The Criminal Summons Court Is Not Coming to W. Broadway!

40 worthTribeca Trust just sent out this email….

Great news: the criminal summons court will not move to Tribeca. Here is the note from the attorney to Lynn Wagenknect and Jonathan Zucker informing them of the news:

As we discussed we’ve reached a settlement with the City in exchange for our agreement to dismiss our case and our challenge to the sale of 346 Broadway. The City has agreed to withdraw its proposal to move the summons part to 71 Thomas Street, and has agreed that its negotiations for a lease renewal with the landlord of 71 Thomas Street will not include a provision permitting the City to relocate the summons part to 71 Thomas Street. The City has further agreed that the City will not move the SAP to 71 Thomas Street for at a minimum of 5 years.

Since the City will have to move the summons part from 346 Broadway as a result of the sale sometime in the next year or so, this effectively means that the Summons Part will not move to 71 Thomas Street for the foreseeable future. Once it is moved to another location, it will likely stay there for some significant period of time. We believe this is an excellent settlement for you and the Plaintiffs.

Jennifer M. Keighley
Emery Celli Brinckerhoff & Abady LLP

The Tribeca Trib has a full report on the shfit, including this: “As part of their claims, the opponents said the city had transacted to sell its building at 346 Broadway, to be developed as a hotel and condominium complex, without going through a required review process. A hearing on that part of their suit had been scheduled for Thursday. Richard Emery, the lawyer representing the opponents, said in an interview that the potential loss of that $160 million sale, ‘was obviously instrumental’ in the city’s decision to withdraw its plan.”

Update: Comments have been turned off due to spam. To have them turned back on, email tribecacitizen@gmail.com.

 
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12 Comments

  1. I’m glad the city is still going through with the sale of that gorgeous and neglected building (346 Broadway). Any guesses where they’ll move this court?

  2. this is only one of the reasons why Jon Zucker is my hero!

  3. Rumor has it that the City is now looking at 172 Duane Street for the Summons Court.

  4. Devil you know. Now the city will put something far worse at 71 Thomas, and the city won’t be hearing objections. For one, 346 Bway also has a methadone clinic & many officers of the Dept of Probation, covering far worse offenders & far sicker people than a summons court. Good luck.

  5. They should just move it to wasteland of North Tribeca

  6. I guarantee the city will put something in far worse, and people will regret the protests. They have lots of empty space in that building.

    Honestly, NIMBYs are a joke, There was nothing wrong with the proposed use. It’s selfish to live in the middle of Manhattan, next to a govt. building, and then protest routine and necessary uses in that govt. building. People should be ashamed of their anti-civic behavior.

  7. Thank goodness not coming to Tribeca. No, we are not worried about the alternatives at Thomas. It will be an admin office, trust me.

    Osito – my aren’t you self-righteous. A lot of talk for someone who does not live in our neighborhood.

  8. @Osito – Its not a city-owned building. Its privately-held and leased to the city. The lease expires in 2014, which is one of the reasons why the city proposed moving the SAP to this location. A criminal court belongs in the civic center not the middle of ANY residential neighborhood. Get your facts straight before waving the NIMBY flag and calling people bad names.

    @Jfrankp – you are one negative dude. This was a good win and blocked a very unsavory use of this property. Its much more likely that the use will continue as is but feel free to offer rank speculation about other horrors to justify your belief that a high volume criminal court is benign.

  9. The reason they agreed to move the court was because the lawsuit was blocking the sale of 346 Broadway. The people on John Street should file a similar lawsuit if they want to block the move of the the other court from their neighborhood.

  10. Yeah, let’s sue everyone! U-S-A! U-S-A!

  11. We live close to 346 Broadway and never had a problem with the courts there. There aren’t hundreds of criminals lined up outside I can tell you for sure.

    @Concerned – it is not as fancy as West Broadway & Thomas, but Broadway and Leonard IS in a residential neighborhood (hence developers buying it to convert to condos!) Get your facts straight too.

  12. Many thanks to the Tribeca Trust for standing strong and holding fast to defend our neighborhood from bad city planning.The Trust should not be allowed to fade away !