The Hotel Chelsea
Despite opposition concerns, Chetrit Group gained approval to restore landmarked hotel’s facade and build rooftop addition to serve as a lounge. On April 24, 2012, Landmarks approved the Chetrit Group’s revised proposal to carry out exterior renovations and alterations to the landmarked Hotel Chelsea at 222 West 23rd Street in Chelsea, Manhattan. The 1883 Victorian Gothic hotel is notable not only for its architecture, but also for being a former home to a long list of notable artists and writers. Arthur C. Clarke wrote “2001: A Space Odyssey” while at the hotel, Leonard Cohen and Bob Dylan both memorialized the hotel in songs, and Andy Warhol used the hotel as the setting for his film Chelsea Girls. The Chetrit Group purchased the property in 2011 and plans to restore the hotel’s facade and build a one-story rooftop addition. Hotel Chelsea residents, neighbors, and elected officials opposed Chetrit’s proposal.
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Developer plans to convert West Chelsea warehouse to a pre-K though 12 private school. On October 19, 2011, the City Planning Commission approved Avenues World Holdings LLC’s proposal to convert a ten-story warehouse into a 1,635- seat private K-12 school, known as Avenues: The World School, in West Chelsea. The Cass Gilbert-designed building occupies the western side of Tenth Avenue between West 25th and West 26th Streets, and is within Avthe boundaries of the Special West Chelsea District and the West Chelsea Historic District. The warehouse is across the street from the Elliot- Chelsea Houses and the High Line runs along its western facade.
Avenues World Holdings’ proposal includes adding a rooftop gym and renovating the recessed loading bay docks lining the building’s ground floor along Tenth Avenue. Avenues World Holdings would open the loading bays by removing overhead security doors to create two colonnades and increase circulation space for students. To accommodate the gym’s 25-foot high ceiling, Avenues World Holdings would need to increase the building’s height to 144 feet. (more…)
- Proposed six-story building adjacent to the existing West Building along West 20th Street. Image: Courtesy of Beyer Blinder Belle.
Private developer will purchase and adaptively reuse portion of General Theological Seminary and construct a new residential building. On July 19, 2011, Landmarks approved the Brodsky Organization’s plan to develop a six-story residential building on a site occupied by a tennis court within the General Theological Seminary’s campus at 400 West 21st Street in the Chelsea Historic District. The Seminary’s campus comprises one full block between West 20th and West 21st Streets, and Ninth and Tenth Avenues. Brodsky’s proposal also includes converting the adjacent West Building and three brick townhouses used as faculty housing into residential uses.
In an attempt to address its financial problems, the Seminary in 2006 first partnered with Brodsky to replace a dilapidated four-story building at the corner of West 21st Street and Ninth Avenue. (more…)
- Image: Courtesy GF 55 Partners
The City agreed to build mixed-income housing project prior to 2005 West Chelsea rezoning. On June 29, 2010, the City Council approved, at the request of the New York City Housing Authority, a text amendment that would facilitate the development of a 22-story mixed-income affordable housing project on the site of the Housing Authority-controlled Elliott-Chelsea Houses at the northwest corner of West 25th Street and Ninth Avenue in Chelsea. The site is occupied by a 42-space accessory parking lot and a trash compactor unit, which are both used by residents of Elliott-Chelsea’s two 21- story buildings.
The area was rezoned in 2005. Prior to the 2005 rezoning, the Mayor’s office and the Council reached an agreement to develop affordable housing at the Elliott-Chelsea site and on a parking lot at the Fulton Houses on West 18th Street between Ninth and Tenth Avenues. In 2007 the Housing Authority selected 25th Street Chelsea Equities LLC, a subsidiary of Artimus Construction, to develop both sites. Artimus will purchase the Elliott-Chelsea site for $4 million. (more…)
- Proposed rooftop additions for three former factory buildings at 515 through 521 West 26th Street in Chelsea. Image: Courtesy of Murdock Young Architects.
Commissioners found additions’ visibility appropriate for Chelsea and the nearby High Line. On February 9, 2010, Landmarks approved 513 West 26th Street LLC’s proposal to construct rooftop additions on three, conjoined former factory buildings at 515 through 521 West 26th Street in the West Chelsea Historic District. The brick factory buildings, built between 1911 and 1921, vary in height from nine to three stories.
The applicant’s original proposal, presented on October 20, 2009, included three rectangular additions partially concealed by raised parapets and set back ten feet from the front facade and flush with the rear facade. As originally proposed, the additions featured translucent, glazed curtain walls of fritted glass which would be visible from several vantage points, including the High Line.
Shea Murdock, from Murdock Young Architects, argued that visible additions were appropriate for the location because there would be dialogue between the activity inside the glass structures and the activity on the High Line. (more…)
