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Robert Ripps book
History of Tribeca Buildings
The latest in the saga (and heartbreak) at Franklin and Broadway
Demolition is (well) underway for 59 Franklin, the six-story brick building just east of the corner with Broadway, AND 358 Broadway, the five-story building just south of the corner. The two sites surround the empty lot at 65 Franklin, the failed construction site that has been idle for years and as far as I can tell, no longer has an active permit.
There have been plans since 2015 to demolish the two to make way for a new 18-story residential building, but there is now a lawsuit where the developer of 59 is suing the developer of 65, claiming that their site damaged its neighbors.
When I went by in mid July, the contractor said he was gutting the interiors of both buildings, floor by floor. Once the floors were gone in the interior, the facades of both buildings will come down. Neighbors say that looks like it’s any day now.
If you have been following the saga here, there have plans filed with the city since 2015, calling for an 18-story building at 59 Franklin; those drawings show that portions of 358 Broadway will remain, with a first floor commercial space behind that an a rear yard behind that. But there’s ALSO now a listing for the site (thanks to J. for sending), delivered vacant. The site has 85 feet of frontage on Franklin, and zoning allows for 66,000 square feet, but the current owner transferred air rights from the 358 site, so that the new building can be 89,000 square feet.
The residents at 356 Broadway must have real concerns here — once 358 comes down, hopefully someone is looking out for their lot line wall.
So to the suit, The Real Deal has the story: “Charles Dayan’s Bonjour Capital controls 59 Franklin Street through an LLC, which last week sued Hap Investments and Noble Construction Group, claiming negligent work at 65 Franklin Street — aka 360 Broadway — destabilized the building. He is seeking at least $15 million.”
The last I emailed with the Department of Buildings about 65 Franklin in February, they said the site had been under a Stop Work Order for a couple of years now, but at that time it still had an active work permit for a new 19-story building at the site. However, the new building work permit was active only until late March. If they corrected the violating conditions, they could ask to have the Stop Work Order lifted. From what I can tell on the DOB site, they never applied for a renewal of the permit. The picture above shows the sidewalk just sitting there, closed off to the rest of us while that site is idle.
The whole thing is a disaster. And for posterity, here’s what that corner looked like in 2018:
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Dept of Buildings (and Landmarks Preservation Commission in landmark districts) tolerates this outrageous and destructive behavior by developers towards innocent neighbors. That’s why it keeps happening.
The only landmarked building on Franklin in this area is 54 Franklin. The subject buildings (59 and 65) are not landmarked nor should they have been. They are and were tenement style non-descript structures. Their value was for redevelopment and 59 had value on the interior finishes, such as the wood floors, doors and other architectural details that were removed by hand and resold. I thought they might take down the bricks and resell those due to their age, but I guess I was wrong.
Just because something was built in NYC a long time ago doesn’t mean it’s worth keeping it standing
@Sandy, I would take something “built in NYC a long time ago” over a dirty, ugly, smelly vacant lot.
Disgraceful…and all too typical. I live on Murray Street and we watched the same mess happen at the end of my block – they tear down 19th century magnificence in a matter of hours…then leave a gaping hole for years to come, all locked up in litigation, while the entire block is destabilized. Something has to change.
I have a history with 360 Broadway. I am an artist who Lived on the top floor of 360 Broadway from 1970 to 1973. The Blarney Stone bar and restaurant was on the ground floor. My bedroom was in the building that was on Franklin Street. The two buildings – perpendicular to each other – were connected with a small wooden ramp since the floor level of 59 Franklin was about 18 inches lower than the Broadway Building. A heavy sliding metal door permitted me to enter my bedroom which was in the Franklin Street Building. 59 Franklin had a manual freight elevator operator. And at times I would use it. My next door neighbor who used the same 360 Broadway elevator to get to his loft adjacent to mine was Don Gummer just before he met Meryl Streep. There are of course other artist friends, historians and collectors to mentioned who visited me at this loft. Additionally, I have photographs both of the loft, the building and views of the streets from the windows of 360.