Philip Johnson tower site cleared

A former two-story warehouse at the corner of Spring and Washington Sts. was demolished over the past week in preparation for test boring of the subsurface for construction of a new 11-story luxury residential building designed by architect Philip Johnson. According to a source, Nino Vendome, the developer and owner of the property, has sold a majority share in the project to one of the developers of the Richard Meier towers on West St. on the West Village waterfront. Calls to Vendome’s spokesperson and to Richard Born, who developed the first two Meier towers, were not returned by press time. After last August’s blackout, Vendome said he planned to construct a green building that would be “blackout proof.” Rip Hayman, owner of the adjacent landmarked John Brown building, was anxiously monitoring the demolition work last week. “We’re the canary in the coalmine,” he said. Hayman said that the Ear Inn bar, on the first floor, will be without air conditioning for a while as a result of the demolition because its units were on the roof of the warehouse. The site may sit empty for about six months, Hayman said.