lower East Side Preservation Initiative have asked the LPC to expand their study area to include several adjacent areas. We are hopeful that the LPC will study these additional areas as well as part of their current effort.

The LPC is only studying these areas for possible consideration for historic district designation, and has not taken any formal action towards designation yet. It is therefore critical that we let them know that we want them to move forward with historic district designations in the East Village, that we want them to expand their study area boundaries, and that we want them to consider additional areas soon.

The LPC will be presenting their proposal to Community Board 3's Landmarks Subcommittee this Thursday. This is an important opportunity to let the LPC and Community Board 3 know that we want to see landmark protections expanded in the East Village.

HOW TO HELP:

• Send a letter to the Landmarks Preservation Commission and Community Board 3 supporting the expansion of historic district designations in the East Village, expanding the study area, and ensuring that other critical areas of the neighborhood are considered soon. (Here is a sample letter to use.)
• Come to the Community Board 3 Landmarks Committee public hearing on the proposal this Thursday, May 12 at 6 pm at BRC Senior Services Center in Sara Delano Roosevelt Park, 30 Delancey Street between Chrystie and Forsyth Streets.

Landmarks Preservation Commission expedites hearing on East 10th Street Historic District

Last Friday, we reported that Ben Shaoul's Magnum Real Estate Group bought 315 E. 10th St. from The Educational Alliance. Renovations continue to convert the building into residential use.

[Dave on 7th]

There is also a pending permit to add a fifth floor to the existing four-floor structure, which the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation believe dates to 1847.

The building is located within the calendared East 10th Street Historic District, though the Landmarks Preservation Commission had yet to schedule a date for a hearing.

However, last night, Lisi de Bourbon, the communications director at the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC), told us that the LPC is expediting the date for a public hearing on its proposal for the East 10th Street Historic District.

"The reason we're scheduling the date earlier than we expected is that DOB notified the Commission's staff this past Sunday that the owner of 315 East 10th Street had filed an application for a permit to construct a rooftop addition that could potentially affect the character of the proposed district," she said.

The Department of Buildings has a mandatory maximum of 40 days to review its permit applications. When owners of buildings that are calendared — meaning under formal consideration for designation by the commission — file for DOB permits, LPC has 40 days to vote whether to landmark it.

The proposed East 10th Street Historic District comprises 26 buildings on the north side of East 10th Street between Avenues A and B that reflect the 19th and 20th century history of the East Village. (Read more about the Ben Shaoul rooftop additions here via the GVSHP.)

According to de Bourbon, The LPC has notified property owners in the proposed district that a hearing on whether to designate the buildings a historic district will be held on Tuesday, Jan. 17 — the earliest date a hearing can be scheduled.

Previously on EV Grieve:
A bid to protect the integrity of 315 E. 10th St.

Looking for support of the proposed landmarking of the Historic Russian Orthodox Cathedral

From the inbox...



Please come speak in support of the proposed landmarking of the Historic Russian Orthodox Cathedral of the Holy Virgin Martyr on East Second Street.

Thursday, July 15 at 6 pm at the Community Board 3 Landmarks Subcommittee meeting at BRC, 30 Delancey St. (between Chrystie and Forsyth Streets).

In 2008 GVSHP and the East Village Community Coalition urged the Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) to consider landmark designation of the Cathedral, where an 8-story condo-tower was being considered to be added to the building. Earlier this year, the LPC held a hearing on potential landmark designation of the historic building, but has not yet voted on the proposal. Now Community Board 3, which has not yet taken a position on the landmarking proposal, is considering it. While the leadership of the Cathedral is opposing landmark designation, some congregants have spoken out in favor of landmarking and many in the neighborhood also support designation.

For more information, go to the GVSHP site.
http://www.gvshp.org/_gvshp/preservation/cathedral-hvp/cathedral-main.htm

To sign an online petition, go here.

By the way, per the EVCC, the Cathedral was built in 1867, designed by the renowned architect Josiah Cleveland Cady, who later designed the Metropolitan Opera House and the auditorium of the American Museum of Natural History

[Cathedral image courtesy of Barry Munger]

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

In June, local preservationists made their case to the Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) to designate East 11th Street between Third Avenue and Fourth Avenue a historic district.

According to DNAinfo, this effort came about after the neighborhood groups learned in late May that the Lightstone Group had plans for a new hotel on the block.

However, the LPC ignored the request, according to Andrew Berman, executive director of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation (GVSHP). And, as we first reported yesterday, the Lighthouse Group has filed demolition permits with the city to take down five buildings — 112-120 E. 11th St. — to make way for a 300-room hotel aimed at millennials.

Representatives for GVSHP, the Historic Districts Council, the Lower East Side Preservation Initiative and the East Village Community Coalition all signed the letter, dated June 9, addressed to LPC chair Meenakshi Srinivasan.

The letter reads in part (you can read a PDF of the letter here):

The buildings in the proposed district are a wonderfully intact ensemble of primarily early and late 19th century structures which are largely unchanged and representative of architectural styles of the era as well as the development of this section of the East Village. Building types within this small section of East 11th Street include tenements, tenementized row houses, a concert hall/community gathering place, a parochial school and a government building. These buildings housed, educated, entertained and served the working class and immigrant residents of this area. Thus the district perfectly captures and embodies the evolution and many facets of working class New York in the late 19th and early 20th century in the East Village.

112-120 East 11th Street
These are five Old Law tenement buildings located on the south side of East 11th Street and built between 1887 and 1892. Significantly intact, they were designed largely in the Beaux Arts style.

We asked Berman why the LPC didn't take any action on these buildings.

"I can only speculate," he said via email. "The LPC does not seem fond of expanding landmark designations these days, especially in Manhattan."

Anything left to do about this potential development?

"We are looking into whether or not every I was dotted and t crossed in terms of requirements for the tenants moving out," Berman said. "And we will continue to push for expanded landmark protections in the East Village, including in the remaining parts of this block." (They helped get Webster Hall landmarked across the street in 2006.)

Lighthouse is reportedly working with Marriott International's Moxy Hotels on the property. Reps haven't filed new building plans just yet. As we noted in yesterday's post, the Moxy website shows a late 2018 opening for the 11th Street hotel. (DNAinfo reported that residents have already been leaving No. 112-120.)

"This could have been worse," Berman said. "Before we got these blocks rezoned in 2010, you actually could have built a much bigger building here, and it would have been more likely a dorm. Don’t get me wrong, this is too big, and it’s bad. It could have been even bigger and badder, so to speak, however."

Concern again for the historic Merchant's House Museum on 4th Street

The landmarked Merchant's House Museum is sounding the alarm again — this time over yet another new proposed development for the lot next door on Fourth Street between the Bowery and Lafayette.

Here are more details via the Merchant’s House website:

As if 2020 wasn't difficult enough for our dear Merchant's House, the developer filed an application in early December for a new building next door at 27 East 4th Street, one that is taller and more massive than the original proposed hotel!

Irreversible damage from the construction is guaranteed and the risk of collapse of our fragile 189-year-old landmark building is even higher.

For the third time, on December 17, Community Board 2 voted unanimously to REJECT the developer's latest application. 

The application now goes before the Landmarks Preservation Commission next Tuesday. (The website has details on how you can take part in the LPC meeting.)

Here is some background about this ongoing project: The development firm Kalodop II Park Corp. has been trying to build a hotel adjacent to the Merchant’s House Museum for nearly 10 years. 

In January 2019, the developers sued New York City, the City Council and Councilmember Carlina Rivera over the rejection of their Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP) application for the project.

The Real Deal first reported on the suit:

Kalodop's lawsuit ... asks the court to reverse the City Council's disapproval and enter a judgement approving its ULURP application. It argues that the Landmarks Preservation Commission and the City Planning Commission had already approved their project and attributes community anxiety to "a grass roots campaign of fear and misinformation" from the Merchant's House Museum that "spurred local community members and representatives into action with a false narrative that any construction at the property would cause the Merchant's House to be catastrophically damaged."

The lawsuit is still pending, which, as the Merchant's House points out, means that the developer currently has two open applications for construction on the same lot. 

The developers were seeking a spot rezoning to build an 8-story hotel on the site — higher than the current zoning allowed. The full City Council ultimately voted down the rezoning in September 2019.

Preservationists, not to mention the leadership of Merchant's House, the circa-1832 building, were concerned that the construction could permanently damage the structure, one of only six residences in NYC that is both an exterior and an interior landmark. Aside from Rivera, Sen. Brad Hoylman, Borough President Gale Brewer, Assemblymember Deborah Glick and Community Board 2 were also opposed to the current application for the 8-story hotel. 

