CB2 To Vote on NYU Expansion Plans Thursday

February 23, 2012 by Leave a Comment

NYU expansion plansCB2 To Vote on NYU Expansion Plans Thursday

NYU’s controversial expansion plans have been debated for the better part of a year now. The aggressive proposal calls for two blocks south of the current NYU campus in Greenwich Village to be converted into “superblocks” consisting of large new faculty buildings, student housing, and a new elementary school that may or may not have funding. The university expects to finish the project in 2031.

Reaction among Village residents to the NYU expansion plans has been loud and mostly hostile. Community board meetings on the subject have been filled with dissenting voices, and various demonstrations have been held in protest of the plan. One more is going to be held this Thursday at St. Anthony of Padua Church on Sullivan and Houston Streets to coincide with Community Board 2’s vote on the NYU expansion plans, also occurring at St. Anthony’s. The protest, which is being sponsored by the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, is also being supported by NYU students and faculty who opposed the plan as well as local block associations and unions.

The NYU expansion plans have already been opposed by CB2’s Land Use Committee, and it appears likely that the Community Board will vote against the proposal. However, construction and redevelopment can continue if NYU gets the support of the City Planning Committee (which is currently conducting an Environmental Impact Study on the proposal) and Borough President Scott Stringer.

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Rudin Rejects Design for Village AIDS Memorial at Former St. Vincent’s Site

February 16, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Village Aids MemorialRudin Management has rejected a design proposed for a possible AIDS memorial at the site of the former St. Vincent’s Hospital, according to the New York Daily News. The proposed Village AIDS memorial design was selected by a celebrity panel that included actress Whoopi Goldberg.

The chosen design for the Village AIDS memorial, which comes courtesy of Brooklyn-based architecture firm Studio a+i, would be a tree garden surrounded by mirrors on all sides with a granite exterior. The firm called their design “Infinite Forest.” Visitors would have been encouraged to write the names of loved ones in the park, rather than having an engraved list of AIDS victims.

However, the proposed park sits on land owned by Rudin Management as part of the deal to convert the former St. Vincent’s Hospital site into condos and commercial space. The city has given Rudin permission to develop a park on the site, and the company politely rejected the proposed design, saying that they have their own plans for a Village AIDS memorial park with the aid of designer Rick Parisi.

DNAInfo posted some of Parisi’s designs on their website in September. The designs were not well received by some residents, who called Parisi’s work “generic.”

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City Rethinks Re-Zoning of Village Schools, PS 41 and PS 3

November 6, 2011 by Leave a Comment
PS 41 and PS 3

City Rethinks Re-Zoning of Village Schools, PS 41 and PS 3

We had previously reported on a proposal by the city’s Department of Education that would change the public school zoning structure in the Village. The plan would have eliminated the choice of public schools that residents have enjoyed for years. Currently, residents of the West Village, Greenwich Village, and the Meatpacking District had the option to send their children to P.S. 3 at 490 Hudson Street or P.S. 41 at 116 West 11th Street. Under the proposal, the district would be broken up, consigning West Village students to P.S. 3 and Greenwich Village students to P.S. 41.

Now, it looks as if the Department of Education is having second thoughts about these changes. The Tribeca Trib is reporting that the DOE is re-considering the plan after hearing grievances from TriBeCa residents, who would be forced to send their kids to P.S. 3 as a result of the re-zoning.

This comes as a result of the DOE’s attempt to remedy the overcrowding situation at TriBeCa’s P.S. 234 by dividing TriBeCa into north and south zones. Residents of the north zone would have to take their kids to school in the West Village, a distance that did not sit well with parents in TriBeCa.

Members of the district’s Community Education Council and Community Board 1 have spoken out against the proposal, which has proven vehemently unpopular with TriBeCa residents, and even the principal of P.S. 234 said that she doesn’t support the proposal wholeheartedly, though she still warned that waitlists for the school’s kindergarten could begin as early as next year unless the overcrowding situation is resolved.

The next zoning proposal is set to be issued at another CEC meeting this month. The date and location have yet to be determined.

