The Holland Plaza Building, 75 Varick Street, Manhattan. Image Credit: LPC.

Modern classical structure, completed in 1930, was built as part of an industrial development of the area following the opening of the Holland Tunnel. On August 6, 2013, the Landmarks Preservation Commission voted to designate the Holland Plaza Building, at 75 Varick Street in Manhattan, as an individual landmark. The 1930 building was designed by Jacques Ely Kahn, a prolific New York-based architect who was also responsible for the Municipal Asphalt Plant, and the interior of the Film Center Building, both designated as City landmarks. The structure occupies an irregular, triangle-shaped block bounded by Varick, Canal and Watts Streets.

The building stands at 18 stories tall, and is characterized by its stark structural grid.

Developer Abe Adelson, a frequent patron of Kahn’s, commissioned the building. The neighborhood underwent a period of rapid industrial growth when the Holland tunnel, which opened in 1929, made the area a transportation hub. The early Modern building clearly reads as industrial, with little external ornamentation. The building’s style comes from emphasis on its structural grid with its interplay of masonry vertical piers and horizontal textured spandrels, projecting rusticated piers at the pedestrian entrances.

(more…)

Map of Special Hudson Square district. Subdistrict B was eliminated from the proposal by the CPC. Image Courtesy: DCP.

Modifications to private rezoning application centered on encouraging affordable housing. On March 13, 2013, the City Council voted to approve Trinity Church’s Special Hudson Square District proposal with modifications. The proposal was intended to facilitate residential development and protect existing office space. Zoning & Franchises Subcommittee Chair Mark Weprin announced modifications to the proposal at a Subcommittee meeting on March 13, 2013. The modifications addressed many of the concerns expressed by community residents and building owners at the City Planning Commission’s hearing on November 28, 2012 and the Subcommittee’s hearing on February 12, 2013. (See CityLand’s past coverage here).

Chair Weprin announced a few modifications meant to encourage and increase the amount of affordable housing in the District. During the Subcommittee’s hearing, several building owners testified that in order to reach the 12.0 floor area ratio allowed under the City’s Inclusionary Housing Program, the height limit on narrow streets should be set at between 210 and 230 feet. Owners also criticized the City Planning Commission’s imposition of a special permit in order to achieve a maximum height of 210 feet on narrow streets. Under the Council’s modifications, the maximum building height on narrow streets will remain at 185 feet as originally proposed. However, the height limit can be increased to 210 feet for residential developments, but only if 20 percent of the development’s units are permanently affordable. The modification thus eliminated the City Planning Commission’s special permit provision.

(more…)

Map of proposed Special Hudson Square district. Subdistrict B was eliminated from the proposal. Image Courtesy: DCP.

Community Board urges Trinity to build a new recreation center to accommodate projected population increase. On February 12, 2013, the City Council’s Zoning & Franchises Subcommittee held a hearing for Trinity Church’s application to rezone 18 blocks generally bounded by West Houston and Canal Streets, Avenue of the Americas, and Greenwich Street. The Special Hudson Square District will facilitate residential development, maintain commercial office space, and encourage ground-floor retail. Trinity Church owns approximately 39 percent of the lots within the proposed Special District.

The proposal would retain the area’s M1-6 zoning, but would add provisions to allow residential and increased community facility uses. The Special District would establish height limits of 185 feet on narrow streets and 320 feet on wide streets as well as setback regulations. The proposal also includes Subdistrict A (see inset map), which would set a height limit of 430 feet. Subdistrict A would accommodate Trinity Church’s plans to develop a mixed-use development with a 75,000-square-foot, 444-seat public school across from Juan Pablo Duarte Square Park. The maximum floor area ratio would be 10.0 for non-residential uses and 9.0 for residential uses, with a possibility of 12.0 for participation in the City’s Inclusionary Housing Program. The proposal would also establish protective provisions to prevent the permanent conversion of existing commercial space and control hotel development. (See CityLand’s past coverage here).

(more…)