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History of Tribeca Buildings
Seen & Heard: Salt Shed Enthusiasm
••• Robert Janz’s response to current events is below.
••• Shoot permits have been posted for Tuesday and Wednesday at Church and Duane for the TV remake of Limitless, the 2011 Bradley Cooper film.
••• Shoot permits were also posted for this past Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, on Duane between Church and W. Broadway for a Michael Kors ad.
••• Below: an even better look at the Spring Street Salt Shed, which I’m getting very excited about. Could it end up being the best new building in the area? “The cast-in-place concrete surface that is visible now will be the finished surface,” said the rep from Dattner Architects, in response to my query. “The concrete is still fresh and has not fully cured to its final color yet. Surface imperfections will be patched and blended for a uniform concrete finished surface.” Not sure how I feel about the wall on the adjacent Holland Tunnel vent—that is what that building is, right?—but I suppose it’s necessary to stop salt trucks from damaging the building.
••• The Soho Grand’s former dog run is now once again a bar called Gilligan’s. No clue if it’s open yet. And kind of weird to wait till late summer to debut it…? UPDATE: I was wrong; this is the south side, where there has been a bar in years past.
••• This sums it up.
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I’m pretty sure that soho grand picture is from the yard on the south side of the building, which has been some sort of bar for some time. The dog run was in the yard on the north side. Last time I walked by and made note it was still there, though that was a little while ago.
99% sure it was the north side, but I could’ve been hallucinating from the heat.
That photo is definitely the south side.
It is the south side, just north of “Scrap Yard.”
https://tribecacitizen.wpengine.com/2015/07/29/valentine-no-44/
The dog run was on the north side, on a separate part of the property. The hotel went back to SLA for a liquor license for the yard.
CB2 resolution:
June 2, 2015
Director
Licensing Issuance Division
NY State Liquor Authority
317 Lenox Avenue
New York, New York 10027
Dear Sir/Madam:
At its Full Board meeting on May 21, 2015, Community Board #2, Manhattan (CB2, Man.) adopted
the following resolution:
3. Soho Grand Hotel, 310 West Broadway 10013 (existing hotel OP license seeking alteration
to modify and extend its existing licensed premises to include 5,479 sf ground floor side yard area)
Whereas, the applicant appeared before CB2’s SLA committee in April/2015 and agreed to adjourn
and lay over its application to May/2015 to clarify its permits to occupy, use and operate its adjacent
exterior premises for eating and drinking as it proposes/seeks; and
Whereas, the applicant operates a 16-story hotel (circa 1996) on West Broadway between Canal and
Grand Streets and is seeking to alter its existing OP license (#1023301 exp. June 30, 2015) currently
limited to the interior of the premises on the second floor, to 1) add and extend the licensed premises to
an exterior 5,479 SF side yard located on the adjacent south side of the Hotel but also extending from
West Broadway to Thompson Street and all the way to Canal via adjacent vacant lots; and
Whereas, members of CB2 Man.’s SLA Committee also appeared at and toured the interior and
exterior spaces the Hotel seeks to add to its existing license; and
Whereas, when CB2, Man. originally recommended to approve the Hotel’s existing license in
May/1996, the resolution recommending approval did so on the pretext that “there is every indication
that it will be a benefit to this community to have liquor available to the hotel’s guests on site, so that
they need not go out[side] at night and add to problems caused by the over-proliferation of bars and
restaurants in the immediate area of the hotel”; and
Whereas, despite not having a permit or license to operate an eating and drinking establishment in the
exterior side yard, and despite not having or ever being issued a On-Premise liquor license from the
NYS Liquor Authority to serve alcohol to patrons in the exterior side yard, the Hotel nonetheless
admitted to improperly and illegally operating and advertising the entire 5,479 SF adjacent outdoor
side yard area as a full service Bar known as “Gilligans” and before that operated another Bar known
as “The Yard” with one stand up bar and additional service bars, entertainment level music, DJs and
large parties causing noise and negatively impacting the area and its adjacent residential neighbors for
years; and
Whereas, the Hotel has previously appeared before CB2, Man. on two separate occasions in
April/2014 and then again in May/2014 with a similar application seeking to alter its existing license to
operate in the same exterior south side yard/lot space adjacent to the Hotel but was never able to
produce any documentation or demonstrate, in any coherent manner, that its proposed use of the
outdoor side yard was legal and permitted for eating and drinking, and that its Special Permit originally
issued to the Hotel in 1997 limited retail eating and drinking within the building on the second floor
and did not extend to the exterior portions of the Hotel premises, resulting in an unanimous decision by
CB#2 Manhattan to recommend denial of the previous alteration application; and
Whereas, the existing Certificates of Occupancy filed and posted by the NYC Dept. of Buildings does
not permit eating and drinking to any outdoor area adjacent to the Hotel, including the proposed side
