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Robert Ripps book
History of Tribeca Buildings
Highcourt is no longer on the table for Broadway
Another sad and frustrating victim of the pandemic: Highcourt, the private leisure club that planned to restore and reimagine the Grosvenor Building on Broadway between White and Walker, is no longer moving forward.
UPDATE: I just got a call from someone who would not really identify himself (other than first name) but who noted that it was shoddy reporting that I did not call the landlord to get his/her side of the story. I agree that it was cynical of me to assume the landlord would not reply to any queries, but of course the caller would not give me any of the info either. So let’s just say that in all these landlord-tenant issues that were caused by the pandemic: it’s complicated. And it is not fair to blame the landlord exclusively. The landlord of the building — a beauty from 1875 — refused to negotiate, effectively bankrupting the business.
The building is now for rent. (L. caught the “for rent” sign outside.)
The building is five stories, and the founders envisioned a public gallery on the ground floor with a restaurant, gym, classrooms and roof deck for members above. The plan was put together in fall 2019 by two sisters who wanted to create an urban “third space” that would be both social and educational. They had a 20-year lease on the building. The landlord missed a real opportunity to bring this building to life.
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The M55 bus stop at corner of Broadway and Franklin Streets is no longer in service. Wonder why MTA is making that change.
What a shame. Who or what entity owns it?
An LLC of which Mark Harounian is the managing member, according to city records
I believe that Tribeca is still on a positive path of transformation and we will see new art galleries blossoming throughout the neighborhood.
Thanks, TriBeCa Citizen for always doing the heavy lifting!
I’ve been following the developments of this social-educational club with interest and especially appreciate the links you’ve provided in previous posts about the history of the Grosvenor Building and more.
Other than this recent update from you, I couldn’t find any related news information or announcements about the end of The Highcourt’s plans at this venue (their website doesn’t mention it either). Do you have any additional details you might share? Thanks as always!
I don’t have anything else. I doubt there are any other news stories. Yes, their website is still up. I assume they would have contacted earlybird members directly — though I do not know.
I was a tenant in that building for 21 years. I was the first tenant that wasn’t either a sweatshop or in the textile remnant business. I owned a photo lab and occupied 3 floors and brought in other creative tenants. KM Camera occupied both store fronts and when the landlord sold the building without any warning, she really hurt the tenants. The new landlord was terrible too all the tenants and wanted them out as soon as their leases ended. This is understandable except that the previous owner had lied to all the tenants and promised she was not selling the building and made us believe she was being nice by not raising our rents during the recession. She said that she would hold off the new leases until she could increase the rent claiming she was trying to save on the legal fees of making new leases. When she sold the building, most tenants were without new leases but had been tenants for many years.It was incredibly heartless . A building filled with artists replaced by a wealthy social club. Hard to feel sympathetic. I was wondering what happened to the original buyer, I hope he also went bankrupt!
The two sisters as you present them, are two individuals with no experience whatsoever and who have been completely reckless with the residents around their little failed club. They were going to have parties and drinks on the rooftop which is facing three residential buildings with people trying to live a life in them, raise children. They laughed off all the demands that residents dared make (e.g. they wanted music blasting on the rooftop until 2am and fought this so hard) – their legal representatives did all the work and thankfully didn’t fully succeed but what I am trying to say is that this club would NOT have been the improvement you are describing. At least not for the residents of the area.