Filed Under: Buyer information, Investor information, Kids, NYC news Tagged With: ,

BMW Guggenheim Lab Leaves East Village

October 18, 2011 by Leave a Comment
BMW Guggenheim Lab

BMW Guggenheim Lab

The BMW Guggenheim Lab is no more. According to reports, the open-air museum/think tank was disassembled yesterday, as its ten-week run in the East Village has drawn to a close. The next stop for the BMW Guggenheim Lab is planned to be Berlin, followed by Mumbai. The lab, which was described by its creators as “a mobile laboratory inspiring innovative ideas for urban life,” received a mixed reaction from East Village residents.

With the departure of the BMW Guggenheim Lab, the next question raised for East Village residents is: what should be done with the lot on which the lab was built. Before the lab was built, its location on 1st Street was notorious for being a dirty lot infested with rats. The neighborhood organization First Street Green, which started the cleanup initiative on the lot, has agreed to meet with several private and public organizations, including the New York City Parks Department, in order to find a solution to the problem. The BMW Guggenheim Lab’s support structures are still intact on the site, as well; they were donated by the founders of the project so that residents would not have to start from scratch when filling in the lot.

On the last day of the project, the lab held an open discussion for East Village residents as to what to do with the newly empty space. The main point of agreement throughout the discussion was that whatever was placed there next should have a use for all East Village residents. That’s a better idea than giving the lot back to the rats.

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Village Parents May Lose Choice Between P.S. 41 and P.S. 3

October 8, 2011 by Leave a Comment
P.S. 41 in the West Village

P.S. 41 in the West Village

The Department of Education is thinking of undertaking a rezoning project that could drastically affect which West Village school parents send their children to. For years, parents in the neighborhood who chose to send their children to public school had the choice of two schools: P.S. 3 at 490 Hudson Street and P.S. 41 at 116 West 11th Street. This became a unique situation for West Village parents as they were in the only part of Manhattan zoned for two public schools.

Now, the Department of Education is looking over a plan that could eliminate that choice for West Village parents. Under the new zoning, West Village children would only be zoned for P.S. 3, while P.S. 41 would be zoned for Greenwich Village residents. Residents of the Meatpacking District would be zoned for P.S. 11 on 320 West 21st Street in Chelsea.

The Department of Education has stated that its purpose behind the rezoning is for space reasons. Both P.S. 3 and P.S. 11 have recently eliminated middle school expansions, which the DOE feels would allow more space for new students.

Residents, on the other hand, are less than receptive to this proposal. Community Board 2 chairperson Brad Hoylman issued a statement in support of the current state of affairs, arguing that any rezoning would be “traumatic” since “communities are built around schools.” He also argued that the DOE should take future schools, like Trinity Real Estate’s proposed school in Hudson Square or the school in the NYU superblock project, into consideration when making a final decision.

Community Board 2’s zoning committee will be hearing the rezoning proposal this Tuesday, October 11th. Residents with feedback can e-mail the Community Board at d2zoning@gmail.com.

Filed Under: Buyer information, Kids, NYC news, Tenant information Tagged With: ,

Children’s Museum of the Arts Moving to Hudson Square

September 30, 2011 by Leave a Comment
Children's Museum of the Arts

Children's Museum of the Arts

SoHo’s Children’s Museum of the Arts is leaving its current location for a bigger space in Hudson Square this October. The new location at 103 Charlton Street is a 10,000 square-foot space that would allow the museum to hold expanded exhibits and programs.

The Children’s Museum of the Arts contains a permanent collection of more than 2,000 pieces of children’s art from over 50 countries across the world. The new location will feature more space for animation and video exhibits as well as workshop space for special art programs.

The first planned exhibition in the new space, “Make Art (in) Public,” will feature work by Christo and Jeanne-Claude (artists behind the Central Park Gates), Keith Haring, and street artist Swoon. The new location will also feature some other kid-friendly installations for its opening, including a slide and a “ball pond”: a room filled with large plastic balls.

The new Children’s Museum of the Arts will also feature workshops for children as young as ten months, and older children can take classes on animation and video production. The classes are part of the museum’s stated mission to make art accessible to children of all backgrounds.

The museum’s opening festivities begin this Saturday with a block party in front of the new Charlton Street location, complete with chalk art and face painting. Admission to the museum itself is $10.

