Councilman will host a town hall meeting on IPN tower

Councilman Christopher Marte will host a town hall meeting to discuss the tower planned for Independence Plaza on Thursday, Dec. 7, at 4p at the Independence Plaza Senior Center at 310 Greenwich. CB1’s Land Use Committee will get the full presentation from the developers on Monday, Dec. 11, at 6p, at 1 Centre or live on WebEx here.

The owners of the site, Vornado Realty Trust and Stellar Management, have plans to add a 900-foot tower on Greenwich at the intersection with Jay, at the former site of PS 150. Read more about the site here. 

The development is zoned as a C6-4, which permits high-bulk, high-rise, mixed-use buildings — meaning it can be both commercial and residential. C6-4 districts have a maximum FAR (floor area ratio) of 10.0 — meaning the total area of the buildings can be 10 times the footprint. In these districts, the floor area ratio may be increased to 12 for a public plaza or affordable housing. It looks like the gross floor area of the entire development — nine buildings — up to N. Moore is 2 million square feet, when you examine the city’s zoning maps. That sounds like it will add up to a LOT of buildable square footage.

At the town hall meeting, the councilman will share information to help residents understand the plans to date and will present past examples of how the community has responded to similar development proposals in other parts of the district.

 

17 Comments

  1. “the councilman […] will present past examples of how the community has responded to similar development proposals in other parts of the district”

    Centre Street Mega Jail – Loss
    Two Bridges – Loss
    250 Water Street – Loss
    Coalition for a 100% Affordable 5WTC – Loss (33% “affordable”)
    Elizabeth Street Garden – Loss

  2. this is going to be a nightmare for our street and tenants in plaza and 310. disgusting

  3. Moved out of 310 after a 25 years residence a year & a half ago. Am I ever glad! God help the folks who live on the inside arm of 310, the construction noise will be horrible & there goes their sun. Not particularly surprised as Vornado/Stellar’s greatest hope is that more of the LAP tenants will flee.

  4. Vornado Realty is the last company I Trust!

  5. I hope every single resident of IP comes to this meeting to protest.. How can a huge building be constructed next to existing residential buildings? How can developers be permitted to affect the quality of life of hundreds of residents over a long term. The sheer chutzpah of Vornado/Stellar to even propose this monstrosity…

  6. Imagine it as another 56 Leonard Street (aka the Jenga Building), except over 100 feet taller, towering over the row of historic Federal houses on Harrison & “Washington” Streets next door, as well as the rest of the neighborhood, including Washington Market Park, Duane Park, and pretty much everywhere else! Tribecans need to do everything in their power to defeat this proposal, as it will ruin the neighborhood, and spur other towers to be built in other non-landmarked areas of Tribeca.

    Envision when some developer decides to offer BMCC a brand new, state of the art campus facility for free, as long as they can build residential towers on top of it- a potential 6 block long wall reminiscent of Hudson Yards. Think a string of 111 Murray Streets, only 150 feet (or more) higher… This current proposal needs to be nipped in the bud before it spreads like a cancer!

    • Could not agree more. Quality of life for everyone would be seriously affected by this. Washington market, a huge outlet for so many, would never have sun again. Our schools. Our kids. All residents. These developers are monsters

      • Shade studies should be part of this, but what really changed light in WMP was 200 Chambers.

      • To be fair, as the building would be north of Washington Market Park, I don’t think it would actually cast much of a shadow over WMP- just Harrison Street, Greenwich Street, and points north and east. But all the other arguments are valid.

    • Rob – you are absolutely right. Need to stop this now.

  7. This is terrible, but unfortunately going to be hard to stop. For all the NIMBYs (which I would be one of, so no judgement here), you should think about moving well into an LPC designated historic district (i.e., not even on the fringe of a historic district). You won’t be 100% safe from overdevelopment, but it’s as close as you’ll get. I HIGHLY recommend northwest brownstone Brooklyn. Your congressional district won’t even change!

  8. One of the things that is never acknowledged or discussed by developers or the City is garbage. Residential garbage is massive especially now with instant gratification ecommerce.

    Walk around the Gehry building and various new high-rise buildings on Fulton Street etc when the garbage is put out for pick-up.

    The bags are piled up on the sidewalk.
    Unbelievable.
    No place to walk. And a rat resort.

    • And what about overcrowding in local public schools. Is this no longer an issue? The saddest reality is that a few extremely wealthy men get to destroy the feel of the neighborhood and literally block out the sun for hundreds of people.

      And mega high rises and office buildings are full of empty apartments (and potential apartment) while people cannot find affordable housing!

  9. It’s a monstrosity. I don’t understand – people “love” Tribeca for the historic character and community feel…and then stuff like this behemoth charisma void gets built. If you want to live in a building like this, hop on the A train and get to Hudson Yards. There are plenty of empty, expensive glass blocks for you up there.

    I lived in Tribeca for 30 years. Watching it go from artsy, to upper-middle class, to rich, to very rich, to obscenely rich has been eye-opening and there’s a clear correspondence to how unpleasant its gotten as people with a lot of money and no taste overwhelmed the regular folks.

    IPN has and will never win any beauty contests but the utilitarian structure housed generations of low and middle income residents who helped Tribeca become a real residential neighborhood – a fair trade for the economic and racial diversity it provided. This 900 foot turd adds absolutely nothing.

  10. I’ll be protesting at the meeting.

  11. Heads up – more unaffordable housing on queue.

    Per Crain’s:
    “The Financial District is gaining hundreds of new rental apartments in a former office tower with East River views.
    Leasing begins Friday at Pearl House, where developer Vanbarton Group is transforming a 1970s-era building near the South Street Seaport into 588 luxury apartments. Rents at the property, with amenities including a bowling alley and a hyperbaric oxygen therapy chamber, start at $3,500 for studios, $4,700 for one-bedroom units and $6,400 for two bedrooms.
    Construction on the project, at 160 Water St., is set to be finished by the middle of next year…..”

    “expects renters will mostly be in their 20s and 30s, ranging from new college graduates to established professionals who want to “upgrade” to the building’s finishes, amenities and plentiful closet space.

    Lots of non-poor millennials and Gen Z in NYC.

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