As promised, I went to last night’s meeting of the Community Board 1 Landmarks Committee. I was curious about the new storefronts for 121 Chambers and 103 Reade, but that got postponed, so the main item on the agenda was the topper proposed for 308-310 Canal. During that discussion, even bigger news dropped: The same developer, Trans World Equities, has submitted plans to the Landmarks Preservation Commission for a new 8-story building next door at 312 Canal, where a wide two-story building  now stands:

“That’s unlikely to get built in this cycle,” said a committee member who is also a real estate broker, so I assume he meant that the market is wary of creating more high-end real estate until demand picks up. We’ll see.

Back to 308-310 Canal…. 308 is the smaller of the two former Pearl Paint buildings, and 310 is its neighbor to the west. The proposed two-story rooftop addition, designed by Paul A Castrucci, is clad in corrugated metal (!). The committee chair asked how, in light of the LPC’s preference that toppers be minimally be visible, this design was defensible. The firm’s representative said they’re aware it’s visible and owning it; the materials, he argued, are appropriate for the area. The residential entrance will be on Lispenard, with two storefronts on Canal; they also want to get rid of a fire escape on Lispenard. The committee unanimously thought the topper was a bad idea and the glassy storefronts a poor fit, but its opinion is only advisory; the LPC will discuss the project on Nov. 29.

The Lispenard side, because it’s much less visible, is less interesting.