In the News: Garage Attendant Won the Lottery

••• Daytonian in Manhattan takes a look at the history of 112 Franklin (above right). It includes this choice bit: “On May 17, 1867, The New York Times remarked on the dramatic changes in the neighborhood. ‘Although but few of those who have passed through the streets at right angles to, and parallel to, Broadway below Canal-street, can have failed to express astonishment at the extraordinary transformation going on in that locality, yet the number who have had any clear idea of the vast sums of money which are being expended there, have not been many. This change has been going on since early in 1865.’ Included in the article’s dizzying list of new and under-construction buildings was Weil’s No. 112 Franklin Street, with construction costs at $40,000—in the neighborhood of $662,000 in 2016.” (Photo courtesy Daytonian in Manhattan.)

••• A woman walking on Chambers Saturday at 1 a.m. was mugged by three men. —DNAinfo

••• Battery Park City parking garage worker Gregory Velez won $4.63 million (that’s the after-tax lump-sum amount) in the lottery. —New York Post

••• Downtown Express says Fulton Street is going “from tacky to tony” because there’s a Chipotle, a Melt Shop, a Pace dorm, and some new buildings.

••• “At the March 22 meeting of Community Board 1, City Comptroller Scott Stringer revived his 2014 proposal to dedicate a portion of excess revenue generated by the Battery Park City Authority to New York’s crumbling low-income housing infrastructure.” —Broadsheet

 

7 Comments

  1. Exaggeration? Yes, but to be fair, Nobu at Fulton and Broadway, Jean George’s Food Hall at the Tin Building, Sherry Yard’s restaurant at the new iPic theater at the Fulton Market and the two new restaurants coming to Pier 17 from Jean George and David Chang at the foot of Fulton are at the other end of the spectrum and should be acknowledged as huge changes for this street. More changes are sure to come.

    • Nobu isn’t on Fulton, it’s on Broadway, and neither is the Seaport stuff (iPic, Jean-Georges, Chang). The street itself may be getting better—if a bit heavy on fast food for my taste—but it’s entirely relative to what it was.

      • 195 Broadway is the corner of Broadway and Fulton. Not sure why it matters but it’s as much on Fulton as on Broadway.

        • Nobu will face Fulton more than Broadway even though the entrance will be on Broadway, the Fulton Market building is absolutely on Fulton Street and the Tin Building, as well as Pier 17, is at the foot of the street, but all that doesn’t really matter. The fact is that Fulton Street has come a long way and it’s progress shouldn’t be minimized. Amazing strides have been made and there are many who thought it would never happen. They are being proven wrong.

  2. Bravo to Gregory Velez! That is some retirement fund. Have fun at Disneyland with your girls!

  3. Fulton St. may be getting more cheerful, but at a cost. A couple of years ago, 112 Fulton was torn down. This beautiful, five-story building was where Herman Melville set the type for Moby-Dick. The novel was first published by Harper & Bros., nearby. The first edition, titled The Whale, was shipped to England, but the last pages went missing, so the Brits didn’t know for a long time what had become of Ishmael.

    • Jane, I invite you to please join us at the next meeting of the Financial District Neighborhood Association. One of the committees we are putting together is one to identify buildings in FiDi that are not landmarked, but deserve to be considered. I wouldn’t have included 112 Fulton on that list :-), but there are others that should be considered and identified. The next meeting is April 14th at 180 Maiden Lane, I believe it will be from 6:00 – 8:00 PM.

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