Project will entail the demolition of 1961 office and warehouse building occupied by the Catholic Medical Mission Board. On December 16, 2014, the Landmarks Preservation Commission voted to approve an application for a new building at 8 West 17th Street in the Ladies’ Mile Historic District. The site is currently occupied by a 3-story 1961 commercial building designed by the firm Belfatto and Pavarino, known mostly for their ecclesiastical architecture.
Proposed Rendering of Tammany Hall Addition. Image Credit: LPC
Applicants argued that addition would echo the domes of classical architecture, pay homage to the Lenape who once occupied Manhattan. On November 25, 2014, the Landmarks Preservation Commission considered an application to construct an addition to a building that housed the Tammany political machine at 44 Union Square East, an individual City landmark. The building was the third Tammany Hall constructed, and the only one extant. Designated in 2013, the neo-Georgian 1929 building was later utilized as a union hall, theater, and film school. The building is substantially intact, though storefronts have been created at the ground level facing Union Square Park. (read more…)
Rendering of proposed building on 7 West 21st Street, New York, NY. Image Credit: MA.com.
Commissioners generally praised the concept and design, but asked for further refinements to be presented at a future meeting. On September 24, 2013, the Landmarks Preservation Commission held a hearing on the proposed project for a vacant lot at 7 West 21st Street in the Ladies’ Mile Historic District. The through-block site was cleared in the 1920s, and the applicants intend to build a 185-foot tall development with ground-floor retail and residential use of the upper stories.
At the public hearing, Kramer Levin attorney Valerie Campbell said that a special permit would be sought for the project to waive the 150 ft. setback requirement. Campbell noted that the plan did not possess any more floor area than was permitted as-of-right. Higgins & Quasebarth’s Ward Dennis stated that 20 percent of the housing in the project would be affordable, with the rest offered at market rates.
The plan was presented by Morris Adjmi, Principal of Morris Adjmi Architects. Adjmi said that the building’s two facades would be identifiable as the same building, but “tuned” to the different streets that each façade faces. Both facades would host an identifiable base, shaft and capital, with bay widths similar to those of the district’s historic store-and-loft buildings and windows in same proportions. The base of the building would be clad in stone, while the upper stories would be clad in terra cotta. The 22nd Street facade of the building would be topped with a zinc cornice, visible portions of the sidewalls would be clad in glazed gray brick, and bulkheads would be set away from the street facades. The grids of the facades would have different dimensions on the two facades. The building’s ground floor lobby would run through the entire lot, while above the ground floor, a central courtyard would separate two masses. While the building would be taller than its neighbors on 21st Street, Adjmi said the building would add to the “saw-tooth character” of the district. The facade would have a foot and half depth on the base, and one foot on the upper stories, replicating “the depth and shadow you see on a lot of the historic buildings.”
The applicants decided not to use setbacks because they would have been visible from street vantages, and detract from district’s character as defined by the loft buildings. Currently, the loft buildings’ facades grow straight up from the sidewalk.
The Historic District Council’s Nadezhda Williams testified that the “proposed building is too stripped down for the Ladies’ Mile Historic District,” and “closer to staid Midtown office buildings” than the “exuberant” architecture of the district. Leo Blackman of the Drive to Protect the Ladies’ Mile District also criticized the design, particularly on 21st Street, which he called “too large and inadequately defined,” and “simply too high.” (read more…)
Landmarks last raised fees for new building and alteration applications in 2009. On March 8, 2011, Landmarks approved an increase in permit fees for new buildings and alterations. Landmarks published the rule in the City Record on December 16, 2010, and January 27, 2011. Landmarks last approved a fee increase in September 2009. 6 CityLand 125 (Sept. 15, 2009).
The change increases fees for permits related to new one- to three-family dwellings from ten to fifteen cents per square foot. For all other new buildings, fees increase to from twenty to 25 cents per square foot. For all building types the fees will not be less than $100 per structure. A flat fee for building alterations costing up to $25,000 would rise from $50 to $95. Landmarks increased an incremental fee for each additional $1,000 spent on alterations above $25,000 from four to five dollars. As examples, the fee for a proposed $15,000 storefront alteration would be $95, while the fee for a proposed $300,000 rooftop addition will rise from $1,150 to $1,470. (read more…)
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