Plans on the docket for the parking lot on Hudson and Worth

Plans have been filed with the Landmarks Preservation Commission to build a one-story commercial building on the trapezoid-shaped parking lot that is 74 Hudson — on the corner at Worth. Community Board 1 will hear the details tonight at its Landmarks Committee meeting; I will catch up to it tomorrow on YouTube.

The site has not changed hands since 1985, when it was purchased for $300,000, so this is a lease. And it is firmly in the Tribeca West Historic District, so that is why it has to be reviewed by Landmarks even though it is just one story.

AND! I learned last night that 40 years ago, the coops surrounding the lot — 90 Hudson, 1 Worth and 10 Leonard — bought the air rights a light and air easement to prevent development on that site! Talk about foresight. Amazing.

Way back in 2019, the site was listed as a proposal: a one-story glass box with a lower level and mezzanine, totaling 18,000 square feet. Each floor in that concept had 16’ ceilings. The listing then called it a “dramatic landmark-approved glass-box new construction,” with a rooftop available for the tenants use or to bust through for skylights. They were thinking then it would work for fashion, design or restaurant tenants. Clearly that plan never happened, so this must be the second effort to permit the site.

Seems like a good trade for a parking lot, unless of course you park your car there.

The meeting will be in the Community Board conference room at 1 Centre Street, 2202A-North, but you can watch it live on WebEx here.

 

12 Comments

  1. One story building? No housing? What a waste of an incredibly prime lot. A minor upgrade over surface parking.

  2. That is the rendering from years ago. The new design, which was presented at Community Board 1 last night, is comprised of a series of terracotta arches and is use is to be an indoor pool by “Gold Fish”.

  3. Heard a while ago that a swim school – goldfish swim school will be coming to that space.

  4. Oh this is too bad. I very much like the parking lot — and hate to see another storefront. There are too many empty storefronts along Hudson already. Leave the cars! (Or an open lot for the future.)

  5. Does anyone know if the parking lot at Worth & West Broadway has a similar air rights deal? Every time I walk by there, I wonder why that lot hasn’t been developed.

  6. This feels like such a missed opportunity. A residential building that completes the street wall would provide so much more value to the community than yet another one-story glass box.

    That said, I can respect a NIMBY who’s willing to put their money where their mouth is—buying the air rights and locking the lot into stasis for decades is certainly one way to keep ‘light and air’ intact.

    But let’s not pretend it’s altruism; those development rights are only going to appreciate. At some point, future owners might realize that housing—or even something more ambitious—could be worth more than an empty lot (or, god forbid, a place to park).

Comment: