Commissioners approved design changes to the top and ground floors of Cosmopolitan Hotel’s proposed building. On September 15, 2009, Landmarks approved the revised expansion proposal for the Cosmopolitan Hotel located on the corner of West Broadway and Chambers Street in the Tribeca South Historic District. The applicants will demolish the two-story, 1967 building adjacent to the hotel, occupied by Mary Ann’s Mexican restaurant, and replace it with a six-story structure.

At an earlier June 2 hearing, local residents and Council Member Alan Gerson had opposed the plan. The Commissioners then rejected the original design, objecting to its non-contextual features and criticizing the building’s “floating” glass-facade base, its metal-paneled sixth floor, and the existing building’s proposed aluminum marquee. 6 CityLand 94 (July 15, 2009).

Matthew Gottsegen, of Franke Gottsegen Cox, revised the proposal, which now featured a newly designed ground floor with a stone base and steel column covers with glass infill. A cast-stone band would separate the commercial ground floor from the floors above. The new design eliminated the top floor’s metal panels and replaced them with brick and a zinc-coated copper cornice. Gottsegen explained that the redesigned storefront would “ground” the building and that the redesigned top floor would “unify” the structure. (more…)

Laurie Silberfeld

As Vice President and General Counsel at Hudson River Park Trust (the Trust), Laurie Silberfeld has played an important role in shaping Hudson River Park. Silberfeld talked with CityLand about her career and the progress of Manhattan’s waterfront park. role in shaping Hudson River Park. Silberfeld talked with CityLand about her career and the progress of Manhattan’s waterfront park.

Silberfeld, a former Regional Attorney with the State’s Department of Environmental Conservation, joined the Trust in 2000. She became familiar with the Trust while working on the park project’s permit approvals at DEC. When the Trust’s General Counsel position opened, Silberfeld viewed it as a unique opportunity to be part of building something with tangible results. (more…)

Expansion plan calls for demolition of neighboring building. On June 2, 2009, Landmarks considered the expansion plans for the Cosmopolitan Hotel located at the corner of West Broadway and Chambers Street within the Tribeca South Historic District. The applicants planned to demolish the two-story 1967 building adjacent to the hotel, home to Mary Ann’s Mexican restaurant, replacing it with a six-story, brick-face building with an aluminum marquee and metal detailing. The district’s designation report lists the 1967 building, proposed for demolition, as a non-contributing structure. The applicants also proposed a new rooftop bulkhead on the existing hotel, which dates back to 1844.

Matthew Gottsegen, of Franke Gottsegen Cox Architects, explained that the new six-story building would match the height of adjacent loft buildings. On its ground floor, a continuous aluminum marquee would crown a wrap-around, glass facade. Gottsegen chose brick for the second through fifth floors to correspond to the original hotel’s brick facade, and a metal-paneled sixth floor. Gottsegen characterized the new building’s design as one that “acknowledges context but is a building of its time.” Gottsegen pointed out that the original hotel had also undergone significant changes over the years, increasing in height from four to seven stories. (more…)

Four-story addition opposite Duane Park sent back to drawing board. On June 10, 2008, Landmarks heard testimony on the construction of a four-story addition and penthouse to 172 Duane Street, a two-story building within the Tribeca West Historic District. Built in 1871 as a store-and-loft building, the owners extensively renovated it in 1991 prior to the historic district’s designation. The widely-praised renovation, overseen by architect Vincent Posinelli, restored the original archwindowed cast-iron facade, but demolished the building’s remaining walls. The restored facade remained as a free-standing sculptural element, with a translucent glass-brick building designed by Posinelli behind it. The property’s new owners, 172 Realty LLC, retained Posinelli to design a new four-story addition for use as a dwelling.

Posinelli’s plan for the new structure features a glass wall rising straight above the original facade, with the new building’s facade set back 15 feet. Posinelli called the glass-enclosed space “the winter garden,” saying it would contain an elevator and a tree in homage to Duane Park across the street. The glass wall would be divided by cast bronze trusses matching the original facade’s bay windows. A one-story penthouse would be set back 50 feet from the screenwall to minimize visibility. The addition would also include teak-framed windows, sidewalls with aluminum rainscreens, and an open circular stairway, which would bring light to the building’s lower levels. (more…)

Carl Weisbrod’s office at One Hudson Square is emblematic of the changes Trinity Real Estate is bringing to Hudson Square—a neighborhood on the west side of Manhattan nestled between SoHo, Tribeca, and the West Village. A modern office space with advanced technological amenities, the building was actually designed in 1930 to accommodate printing companies. Much like the building, Mr. Weisbrod, as President of Trinity Real Estate—the real estate development arm of Trinity Church, one of the largest landowners in Manhattan by way of a 1705 gift from Queen Anne of England—seeks to convert an area historically the domain of traditional publishers and printers, into a mixed-use neighborhood catering to architecture, advertising, new media and other creative industries.

Not just a lawyer. Mr.Weisbrod grew up in New York City, and lived here all his life but for his years as an undergraduate at Cornell University. After graduating from New York University Law School, he pursued a career in urban affairs because “most lawyers don’t want to be just lawyers.” Mr. Weisbrod is by no means “just a lawyer,” with a distinguished resume that includes leadership positions at such places as the New York City Planning Commission, 42nd Street Development Project, New York City Economic Development Corporation, and Alliance for Downtown New York. (more…)