By Patrick Hedlund
Trumped up suit
The Soho Alliance will finally get its day in court with the neighborhood group’s filing of a lawsuit last week against the city over the Trump Soho condo-hotel rising at Spring and Varick Sts.
The project prevailed last month over a challenge from the Alliance at a hearing before the Board of Standards and Appeals. So the community group has now taken both the B.S.A. and the Department of Buildings to task with a lawsuit, charging “an arbitrary and capricious decision by a governmental agency,” said Alliance president Sean Sweeney.
The group claims that D.O.B. erred last year when it issued a permit for the 42-story building on the grounds that the condo-hotel is really a residential building and, thus, not permitted in the manufacturing zone.
Sweeney said while the Alliance never expected a favorable B.S.A. ruling, he sees a “pattern of prejudice” between the agency and D.O.B. that his group has drawn attention to through its legal challenges. “The city’s for sale,” he charged.
Sweeney also said that both D.O.B. and the B.S.A. initially slept on the Alliance’s requests for a view of the permits and to calendar last month’s hearing, reacting only after a construction worker died in an accident at the site in January.
“It’s a pattern of abuse and delay and prejudice against the community that’s been pervasive for years by these two agencies,” he said.
Sweeney noted that Article 78 lawsuits such as this one have about a 10 percent success rate, but that this time around the Alliance will accept the ultimate court ruling rather than “a bureaucrat’s final word.”
“Legally, we have to test them,” he said. “[The goal] was never to bring down Trump’s building, it was never to shorten the height. It was to catch the attention of the city to do something about the zoning abuses that exist.”
Downtown dose for Pfizer?
Drug-manufacturing giant Pfizer is reportedly on the hunt for three-quarters of a million square feet of office space, making them a prime contender for some of Lower Manhattan’s soon-to-be-vacant office space.
Crain’s reported this week that Pfizer Inc., which currently houses its headquarters in a pair of Midtown buildings, is looking to sublease 750,000 square feet as other large firms are looking to unload space.
According to Crain’s, some of the more high-profile Downtown names being bandied about for a possible deal include: The Royal Bank of Scotland, which is marketing about 140,000 square feet at 7 World Trade Center; JPMorgan Chase, whose purchase of Bear Stearns and its Midtown headquarters could put hundreds of thousands of square feet on the market Downtown; and Goldman Sachs, which plans to lease about half-a-million square feet at 77 Water St. when it moves into its new headquarters next year.
The slowing economy has forced many companies, specifically some at-risk Lower Manhattan financial firms, to consider giving up square footage.
Waiting for yeast
The City Bakery restaurant planned for Riverhouse in Battery Park City will tentatively open by the fall, marking the Los Angeles and New York chain’s second N.Y.C. location to offer organic eating options for the green building’s eco-conscious residents.
The sophisticated, cafeteria-style eatery will operate out of 1,000 square feet on the ground floor of the 32-story, LEED-certified development near Rockefeller Park.
“We’re closing in on a date to begin our build-out,” said City Bakery spokesperson Maury Rubin, hoping for an October opening, “but it’s still up in the air, and dependent on the overall construction schedule of the building.”
As well as offering a wide selection of hot and cold foods, the restaurant will feature seating for 30 and possibly a sidewalk café, according to City Bakery’s recent presentation at a Community Board 1 meeting. It will be open seven days per week with an entrance on Vesey St. with deliveries made by bike only, in accordance with the company’s commitment to the environment. A beer and wine license for the establishment was also approved by the board’s Battery Park City Committee.
Don’t be surprised to see new Riverhouse resident and eco star Leonardo DiCaprio noshing at the restaurant, which uses only organic flour, butter, teas and coffees. After all, the Bakery was good enough for Carrie Bradshaw, Sarah Jessica Parker’s “Sex and the City” character.
Cedar hotel
Decontamination of the 12-story building at 130 Cedar St. wrapped up earlier this month, with deconstruction of the tower planned to start in July.
The building, which stands a block south of the W.T.C. site and sustained extensive damage on 9/11, underwent seven months of decontamination overseen by the Environmental Protection Agency ending in early June. The building next begins the process of deconstruction down to its steel beams and framework, before construction is slated to begin later this year.
Construction will continue through the early part of 2010, adding seven new stories to the current structure, where a Club Quarters hotel and retail spaces are expected to open. Next month, a crane will start operating at the site as part of the deconstruction process.
mixeduse@communitymediallc.com