The developers have promised to take extensive measures to ensure that the neighboring structure would not be harmed during the hotel construction. 

This project dates to 2011. After several hearings through the years (here and here, as examples), the Landmarks Preservation Commission eventually signed off on the project (in 2014) as did the City Planning Commission (August 2018).

The developers can still build a six-story building on the site even without the rezoning. (They also own the lot around the corner at 403 Lafayette St., which the Merchant's House has suggested would make a better spot for the hotel.)

The proposed site of the hotel, 27 E. Fourth St., currently houses Al-Amin Food Inc., which houses carts for street vendors. 

More history of the Merchant's House: "Built in 1832 and home to a prosperous merchant family, the Tredwells, and their Irish servants for almost 100 years, it remains complete with the family’s original furnishings, household objects, clothing, and personal memorabilia."

The Museum is currently open by appointment.

135 Bowery designated an NYC landmark today

From the EV Grieve inbox...

The Bowery Alliance of Neighbors is delighted by today’s vote of the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission to designate the circa 1818 Federal style house at 135 Bowery a New York City individual Landmark.

According to the Landmarks Preservation Commission, “The 135 Bowery House is ... among the relatively rare surviving and intact Manhattan town houses of the Federal style and period, and is one of only a handful still extant on the Lower East Side and along the Bowery.” The 2 ½-story wood-frame, brick-faced Federal style row house was constructed circa 1818 as the primary residence of John A Hardenbrook, a soap and candle manufacturer who maintained a shop in the still-extant building next door. The design of the 135 Bowery House is characteristic of the Federal style.

Curbed has more on a busy for the Landmarks Preservation Commission here.

Sixth Street's Congregation Mezritch Synagogue spared from glassy fate?

This just in from the The Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation (GVSHP)...

NYS Historic Preservation Office, in response to an application from GVSHP, has ruled that the Congregation Mezritch Synagogue on Sixth Street between Avenue A and First Avenue qualifies for listing on the State and National Register of Historic Places. As the GVSHP notes, "While State and National Register listing does not prevent demolition of historic buildings, it does offer tax breaks and other financial incentives for preservation of historic structures."

Per an e-mail from the GVSHP:

The 1910 Congregation Mezritch Synagogue is the East Village’s last operating ‘tenement synagogue,’ so called because they occupied narrow tenement-sized lots and served residents of the surrounding tenements. This striking neo-classical style structure was supposed to be demolished in 2008 when GVSHP and the East Village Community Coalition staged public protests to save it and called upon the LPC to landmark the building. While the LPC did not, following the protests the developer of the condo which would have replaced the building backed out of the deal. The building was saved temporarily, but its ultimate fate is far from clear. GVSHP is completing a historic resources survey of the entire East Village, which will allow us to make strong arguments and recommendations for landmark protections throughout the East Village.

For further reading:
Proposed New East Village Synagogue Looks Suspiciously Like Apartment Building

Local elected officials speak out to landmark Theatre 80 ahead of auction

Local City Councilmember Carlina Rivera, Assemblymember Deborah Glick and Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine have asked the city to landmark the historic Theatre 80 on St. Mark's Place ahead of the planned auction on May 9. 

According to Village Preservation, which is spearheading this campaign: 

Landmarking will save the building from destruction, but won't save the beloved theatre and other cultural institutions within. We have also asked elected officials and the entire public to join Theatre 80 in calling upon the city to intervene and acquire the building and establish a permanent home for Theatre 80 there.

In the letter to Mayor Adams and Landmarks Preservation Commission Chair Sarah Carroll, the elected officials write: 

For years, our offices have advocated for this beloved cultural institution and piece of New York history to remain. Currently, it is in danger of being lost to real estate speculation that is plaguing many neighborhoods in our city, especially the East Village. A landmark designation for these buildings will honor the legacy of artists and immigration in the East Village, as well as protect this important cultural institution for today’s audiences and future generations. 

Find the full letter here.

As previously reported, owners Lorcan and Genie Otway have been battling in recent years to save the space, which houses Theatre 80, a 199-seat theater, the William Barnacle Tavern and the Museum of the American Gangster. (Lorcan had lived here since age 9 when his father bought the buildings to create an Off-Broadway theater in 1964.)

The two-building property is set to be sold off to satisfy a $12 million loan that is in default via Maverick Real Estate Partners. (Our previous posts here and here have more background.)