lot/yard; and
Whereas, the Hotel did file an “alteration 1” application to the NYC Dept. of Buildings, the type 1
alteration being an application to change the use, occupancy or egress of the premises, in
February/2014 to “convert existing accessory open space of Hotel to accessory eating and drinking
area”, but that application was thereafter disapproved by the NYC Dept. of Buildings in January/2015
(NYC BIS Job No. 121912396); and
Whereas, when the Hotel was questioned in April/2015 whether it had any writings or could produce
any permits establishing that its proposed use of the outdoor side yard was legal and permitted for
eating and drinking, it produced a lawyer who stated that he had spoken to City Planning and that they
had indicated to him that the Hotel could use of the outdoor space “as of right” but failed to produce
any writings or documentation from City Planning or the Department of Building in support of such an
assertion; and
Whereas, after agreeing to adjourn and layover its application the Hotel though its attorneys provided
the email correspondence from City Planning which did not necessarily object to the Hotel’s proposed
use of the adjacent side yard but deferred to the NYC Department of Buildings to either approve or
disapprove the Hotel’s use of the side yard lot for accessory occupancy and use by the Hotel for eating
and drinking; and
Whereas, the Hotel agreed not to use the side yard of the Hotel for eating or drinking until it had first
obtained the necessary certificate of occupancy from the NYC Department of Buildings that
specifically granted permission for this purpose; and
Whereas, residents living in the buildings directly adjacent to the adjacent to the exterior on the
southeastern side of the exterior yard of the Hotel appeared in opposition to the Hotel’s application
citing concerns with music, crowds and were very upset when they learned that the Hotel’s prior uses
and operation of the exterior side yard was without permits and without a liquor license for many years
despite their countless complaints directly to the Hotel’s management, as well as the Hotel’s failure to
prohibit use by patrons to smoke, congregate and drink on an exterior covered landing until 2:00 AM
approximately 20-30 feet from their bedroom windows; and
Whereas, in response to these resident concerns the applicant executed a stipulation agreement with
CB2, Man. with regard to its uses and method of operation for the exterior side yard that the Hotel and
its counsel agreed would be attached and incorporated in to their method of operation on their existing
On Premise license as follows:
1. The Hotel will not permit staff or patrons to enter or exit the exterior doors located in the Club
Room leading to a covered second floor landing and covered staircase on the south side of the
Hotel except for emergency egress and will not permit patrons on the exterior landing itself.
2. The Hotel has presented an amended diagram (Exhibit “A” to Agreement) for the use of side
yard that designates the location of all tables, one service station and one stand-up only bar, the
stand-up bar being located on the far western side of the yard to ameliorate noise impacts on
neighbors located on the eastern side of the yard, there will be 19 tables with 4 seats, an
additional 9 tables with 2 seats and 10 seats at the stand-up bar, for a total of 104 seats.
3. There will only be table service of alcohol to patrons who are seated at a table or seated at the
bar to prevent crowds of patrons from congregating in one location and there will only be food
service from the interior Hotel to the outdoor tables located in the side yard.
4. There will be no music or speakers installed outside at any time.
5. There will be no service of alcohol on the eastern side of the yard as designated in the Hotel’s
amended diagram (annexed to stipulation agreement with the Hotel) from the entrance gate on
West Broadway up and until the Host Station and the Hotel will continue to maintain and not
remove the cover over the eastern side of the yard.
6. The exterior gate and entrance/exit on West Broadway will not be open until Noon on Sundays
and will be closed every night at 10 PM, the side yard will close Sunday through Thursday at
10 PM and the side yard will close on Fridays and Saturday nights at 11 PM, all business will
cease, no loitering, no smoking, there will be no patrons remaining after closing and the lights
will be turned off within a reasonable time after closing.
7. There will be two bathrooms installed on the interior ground floor level to accommodate all
patrons to the side yard.
8. The Hotel will not use or operate in any manner as an eating and drinking establishment in the
side yard until it has obtained the proper certificate of occupancy from the New York City
Department of Buildings which specifically demonstrates its proposed use is legal and
permitted in the side yard.
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that CB2, Man. recommends denial of the alteration application
of the existing On Premise license to extend service to the above-referenced outdoor side yard for
Soho Grand Hotel, 310 West Broadway 10013 unless the statements the applicant presented are both
accurate and complete, and that those conditions and stipulations agreed to by the applicant are
incorporated into the “Method of Operation” on the beer and wine license.
Vote: Unanimous, with 38 Board members in favor.
TCO issued 7/29/15: http://a810-cofo.nyc.gov/cofo/M/121/912000/121912396T001.PDF
I stand corrected. That’s why I said 99%….