Squadron marries
Some bachelors stay up late and carouse before their wedding, but State Sen. Daniel Squadron was up until 2 a.m. passing crucial state legislation the day before he tied the knot last weekend with Liz Weinstein.
Squadron, a freshman senator, had tried as best he could to break the month-long senate stalemate several times during the impasse, but not everyone had his good sense and leaders were unable to resolve it until last week when turncoat Sen. Pedro Espada flipped back to the Dems.
It seemed Squadron and Weinstein, a director of services in the mayor’s office of operations, had selected a very safe date several weeks after the session was scheduled to close, but there is no underestimating Albany’s inability to govern.
The happy couple, who got married July 11 at an undisclosed Lower Manhattan locale, is taking some well-deserved time together.
Size matters
The community reluctantly gave support last month to a futuristic rooftop addition for 250 West St., a Tribeca condo conversion by Elad Properties.
But then the wooden mockups went up atop the former Citibank building, and they were much bigger and much more visible than the developer had promised.
“We were surprised that they originally showed us something that wasn’t what went up,” said Bruce Ehrmann, co-chairperson of Community Board 1’s Landmarks Committee. The committee gave advisory approval to the design last month after seeing renderings of the addition that showed it about 50 percent smaller.
Lloyd Kaplan, Elad spokesperson, said the design shown to the community board was an honest mistake. By the time the city Landmarks Preservation Commission saw the design last week, Elad had updated it to reflect the actual size of the rooftop addition, which is about 16 feet tall. The L.P.C. thought the glass and black-painted metal addition was too big and asked Elad to revise it, Kaplan said.
Elad returned to the community board after the L.P.C. meeting and presented the correct designs, and the community board had the same opinion as L.P.C.
Kaplan said Elad would redesign the rooftop addition and then revise the mockup at 250 West St., before returing to the board.
Even if Elad gets approval soon, the company hasn’t gotten financing yet so it could be a while before new residents start moving in.
Tribeca Gymboree?
Does Tribeca need another children’s center? That was the question put to us this week by Debra Whitefield, owner of the Gymboree Play & Music centers in Manhattan.
We weren’t sure what to tell her, but keep an eye out: Whitefield said the international, interactive play center is thinking about opening up Downtown.
Rising star
Ten-year-old Battery Park City resident Cecilia Gault already has two short films under her belt, and one of them premiered last weekend in Red Hook. The 20-minute film, called “LOADED” and directed by Jon Stemmler, chronicles the life of a woman growing up in Arkansas.
Cecilia played the younger version of the woman. She had to learn an Arkansas accent, attend several rehearsals and then spend a day filming north of Poughkeepsie. The movie also features John C. Kim and Adelyne Liu.
Cecilia missed the movie’s Red Hook debut because she is in Japan visiting family, but her father, Dennis Gault, said he hopes the Regal Cinemas in B.P.C. will agree to screen it later this summer.
Cecilia, a recent P.S. 89 grad, will attend the Professional Performing Arts Middle School.
Gwyneth Downtown
Speaking of movie stars, Gwyneth Paltrow will be at Tribeca Rooftop on July 29 for a benefit supporting Children of the City, which served underprivileged children in New York. Also in attendance will be Councilmember Sara M. Gonzalez, Richard Mahler and John Abi-Habab, who will receive awards.
