By Patrick Hedlund
Water works
The Downtown Alliance has tapped a joint team of architectural firms to implement a planning and design study for one of Lower Manhattan’s most well-trodden thoroughfares.
Water St.—one of the Financial District’s most active commercial corridors, stretching a half-mile between Fulton and Whitehall Sts.—is fronted by more than 20 million square feet of office space employing more than 70,000 people, according to the Downtown Alliance.
In late 2008, the Alliance tasked an ad-hoc committee of local property owners, brokers, arts presenters, small business owners, preservationists and other opinion leaders to rethink the avenue for the 21st century.
The result was the selection of two award-winning firms, Starr Whitehouse and FxFowle Architects, to lead a consulting team that will study existing street-level conditions and recommend specific actions to redefine the street.
“Water Street was once on the water’s edge, and must stay on the cutting edge of Lower Manhattan,” Liz Berger, president of the Alliance, said in a statement. “This study will… [offer] timely, innovative and doable plans for animating one of Downtown’s most desirable business addresses.”
The Alliance has already invested heavily along the stretch, with signage and street furniture, and a free public transit program. This new study will help identify opportunities for property owners, business, nonprofit organizations and the public that will improve street-level conditions, activate public spaces and support economic activity, the Alliance stated.
With a focus of being more livable, green and vibrant, Starr Whitehouse will re-imagine the landscape of Water St., while FxFowle will provide architectural and urban design leadership for the project.
“We …will improve the pedestrian experience and promote economic activity on the street,” Stephen Whitehouse, partner at Starr Whitehouse, said in a statement. “Water Street … will contribute to the current renaissance of Lower Manhattan.”
Housing Works Tribeca
The AIDS advocacy and services organization Housing Works will open its eighth New York City store in Tribeca next week, featuring its fashionable selection of secondhand furniture, artwork, clothing, housewares, accessories and books.
Housing Works already operates a pair of similar thrift shops Downtown in the West Village and Chelsea, with all profits from the stores’ sales going to serve homeless and low-income New Yorkers living with H.I.V./AIDS.
“We can’t wait to open in Tribeca,” Richard Vorisek, Housing Works Thrift Shops president, said in a statement, about the new location at 72 Warren St., between West Broadway and Greenwich St. “The neighborhood has exactly the kind of generous community spirit that Housing Works stores depend upon.”
In Fiscal Year 2007-2008, the stores generated $12.6 million in sales, proceeds from which went to fund services including housing, medical care, meals, job training and drug-treatment programs. As at the organization’s other locations, the Tribeca store will provide jobs for participants in and graduates of Housing Works’ job training program for people living with H.I.V. and AIDS.
Housing Works is renting the new space from the adjacent Church Street School, and will look to partner with the school on projects to generate income for H.I.V./AIDS services and teach schoolchildren the value of public service.
Keeping tabs on tenants
The tables have turned in the landlords-vs.-tenants war with a Web site that allows building owners to pre-screen prospective renters before ever handing over the keys.
The membership-based www.DoNotRentTo.com gives landlords the opportunity to search the site’s database to find if a possible tenant had prior problems with late payments, non-payments, destruction of property, theft, refusal to vacate the premises or other issues.
The site is driven by information submitted by landlords, who share their experiences with problem renters online and can then be contacted by other building managers regarding tenants’ histories.
Landlords can freely submit renters’ information to the site, including their full name, part of their social security number, their address, rental length, specific utility costs owed and even pictures of property damage. A one-year membership is $30, and more than 500 members are currently online with access to more than 2,000 tenants in the database, said cofounder Joseph Collins.
“New York is a pretty hot market for it, sad to say,” stated Collins, who as a landlord himself once rented to a tenant who stole the stove, refrigerator and front door from his property.
He said he consulted lawyers about posting the last four digits of tenants’ social security numbers and he is on safe legal ground.
He added that within the first month of launching the site in 2007, about 200 New York City renters were added to the database. Given today’s dire economic state, Collins said his site is seeing more and more activity due to the “combination of the housing market and people losing their jobs.”
“I find a lot of people are more or less checking this site because so many people have bad credit.”
Silver Tower honors
New York University’s Silver Towers complex has become eligible for historic designation by the state, which adds another layer of protection to the South Village site that has been deemed of “exceptional architectural significance.”
After being proposed for inclusion in the State and National Register of Historic Places by the Greenwich Village Society of Historic Preservation, the three-building property was found by the State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Designation to represent an “exceptional post-war residential complex where the themes of urban renewal, university planning and public housing intersect to create a dynamic sculptural expression… .”
Designed by James Ingo Freed of I.M. Pei & Associates, the complex, known as University Village, occupies a 5-acre parcel between Bleecker and Houston Sts. and LaGuardia Place and Mercer St., and includes a 100-by-100-foot lawn at the center of the three 30-story towers. And at less than 50 years old, the 1967 property must have exhibited outstanding architectural importance to merit consideration by the state.
Already a city landmark, the complex’s new designation will mean that no state or federal funds can be used for new construction or demolition on the towers or plaza without it first going through a historic preservation review to help ensure no negative impacts on its historic resources. Additionally, if any rezoning or variance were proposed for the property, the designation would have to be considered in terms of the effects any changes would have.
“This is significant because it is only with a zoning change or variance that anything could be built on the site, and of course universities like N.Y.U. frequently try to access state or federal funds for demolition or new construction,” G.V.S.H.P. said in statement.
The historic register designation also qualifies the co-op at 505 LaGuardia Place for certain grants and tax breaks for restoration and renovation work, “which they will no doubt need to do over the years,” G.V.S.H.P. added.
Andrew Berman, the preservation society’s director, said G.V.S.H.P.’s pursuit of the designation was something that would have occurred regardless of N.Y.U.’s development plans, but noted the move was no doubt hastened by fear of the university’s next move.
“It’s a further firewall against inappropriate development on that superblock, which we are facing the real possibility of from N.Y.U.,” he added, referring the school’s proposal to build a 40-story high-rise on the same block.
mixeduse@communitymediallc.com