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St. Vincent’s Developers Closer to Condos After Acquiring Financing

September 26, 2011 by Leave a Comment
St. Vincent's Hospital

St. Vincent's Hospital Development Plan

The future of St. Vincent’s Hospital has been an issue for West Village residents since the hospital’s closure in 2009. Since then, it has been purchased for redevelopment, and it has been the subject of public outcry among some residents. Now, however, developers Rudin Management have acquired the funds necessary to make their planned redevelopment of St. Vincent’s Hospital a reality.

Rudin recently obtained $525 million for construction financing from four different banks, which puts their plan to redevelop the St. Vincent’s Hospital complex on West 12th Street in a projected finish date of 2015. Plans for a residential development on the site have reportedly been in the works for five years, coming out after the hospital’s financing fell through in 2010. Local residents have made a push to re-open St. Vincent’s as a fully-functioning hospital again, but the funds for a new hospital simply didn’t seem to be there.

Rudin is set to break ground next year on the project, which would transform the hospital’s administrative buildings and medical offices into 450 condominium units, commercial retail, and an elementary school. The plan still awaits the approval of the City Council, who may reduce the number of units or possibly reject the project outright.

However, if the new bank loans indicate anything, it’s that Rudin Management are very sure that this project will go through.

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Four Subway Stations to Get Cell Phone Reception in NYC

September 26, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Cell phone subway serviceThis week, New York City unveiled its initial test program to bring cell phone service to the subway system. Starting Tuesday, New Yorkers with AT&T and T-Mobile service providers will be able to use the full capabilities of their phone while waiting for their train to come.

As subway cell phone service is still being tested, the service will be provided on four stations, each in the West Village/Chelsea area: The C and E station at 23rd Street and 8th Avenue, the A, C, E, and L station at 14th Street and 8th Avenue, the 2 and 3 station at 14th Street and 7th Avenue, and the F, M, and L station at 14th Street and 6th Avenue. Should the program succeed, cell phone service would be installed throughout the subway system.

The plan, which was agreed upon four years ago, mirrors similar implementations in Boston and San Francisco, where their underground transit system has full service for cell phones. The program was delayed in New York for some time due to budget constraints, and the MTA and network provider Transit Wireless are planning to implement the service slowly and carefully.

Verizon and Sprint customers will be the next to get service in the previously-mentioned stations. No date has been released as to when that will happen, as the continuation of the program is tentative based on this trial run.

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Residents React to St. Vincent’s Hospital Triangle Plan

September 11, 2011 by Leave a Comment
St. Vincents Triangle Plan

St. Vincent's Triangle Plan

The current plan for the former site of St. Vincent’s Hospital in the West Village includes several condominiums, commercial space, a 24-hour emergency care center, and a proposed park on the triangle at 7th Avenue between 12th and Greenwich Streets. The latter aspect of the plan was the subject of another tense encounter with the owners of the former St. Vincent’s Hospital property and West Village citizens.

DNAInfo.com reports that a new proposal for a park in the triangle was revealed to citizens attending a Community Board 2 meeting this week. Architect Rick Parisi unveiled the current design for the proposed park at the meeting; the proposed park would contain 600 seats, 31 trees, and over 4,000 square feet of green space.

Reaction to the park was mixed, as West Village residents had different ideas about the park’s design and what the park should represent. Elizabeth Finklestein of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation read a statement from that organization that recommended that the park’s designers look to Abingdon Square and Jackson Square as inspiration for a new park that would fit the character of the neighborhood.

Representatives for the Queer History Alliance asked that a new park contain a memorial for the AIDS epidemic, which hit the neighborhood hard in the 1980s. QHA co-founder Christopher Tepper argued that it would be appropriate as St. Vincent’s Hospital was “the ground zero of the AIDS epidemic in America.”

The main controversy behind the site re-appeared when resident Evette Stark said that any discussion of the park was irrelevant so long as St. Vincent developers Rudin Management were under investigation for fraud regarding the purchase of the site. That investigation is still ongoing. In the meantime, the full plan for the St. Vincent’s property is currently under review by Community Board 2, after which it must be approved by the Borough President’s office, City Planning, and the City Council.

Filed Under: Land use news, NYC news Tagged With: ,
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