BY TEQUILA MINSKY | There was a lot of bonhomie and a shot of glam at the ribbon-cutting for the new God’s Love We Deliver building at the corner of Spring St. and Sixth Ave. on Tuesday morning.
Despite threatening gray skies, the rain held off.
The $26 million project — built in a year and a half — has transformed the nonprofit meal-provider group’s former headquarters, a squat, two-story, 60-year-old building, into a new five-story facility, more than doubling the space to 48,000 square feet.
Right to the north of the G.L.W.D. building, construction continues on a new luxury residential project that benefitted from the purchase of unused development rights from the G.L.W.D. site.
At the ribbon-cutting ceremony, Mayor Bill de Blasio, Michael Kors and Blaine Trump were the featured speakers.
Melissa Rivers and Anna Wintour got upper-tier seats, seated on the place’s entrance porch. Local politicos, including former state Senator Tom Duane; Councilmember Corey Johnson; Donna Corrado, commissioner of the Department for the Aging, stood to the right of the few rows of seats.
God’s Love We Deliver has been cooking and delivering nutritious, individually tailored meals to people living with severe illnesses in the New York City metro area for more than 30 years. It was started specifically to help address the AIDS crisis, but has since expanded to serve individuals who are suffering from any number of serious illnesses.
Each weekday, the group delivers 5,400 meals. Last year it cooked and delivered, more than 1.2 million meals. Recipients are serviced within 48 hours of the organization receiving a phone call of their need. Meals are also provided for children of clients and senior caregivers, since, due to their debilitating illnesses, they often are unable to cook for themselves and their families. Thousands of volunteers contribute time to G.L.W.D.’s work.
The new Spring St. headquarters is now known as the Michael Kors Building, named for the well-known fashion designer, who donated $5 million toward the project. The building also includes the Anna Wintour Volunteer Center — almost a full floor — and the Joan Rivers Bakery, located on the second floor, near the enlarged, natural light-filled kitchen, which formerly was in the basement.
In addition to private gifts, an $8 million city grant helped pay for the major expansion. Additionally, G.L.W.D. sold some of its development rights to the developer building the 14-story condo next door.
The city sold the now-prime Soho corner property to the organization about 20 years ago, with the caveat that it only be for community use. But it was determined that the provision did not apply to the site’s unused development rights. A group of neighbors from Sullivan and Spring Sts. protested the sale of the development rights for the private development next door, charging that it violated the deed restriction on the G.L.W.D. property.
Following the ribbon-cutting, the ARC gospel choir belted out “Oh Happy Day,” “Your Love Keeps Lifting Me Higher” and other handclapping songs, while guests filtered into the new building to check it out. There is a large, southern-exposure patio on the fifth floor, where some guests gathered during the reception.
During the construction, G.L.W.D. continued its services, operating out of a temporary Brooklyn location. The nonprofit is awaiting final inspections and permits before it moves back to its Soho H.Q.