Bidders for the property, which includes several residences on the upper floors, must register by May 8 and supply a cashier's check for $950,000 payable to a Chapter 7 trustee. 

City moves to potentially landmark 827-831 Broadway

[EVG photo from August]

Plans to demolish 827-831 Broadway for a 14-floor office building are on hold for now as the City has decided to begin the formal process of considering them for landmark designation.

The Landmarks Preservation Commission moved yesterday to calendar the pair of cast-iron buildings built in 1866 here between 12th Street and 13th Street. "That means the commission will ultimately hold a public hearing on the buildings’ designation and subsequently vote on it (one way or the other) within one year from now," as Curbed reported.

As previously reported, Quality Capital and Caerus Group bought the parcel between 12th Street and 13th Street last summer for $60 million. The deal reportedly included 30,000 square feet of air rights.

In the late 1950s, Willem de Kooning had a studio in No. 827, one piece of the history of these buildings uncovered by the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation (GVSHP), who has campaigned the past 18 months to preserve these buidlings.

GVSHP Executive Director Andrew Berman co-authored an op-ed at the Times in early August, providing more history of the addresses and making the case for why they should be landmarked.

The buildings were designed by Griffith Thomas, called “the most fashionable architect of his generation” by the American Institute of Architects.

You can read more about the buildings and the next steps in the landmarking process at the GVSHP website here.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Report: 14-story building planned for 827 Broadway

An appeal to landmark these buildings on Broadway

Historic East Fourth Street artists' collective soon to be condos

Back in March, we wrote about the side-by-side townhouses for sale on East Fourth Street near Avenue D....



There's a new listing for two townhouses at 326-328 E. Fourth St. between Avenue C and Avenue D... 12 bedrooms in the two homes... and both buildings are going for $4.6 million... According to the listing:

Extraordinary Opportunity. Two side by side townhouses that have 46 feet of street frontage and a 46 foot by 50 foot rear garden await your vision, dreams and renovation. Extensive original details throughout the townhouses. These properties will be delivered vacant, are currently over 7,000 square feet and come with an additional 10,000 square feet of air rights. Beautifully located across community gardens and on a charming block. This could also be a development site or for institutional use.

As the Times reports today, this is home to "an artists’ collective and burial society called the Uranian Phalanstery and First New York Gnostic Lyceum Temple, was started in the East Village in the late 1950s by the artists Richard Oviet Tyler and Dorothea Tyler."

Per their article by Colin Moynihan:

For decades, the East Village has been home to countless avant-garde organizations and collectives, drawn to the area by its cultural vitality and low cost of living.

Those days of affordability, however, appear to have largely vanished, and over the last decade or so many of the creative groups that once had a home in the East Village have moved or become defunct.

Faced with tax liens, the group is selling the two old brick buildings on East Fourth Street near Avenue D that it has owned since 1974. The group is also beginning the complicated process of cataloging the contents.

The Times also notes that the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation (GVSHP) and the East Village Community Coalition are working to to get landmark status here. "In letters to the Landmarks Preservation Commission, the groups said the houses dated to around 1840 and retained original cornices, molded stone sills, windows and ironwork, among other features. 'That these houses have remained virtually unchanged in the past 170 years is miraculous and noteworthy,' the preservation groups wrote. 'That they could be lost to irresponsible development would be nothing short of tragic.'"

Read more about it at the NYPress.

Speaking of development, the campaign is well under way to sell the buildings. Per Blumstein at Corcoran:

Deep in the Alphabet lies a potential Gem of an investment. Two buildings, old and in disrepair, are on the market as a set. Just recently the price was reduced from $4,300,000 to $3,950,000.

What makes them so special is the air rights that come with the buildings – 17,630 buildable square feet. At the current asking price, that is $224 per square foot to buy. Even with good quality construction you could put up condos at under $700 a square foot, and the lowest condo (a resale) is on the market in the Alphabet for $800 a square foot with the average at $1,051 and the highs around $1,700 per square foot (The Copper Building is selling at 215 Ave B with the remaining units averaging around $1,256 a square foot). Given the 2-3 years minimum before completion, the fact that it would be new development and a likely upturning real estate market, a buyer/developer could be poised for considerable returns.

