Developer addresses noise concerns for construction near downtown elementary school. An 815,000- square-foot residential/retail project, including a 388-foot tower to front West Street in lower Manhattan, obtained City Council approval on September 28, 2005.

The mixed-use project, to be constructed on a site bounded by West, Warren, Greenwich and Murray Streets, required special permits to vary height, setback, and rear yard requirements, and to construct a 400-space parking garage. 2 CityLand 118 (Sept. 15, 2005).

At the September 20, 2005 hearing before the Council’s Subcommittee on Planning, Dispositions and Concessions, the Economic Development Corporation and developer Edward J. Minskoff Equities, Inc. stressed that the building would not maximize its FAR potential and included construction of a Community Youth Center at 200 Chambers Street. The EDC and Minskoff also raised the community’s recommendation that construction noise be kept below 45 decibels in order to avoid disturbances to nearby P.S. 234 elementary school. The developer expressed that the recommendation was too strict because ambient noise in that neighborhood has been measured at 70 decibels. (read more…)

Lower Manhattan parking lot to be replaced with 815,000-squarefoot residential/retail project. The Planning Commission approved a proposal of the Economic Development Corporation and the project developer, Edward J. Minskoff Equities, Inc., to replace a City-owned surface parking lot in Lower Manhattan with an 815,000-square-foot mixed-use project. Located on a 95,565-square-foot site bounded by West, Warren, Greenwich and Murray Streets, the proposal includes 402 condominium and rental units, a 400-space parking garage and 165,000 sq.ft. of retail space featuring a ground floor supermarket to be occupied by Whole Foods.

A two-story base building will cover the entire site and house the Whole Foods, other retail and the residential lobbies. Above the base, a 388-foot, 32-story tower containing the project’s condo units will front West Street and a second smaller rental residential tower will front the eastern part of the site along Greenwich and Warren Streets. Access to parking and loading would be gained from Murray Street, the only two-way access street adjoining the site. Directly across Warren Street from the site, a 29-story, mixed-use project at 200 Chambers Street is under construction based on a September 2004 City approval. 1 CityLand 1 (Oct. 15, 2004). (read more…)