Holy money
The Lord might work in mysterious ways, but the Tribeca real estate market is one predictable beast.
When Alice Hughes, manager of Regal Co., a Tribeca real estate company, learned that one of her tenants had sublet 15,000 square feet at 441 Greenwich St. to an evangelical congregation for a hefty profit, she was stunned. “I don’t know the people in it, I haven’t even met them,” she told UnderCover.
The congregation, Faith Exchange Fellowship, set up shop on the ground floor of the landmark building in May, paying its landlord $40,000 a month for the space. But the congregation’s landlord, Daniel Metcalfe, pays Regal Co. a modest $24,000 a month for the space. He rents two other floors in the building as well, Hughes said. “I hope it’s legal, I’ve talked to Dan about it, he’s a very good tenant, he’s a very good man,” Hughes said.
Hughes, who learned of the $40,000 rent in a Tribeca Trib article, is less concerned about a sublet than she is about complaints about the church. “I don’t know how long they’ll be able to stay because I’m not keen on them myself,” she said of the congregation. Regal Co. is located next door to the Faith Exchange Fellowship at 443 Greenwich St.
Metcalfe did not return calls for comment by press time.
Hughes is not the only Tribecan wary of her new neighbor. Community Board 1 has received a barrage of phone calls in recent weeks from residents irked by the Sunday morning wakeup call of Christian rock music and jubilant hallelujahs. “It’s annoying… You’re definitely aware that there’s music coming from somewhere that you didn’t ask for,” said Steven Boyce, a Vestry St. resident, of the Sunday morning services.
Residents are also less than thrilled with the arched green awnings that now stretch along half of Greenwich St. and wrap around the corner onto Vestry St. “I don’t particularly like the signs, I like the way it was,” said Hughes. “The signs will probably have to come down.”
The Landmarks Preservation Commission was not pleased to learn that the new tenants had installed signage without consulting them first. They sent the congregation a warning letter this week about the awnings and the new windows. The congregation will either need to remove the signage or work with the commission to get approval, a spokesperson for L.P.C. told UnderCover.
Pastor Daniel Stratton did not return calls for comment by press time.
Coast is clear
Daniel Angerer, the executive chef of Tribeca’s Fresh, Shore and Coast restaurants has bid adieu to his business partner, Eric Tevrow and the three eateries. Negotiations to buy Fresh from Tevrow, who also owns Early Morning Seafood, a wholesale seafood purveyor for upscale Manhattan chefs like Alain Ducasse, recently fell apart and Angerer pulled up the anchor. No longer affiliated with the three restaurants, Angerer, “is currently pursuing other restaurant ventures,” according to a statement from his spokesperson.
Angerer became the executive chef of Fresh in 2002, then opened Shore and Coast, consecutively, in the two following years.
In other restaurant news, Burritoville on Chambers St. shut its doors two weeks ago. Burrito lovers need not despair, they can head on over to the chain’s 80 Nassau St. location for their frijoles fix instead.
Park reserve
Everyone expects the government to miss its own deadlines for public projects, few of us, however, expect city agencies to claim they are further behind in their schedule than they actually are. Canal Park opened at the west end of Canal St. almost a week ago, but don’t tell the city Parks Dept., whose spokesperson insisted on Wednesday that the agency has yet to open it. Maybe those people we saw lounging on the new park benches, nibbling on lunch, were a mid-summer mirage. Commissioner Adrian Benepe, come on down! Check out your latest addition. We’ll even walk you through the open entranceways since apparently your staff can’t find them.
Lofty news
Tribeca is well covered. New York Times managing editor Jill Abramson and husband Henry Griggs recently landed in a loft in Tribeca. The pair, who relocated from Washington after the Jayson Blair affair threatened to unravel the Gray Lady, closed on the $1.65 million condo in June, about four months after they signed the contract, the New York Observer reported. The 1,650-square foot loft, equipped with high ceilings, exposed brick and hardwood floors, is in the Spice Building, a renovated pre-war warehouse. The custom-built roof-deck atop the five-story building offers river views all summer long. Unfortunately, it’s a little far a-field for Abramson to keep a managing eye on her 43rd St.-based staff.
WWW Downtown Express
