BY TERESE LOEB KREUZER | Some things are changing at the Winter Garden in the World Financial Center and some things are not. Godiva chocolates, one of the Winter Garden’s original tenants, going back 20 years, closed last Thursday.
Melissa Coley, vice president of investor relations and communications for Brookfield Properties, which owns the World Financial Center, said the lease was terminated “by mutual agreement.” She indicated that Brookfield will, one way or another, be doing construction in the Winter Garden and was not willing to extend a long-term lease. Coley also said a temporary tenant might move into the space for the summer and early fall.
In the meantime, the fate of the Winter Garden staircase remains unresolved. Brookfield has stated on numerous occasions that it is necessary to demolish the staircase in order to safely accommodate the thousands of commuters who will use the underground connector between the World Financial Center and the World Trade Center. That connector is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2012.
The plan has elicited vigorous community opposition. A group started by Justine Cuccia, a resident of Battery Park City since 1997, has been circulating a petition to “Save the Winter Garden Staircase.” Cuccia said that the group has collected more than 1,600 signatures.
“We maintain that demolition of the Winter Garden Staircase will change the sense of community that is the hallmark of Battery Park City,” the petition states. “No longer will it be a place to gather, watch concerts & other events; no longer will it be a shelter from the cold winter winds, no longer will it offer free, open indoor space in which to sit, reflect, read and relax. In fact, the latest rendition presented by Brookfield to the Battery Park City Committee on February 2 makes it clear that there will be no seating or gathering space whatsoever on a daily basis. The Winter Garden will become a thoroughfare instead of a destination.”
Spokesmen for Brookfield have said that there would, indeed, be public seating in the Winter Garden and elsewhere in 2 World Financial Center under the proposed plans and that performances and other cultural activities would continue, even through a period of construction.
Meanwhile, Local 32BJ of the Service Employees International Union has joined the fray concerning the fate of the staircase. At Community Board 1’s full board meeting on Tues., May 24, Frank Scandiffio, a member and an organizer for 32BJ, said, “I am here on behalf of 3, 800 members of 32BJ working in the Lower Manhattan community, including 369 members who work at the World Financial Center.”
Scandiffio said the members “strongly oppose Brookfield Properties’ plan to remove the Winter Garden staircase. Our 32BJ members not only clean and maintain the staircase but also participate in cultural and community events held in this important public space.”
The union had taken out ads in newspapers opposing the demolition of the staircase and had also started a website, www.savethestaircase.org, asking visitors to send emails to Brookfield and public officials.
“As of today, there have been 800 emails sent out,” said Scandiffio, who also mentioned that the union had contacted the Battery Park City Authority, which owns the land on which the World Financial Center is built, expressing opposition to the removal of the staircase.
In response to this, C.B.1 member Bob Townley, who heads the Downtown Community Center, said, “I have a question. It’s very commendable that a union is taking on this aesthetic issue…Will there be job losses associated with the removal of the staircase?” Scandiffio said no.
“So, with full respect,” Townley continued, “the union is taking on an aesthetic issue, [because] they feel that this is really important to the vibrancy of a community?”
“To the community and also to our members that work in that building who came to me day after day,” Scandiffio replied, “and who said to me that they’d been working for 15 years and they had lunch on those steps and it means so much to them and for the community down here.”
“I’d say that’s remarkable,” responded Townley.
Until Brookfield Properties hears from the B.P.C.A. and from the New York City Department of City Planning, all bets are off as to what will happen to the staircase and to the southern wing of 2 World Financial Center, which Brookfield wants to reconfigure into a food market and dining space. Both the B.P.C.A. and the Dept. of City Planning have had Brookfield’s proposal for months.
