"Smaller" Plan For 250 Water Street In South Street Seaport Approved By Landmarks Commission

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A rendering of the proposed 25-story building for 250 Water Street shows a reddish brick building from the vantage point of the Brooklyn Bridge. — A rendering of the proposed 25-story constructing for 250 Water Avenue as seen from the Brooklyn Bridge.

Skidmore Owings & Merrill rendering for Landmarks Preservation Fee

A contentious $850 million proposed growth within the South Avenue Seaport district that was in the end scaled again as a consequence of group opposition gained approval from a key metropolis company Tuesday, in line with experiences.

The Howard Hughes Company’s bid to construct a 25-story mixed-use tower at 250 Water Avenue was accredited 6-2 by the Landmarks Preservation Fee, the physique that would want to greenlight any proposal within the historic district, the Actual Deal reported.

The 48,000-square-foot website between Water and Pearl Streets on the nook of Peck Slip has lengthy been used as a parking zone. Many earlier makes an attempt to develop the lot have failed, together with an 11-story choice that was accredited in 1991. The earlier Howard Hughes proposal, designed by Skidmore Owings & Merrill, was a 470-foot-tall venture with two towers and about 360 residences, together with round 100 reasonably priced residences (earlier plans included towers as tall as 990 toes).

A photograph showing the low buildings along Beekman Street, with the tow pound on the left — {A photograph} displaying the present view of Beekman Avenue trying east

Skidmore Owings & Merrill rendering for Landmarks Preservation Fee

A view of Beekman Street with a rendering of what the completed building would look like - a huge building on the left — A rendering of the proposed 25-story constructing for 250 Water Avenue alongside Beekman Avenue

Skidmore Owings & Merrill rendering for Landmarks Preservation Fee

1000’s of residents petitioned in opposition to the proposal, calling it out of scale and “architecturally inappropriate” for the historic district—some opponents even recommended the NYPD transfer its tow pound to the positioning as an alternative. Supporters of the venture, together with Councilmember Margaret Chin and Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer, had argued that the group wants housing, particularly reasonably priced housing. The developer had additionally dedicated $50 million to the close by Seaport Museum and utilized for federal help to take away hazardous supplies leftover from the district’s industrial historical past, Metropolis Realty reported.

Learn Extra: Opponents Of Decrease Manhattan Towers Would Desire A Tow Pound As an alternative

Within the new plan, the developer has scaled again the plan to a single 540,000-square foot tower constructing, and lowered the peak to 324 toes. A earlier revision to the plan reduce the variety of residences from 360 to 270, with 70 reasonably priced items for folks incomes 40% of the realm median earnings. The monetary help for the museum has gone from $50 million within the authentic plan to an unnamed quantity.

A rendering showing the current plan, with a dotted outline showing the original taller plan — A rendering of the proposed 25-story constructing for 250 Water Avenue

Skidmore Owings & Merrill rendering for Landmarks Preservation Fee

A photograph shows the tow pound amidst the rest of the neighborhood — An aerial {photograph} displaying the present website of the venture

Skidmore Owings & Merrill rendering for Landmarks Preservation Fee

Simply 149 reasonably priced residences have been in-built Neighborhood Board 1’s district throughout the complete de Blasio administration, which has been criticized for concentrating development of reasonably priced housing in lower-income neighborhoods by way of rezonings. And 1,651 reasonably priced co-ops have been misplaced in 2014 after Southbridge Towers voted to denationalise and choose out of the Mitchell-Lama program for middle-class properties.

In the course of the LPC listening to Tuesday, Fee chair Sarah Carroll stated “I believe the changes which were introduced right now enhance the readability of the design and help my causes for locating it acceptable,” the Architect’s Newspaper reported.

In a press release to the Actual Deal, Howard Hughes government Saul Scherl stated, “We labored onerous to supply a design that’s aware of the fee’s feedback and preserves the venture’s essential advantages: deeply reasonably priced housing in one of many metropolis’s wealthiest neighborhoods and significant funding for the South Avenue Seaport Museum.”

The subsequent step for the applying is to bear land use assessment and win Metropolis Council approval, which supporters hope to do earlier than Chin—because the district’s councilmember, an necessary supporter—leaves workplace on the finish of the yr.

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