Anyway, the GVSHP has documentation showing "the house’s original owner built the first steamship to cross the Atlantic Ocean (nearby Avenue D was the East River’s edge, which in the early 19th century was full of working piers before shipping activity shifted to the wider and deeper Hudson); that in the late 19th century these houses were transformed from homes of successful merchants into tenements to house the waves of immigrants moving into the area; that in the early 20th century 326 and 328 East 4th Street were converted to house a Hungarian Synagogue."

Per the GVSHP:

YOU CAN HELP! Please write a letter to the city today urging the Commission to consider landmark designation for 326 and 328 East 4th Street right away, and to protect these remarkable survivors which capture so many important aspects of the evolving history of the East Village and New York — CLICK HERE for a sample letter and contact information.

There's a 'Don't Turn Our Neighborhood Into Silicon Alley' rally on Wednesday evening

As you may know, there are plans in the works to demolish the three-building assemblage on the northeast corner of Third Avenue and St. Mark's Place for a 7-story office building.

In addition, new office and residential buildings are going up or in development on parts of Broadway below 14th Street and University Place ... as well as the Moxy hotel on 11th Street. Not to mention Mayor de Blasio's plan for a 20-plus-story tech hub on 14th Street at Irving Place.

On Wednesday evening, a coalition of community groups and preservationists are hosting a rally titled "Don't Turn Our Neighborhood Into Silicon Alley" on St. Mark's Place and Third Avenue.

The Greenwich Village Society of Historic Preservation (GVSHP) has background on the developments:

Why is this happening? Because this area is lacking in good zoning or landmark protections that allow this kind of demolition and inappropriate development, and the tech industry sees this neighborhood as the hot new area for expansion, extending “Silicon Alley” down from Union Square and up from Astor Place. And now the Mayor and developers want approvals from the City Council for a huge new “Tech Hub” on 14th Street that will accelerate all these trends.

We’re demanding zoning and landmark protections that would preserve historic buildings, keep new development in scale, protect the residential character of this area, and promote affordable housing. But the Mayor OPPOSES this plan ...

GVSHP Executive Director Andrew Berman has an op-ed on the matter in the Gotham Gazette here.

Preservationists scored one victory along this corridor earlier this month when the Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) approved a proposal to landmark the circa-1866 cast-iron buildings at 827-831 Broadway between 12th Street and 13th Street. There was a proposal to build a 14-story office building on the site. The developers are now seeking to add a four-story addition to the existing structure.

The rally is Wednesday evening at 5:30 on Third Avenue and St. Mark's Place.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Behold Civic Hall, the high-tech future of Union Square — and NYC

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

A post shared by GVSHP (@gvshp_nyc) on May 12, 2017 at 6:18am PDT

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

Enough is enough: 316 E. Sixth St. was the fourth pre-Civil War townhouse to be destroyed in the last year

While on the topic of 331 E. Sixth St., which is between First Avenue and Second Avenue ... as the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation (GVSHP) noted, this is the fourth pre-Civil War building in the East Village to be demolished in the past year.

The others: 326 and 328 E. Fourth St. and 35 Cooper Square. Meanwhile, 316 E. Third St. is next on the kill list to make way for a luxury apartment building.

So let's send it right to GVSHP:

Enough is enough! The demolition of 331 East 6th Street only highlights the urgent need for landmark protections in the East Village. Several months ago the Landmarks Preservation Commission proposed two historic districts in the East Village, a critical first step in preserving the neighborhood's significant historic architecture. However, the Commission has given us no information as to when they will hold a public hearing on the proposed districts (the second of three official steps in the landmarking process). While we wait, more and more of the neighborhood's complex and colorful history is being destroyed.

How to Help:

Send a letter to the Landmarks Preservation Commission urging them to hold a public hearing on the East Village Historic Districts and calendar 316 East 3rd Street. A sample letter may be found HERE. Please send copies of all letters to gvshp@gvshp.org.

1st round of necessary permits OK'd for the incoming Wegmans

The Landmark's Preservation Commission (LPC) has approved what is likely the first of many permits needed for the build-out of the Wegmans site on Astor Place. 

This is a bit of a formality, as no one that we're aware of was speaking out against renovations for the Kmart-replacing grocery at the landmarked 770 Broadway between Eighth Street and Ninth Street. You can read the approved LPC permit here. 

Wegmans signed a 30-year lease last month for what will be the grocer's first Manhattan outpost. It is scheduled to open in the second half of 2023.

Kmart closed in this space after 25 years on July 11. Wegmans had agreed to buy out Kmart's lease to make this deal possible.

H/T Upper West Sider!