In the News: The Glass-Brick Building That Tribeca Might Have Had

••• Manhattan Loft Guy explains why you shouldn’t pay too much attention to a recent report that Tribeca and Soho rule the rankings in median price by neighborhood: “Nearly the entire market in these two neighborhoods is composed of properties that would be the top one or two quintiles in more heterogeneous neighborhoods.”

By Elizabeth D Herman courtesy the New York Times

By Elizabeth D Herman courtesy the New York Times

••• Fashion designer Zac Posen tells the New York Times about his Sunday mornings; the photos include him sniffing a rose at Polux Fleuriste at All Good Things (a caption says he “works with the florist […] to design bouquets for his home and offices”), sitting at the bar at Aamanns-Copenhagen (no mention of the restaurant in the text…?), and walking his dogs in St. John’s Lane. Also: Maybe he needs reading glasses?

••• Tribecan Sarah Bartlett is not in favor of the Hudson River Park’s plan for a Neighborhood Improvement District. She concedes that the amounts to be paid are “modest”; it’s a matter of principle…. —Tribeca Trib

••• “City Ponders Solution to Overcrowding at BPC’s Popular P.S. 276.” —Tribeca Trib

••• Historian Oliver E. Allen on “the Empress of Patterns.” —Tribeca Trib

••• “Pretty sure that they never got the house made of glass bricks built in Tribeca.” Nope, alas. Click that link to see how it might have looked. “They did in Tokyo…” tweeted Tyler Fonda, by way of introducing a Designboom post on the fantastic Optical Glass House by Hiroshi Nakamura and NAP (image © Koji Fujii/Nacasa & Partners, courtesy of Hiroshi Nakamura; there are many more in the Designboom post)

opticalglasshouse_02

 

6 Comments

  1. Some very good points raised re: Hudson River Park Bid.

    Why is there no pressure on the city to contribute something to its upkeep? Would be interesting to take a survey of users on an average summer day to see the proportion of users that are not from the proposed BID district.
    I am sure it will be north of 80%.

    The Bid rate will start at a relatively low rate, but like all governmental pork and revenue streams it will grow exponentially.

    We need a fair and balanced approach to address this issue before it is too late

  2. it’s a good article by Sarah Bartlett and we should give the issue a lot more attention. It’s not a trivial or ‘matter of principle’ (which always makes it sound like the speaker is being prissy) issue, it’s of fundamental importance in a city like new york – how do we upkeep the public spaces.

  3. and the glass brick house is so beautiful! We could definitely do with one in Tribeca (not that I could ever afford to live in it, but it would be pretty to see)

  4. @Liat: To be fair, Bartlett did refer to it as a matter of principle: “While some consider these sums modest, there’s an important principle at stake.”

    My issue with the op-ed is that no solutions are offered—it calls fail on the plan and says the HRP should go back to the drawing board. Personally, I’ve always thought the zone should be widened by a block or two, because yes, I do think the majority of regular park users live and work nearby.

    Moreover, does anyone really think that the real estate values of northwest Tribeca will decline longterm (or even medium-term) as a result of Sandy?

    That the park doesn’t get city funding is ridiculous, of course, but saying the city should fund it means using tax money, no? (Unless Bloomberg opens his wallet again?) Why not ask the people who use it most—who benefit from its proximity whether they use it or not—to foot some of the bill?

    (P.S. Yes, the idea the tax could creep upward is unnerving.)

  5. What?! The “Friends” of Hudson River Park think it’s a good idea to have a NID? Ha, well they’re no friends of mine. What happen to HRP being self-sustaining? Do we have to bail them out because they’re shitty fundraisers/managers? NY State & City both have huge deficits but aren’t raising taxes. Everyone should be able to choose if they would rather spend “$150” on a dinner or tulips for a park or champagne for the annual HRP gala. It’s also good to know that the base argument now for raising or not raising taxes is the number of dinners that tax would buy. There are a lot Seaport restaurants that would appreciate that $150.
    You can’t always get what you want when you want it, especially when you’re asking someone else to pay for it.
    Ideas for handmade signage at public meetings:
    Hudson River Park Mistrust
    Double Taxation with Misrepresentation

  6. Welcome back Jim!