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Robert Ripps book
History of Tribeca Buildings
This One Is Going to Hurt
The rumor that the six endangered buildings in south Tribeca were about to be bought proved to have teeth: “Cape Advisors has […] paid $50 million for a collection of six buildings along W. Broadway between Warren and Murray streets,” reports Crain’s. “It plans to tear them down and construct a roughly 46,000-square-foot condo building.”
The businesses on the ground floor—Raccoon Lodge, Mariachi’s, Banh Mi, Mangez Avec Moi, Saleya, Palermo Pizza, New York Dolls, and Cricketer’s Arms—seem unlikely to be able to find new space in the neighborhood, given the rents that landlords think the neighborhood can support.
Cape Advisors is the firm building a 12-story condo at 149 Church (between Chambers and Warren). I suppose we should be afraid flattered that they’re so fond of the area.
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that will change the street scape
Artist in these buildings will be displaced which is a shame! Some have been there for well over 17 years. More condo’s?? really? REALLY?
Tribeca is done—- Welcome to The Upper East Side 2.0. These are sad days. Just curious which public school they are going to try to cram the new resident children into– Let the kindergarten panic begin, again.
PUBLIC school? Ha. We all know these kids will not be going there.
The fact is change is inevitable but the real question here of course is whether the landlords will ever get the rents they feel the neighborhood will bear.
What they really need is foot traffic and spending. Tribeca is not tourist infested like Soho – part time absentee millionaires can not really be considered full time residents.
The rents will not add up for at least a decade… Curious to see when the inflection will take place and things balance back
Yes they will be going to the public schools. Who do you think is fighting for spots in the local schools? Out of district kids don’t even try anymore. Our public schools probably have the wealthiest population in the city as proven by the enormous amounts of money raised at the local fundraisers.
Sad!#!! Any indication as to when demolition/ the business will close?
Nope.
when the bubble bursts will developers look for bailouts?
Meh, glad NY Dolls is going, also Raccoon, which are remnants of a grittier Tribeca going back to late 80’s.
Although, $4k/sf condo’s filled with Russian and Chinese absentee owners is also what the neighborhood doesn’t need.
Would absentee American owners be better?
But seriously, does anyone have foreign absentee owners in their building? I’ve always wondered if that wasn’t more of a Midtown phenomenon; the premium you pay for Tribeca is, to my mind, about family-friendly apartment sizes and access to the schools (neither of which is of much value to the foreigners).
Re: Absentee residents.
Not sure which part of the country/world owns apartments at 200 Chambers and its neighboring building on Warren, but I look out on the buildings at night (pretty much every night) and I would say a good 60% of the lights are out, every night.
Real estate, particularly in Tribeca, gives a good return on investment and people know it. It doesn’t appear anyone here is truly invested in the neighborhood or in maintaining or sustaining it, which is unfortunate. But on a positive note, it does stay nice and dark at night on Greenwich Street without those lights on.
last thing we need is grit. if only we could get petrossian to open up six or eight locations down here.
Is there an ETA on when this will start?
Any idea on how tall the building will be? Are there any limitations on height? While I am not thrilled, and sad to see some neighborhood institutions vanish, at least it’s not a Gap or other massive generic chain. Although if there is going to be some commercial space on the ground floor, the neighborhood could use another mani/pedi place ;-)
Some of those businesses have been there for a long, long time. Mangez Avec Moi and the Raccoon Lounge … I sure hope these places fine new homes in our neighborhood.
Can’t say I’m sad about losing NY Dolls.
There goes more of the character that was the reason people loved this neighborhood in the ’70’s and 80’s.
There won’t be a normal place to have brunch left.
Fark… Raccoon better find a new home in the area. All my favorite local watering holes are getting shut down.
I have been here for 23 years of which the first couple were spent on Leonard st, which has already been partly demolished and then the rest on Murray st. Since losing the trade center, everything else is getting destroyed by a different kind of terrorist, the real estate developer. I have had art studios near or on Franklin St. since 1993. My current studio building on Franklin St. will be demolished whenever they feel like doing it. Pearl Paint was a big blow. P & S Fabrics and Pearl River Mart are getting kicked out soon… It is a never ending nightmare, only a matter of time before I have to get myself out of here. It will soon be unrecognizable.
“Since losing the trade center, everything else is getting destroyed by a different kind of terrorist, the real estate developer.”
Very well-said, Natasha. As a 30 year resident of Tribeca who recently left due to the ceaseless greed of our landlord, the damage these people have done to Tribeca is a magnitude greater than the comparatively minor displacement caused by 9/11. It’s been a slow, insidious creep of destruction that has rendered the neighborhood unrecognizable.
People once came here for the old buildings, the quiet streets, the sense of community. Anyone who wants to buy into a faceless glass condo is fundamentally missing (and helping to destroy) the character of Tribeca. If you want modern and gleaming, why would you move to a historic neighborhood?
Soon Manhattan will become a gated community with security guards posted at the bridges and tunnels.
New York is perpetually changing.. if you want everything to stay the same move to New Jersey.
I’m a real estate broker who lives and sells specifically in Tribeca, mostly in this immediate neighborhood. There are more important things in a community than a red hot seller’s market, however, things like mom and pop retail shops and restaurants that cater to the less than fabulously wealthy. When those establishments are being driven out of a neigborhood – en masse – as they are now in Tribeca, you end up with an extended playground for the very rich and all retail takes on aspects of a Time Warner Center – or Brookfield Place, perhaps…
If you think that this is idle speculation on how a “hot” neighborhood can fall very far in a subsequent downturn – and if you have a short memory regarding same – I’ve got two words that might apply: Great Recession. Don’t forget that all of the major developments going up at 2700 to 5000 per sq. ft right now in the Downtown areas – like 30 Park Place e.g. – were holes in the ground that no-one wanted for five years after the economy hit the proverbial fan. Word to the wise etc…
Nicholas, I thank you for your post. Coming from a real estate broker, it’s refreshing to hear your thoughtful, honest comments, not guided by the mighty dollar. You’re a stand up guy.
How sad. The loss of Raccoon Lodge particularly bums me out. They will never re-open in the area.
This amazing area, full of character and history, is being dismantled piece by piece. What a shame.
The only answer is to demand that our electeds at City Council push the Mayor to push for an extension of Tribeca’sHistoric District boundaries. Otherwise, anyone with a corner building Oman unprotected avenue is at risk,even if your street is protected. Write the Mayor now or Tribeca will disappear behind a wall of towers.
I am addressing this very issue tonight before my fellow DemCounty District Leaders.
i’m especially sad about mariachi’s. it was originally called the little place and moved out of the small space that became kitchenette and evetually banh mi. the same family has run the place the entire time i’ve lived in tribeca. they consistently serve delicious and reasonably priced food with a smile.
this just sucks,
We’ve been living here since early 70s. All the artists have moved and the place is now inhabited by millionaires. The metamorphosis of our dearly beloved neighborhood will hopefully not repeat itself with the way Soho grew up with retail destination and tourist foot traffic. Please lt me know when that will happen and then I’ll say it will be time to sell!
I was born on Manhattan Island 61 years ago, I have lived here, worked here, and gone to school here including university, every year of my life, my parents were born here and my grand parents also and aunts and uncles. Those of you that complain about the seediness of New York are probably not New Yorkers by birth. What has made New York exciting over the centuries of its existence is its diversities, diversities in neighborhoods. This goes back to the earliest days of New York City. Today its hard to find a drugstore that will deliver to you. A restaurant or deli that will deliver without a 15 dollar minimum. Go into a store or a restaurant and see how many people working there know your name. Thank goodness I still have a few of those near me, the pharmacist knows everyone for years by name and they deliver everything. The deli will send up a pack of cigarettes or 1 container of milk. The pizza guy knows your name or gives the kid who is waiting with a parent an italian ice to keep them happy. You complain about places like Racoon Lodge or NY Dolls where are the local workers going to go after work for a relaxing drink or diner they cannot afford a Nobus. Daytime workers still need places to eat . A place like NY Dolls before it was NY DOlls in the 1980’s it was a famous after hours club called AM-PM where the likes of Andy Warhol and All the famous Rock Stars of the day ended up after a concert. NY Dolls is not a house of Prostitution, it is not a loud place, there are no fights in front. There is security at the front door which helps keep the neighborhood safer. It also hires people legally! You will be putting hundreds of people out of work when all these places are closed down. So tell me what is the benefit of these apartment buildings? Besides making money for the new landlords. You want to cleanup an area well start with lighting start with facing of the older buildings and help the businesses there draw a night time crowd instead of pushing them away! Help the current landlords clean up their buildings so that Mayor De Blasio can have some affordable housing around the city! SOme of our Mayors have turned New York into a Disneyland, It should have remained the Adult Playground as it has hurt many businesses and closed many in this city. Turned Times Square into an outdoor coffee shop, where Broadway used to be famous for being the longest continuous avenue/street in the world. Instead of being easier to get around New York I have found it much harder, more confusing. Instead of bringing ideas from Europe to implement them here in New York (Mayor Bloomberg) we should be creating our own ideas, remember the reason that America was founded was to get away from the governments and way of life in Europe not to imitate it!
Do you mean the waterfront of New Jersey like Hoboken and Jersey City? There has been comparable development in those areas where high-rise condos have taken the place of older buildings. I’m very glad I am addressing an “arichitect” as your username says, because I can finally tell someone who could have an influence on this that the main reason people dislike condominium buildings is that they are ugly. Nearly all that I have seen built lack charm, aesthetic or anything else that would make someone want to live in or look at them. Please fix that.
I never heard a native New Yorker refer to New York as Manhattan Island! Or college as university! Just sayin’!
I passed that by my LES born & bred husband & his response isn’t fit to print. Ah, old New York!