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Neighbors are organizing to revamp Barnett Newman Triangle
Barnett Newman Triangle, the wedge of concrete formed where Sixth Avenue and Church Street fork between Franklin and White, is finally getting some attention. Stepping into the void created by DDG Partners, which seems to have reneged on a deal to redevelop the plaza in exchange for a variance at 100 Franklin, several longtime Tribecan have created a 501c3 — Friends of Barnett Newman Triangle — to get the ball rolling on a greener and more accessible public space there.
Longtime Tribecans Alice Blank, a member of Community Board 1, and Lesley Sondey and Jeannette Rosoff are hoping to raise funds that would create a design — and get city support — for the traffic triangle, which is both a Parks Department GreenStreet and part of the Department of Transportation. Alice and Marie Stargala are the architects responsible for the design and Marie did the drawings below. They are hoping to get the support of elected officials for the allocation of discretionary funds, and the support of neighbors for input and advocacy.
To back it up, the plaza has been a capital budget priority for Community Board 1 for more than 15 years. So in 2014, when DDG Partners was seeking a variance, the developers promised to beautify and maintain the plaza in return. But DDG never honored that agreement and instead seems to have ditched — they don’t respond to numerous attempts from the electeds or the community board. (Why there are no teeth to this agreement, I don’t know. But it’s bogus.) On top of that, The Real Deal reports that one of the co-founders of DDG is suing to dissolve the company.
100 Franklin was completed in 2019.
Of course there is history that goes back even further, to 1925, when Sixth Avenue was extended south as part of the Holland Tunnel’s construction. Thousands of people were displaced and numerous buildings demolished to make room for the extension, including a residential building on this site. The traffic island was created by the terminus of Sixth Avenue and it was eventually inherited by the Parks Department’s GreenStreets program (which, I will note, is not funded).
The Tribeca Trib ran a competition to name it in 1999, and the winner was Barnett Newman, the abstract painter who had his studio across the street at 35 White from 1968 to 1970. In the late 1960s he experimented with triangular canvases, perhaps inspired by the view from his studio window.
Drawing by Marie Stargala
Rendering by Marie Stargala
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Yes please! Just subscribed to their updates, always in favor of tackling these types of areas for something more appealing!!
Great idea; this plot as well as the area just south of Gotan are begging for tree-covered neighborhood mini-parks with outdoor seating. We’ll be donating and getting involved!
Since there are now several “Friends of” various potential/existing TriBeCa parks (Duane, TriBeCa, etc), does it make sense to consolidate them under a single “Friends of TriBeCa Parks” umbrella organization, to coordinate fundraising/ops across individual parks and give the collective orgs more heft vis-a-via local politicians?
Given the amount of concentrated wealth/power in this neighborhood, seems like neighbors could make all of these great park projects happen in the near term if enough folks pitched in and lobbied local leaders.
I wonder if DOT can now provide more information.
From NYC DOT’s website (https://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/html/contact/contact-form-map.shtml) today
Case Number
DOT-465549-Y1X4
General Topic
Pedestrian Plaza
Issue
Other comments or concerns
Status
Resolved
Resolution
Location Reviewed
Where’s Chris Marte in all of this? Like is he doing ANYTHING? I only see him randomly for certain things – and then he gets steamrolled by developers.
Also Finn square needs some love
Marte is very busy. He’s sponsoring legislation to rename a street as “Lenny’s Clam Bar Way” in Queens.
You can’t expect a man with such important work to be bothered to get involved in a tiny park. (Especially when the park is surrounded by wealthy people whom he demonizes even though many of them apparently voted for him.)
https://legistar.council.nyc.gov/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=6724726&GUID=C4AB7ACE-1395-4E20-BDD1-AF3C9691A5AA&Options=&Search=
His interest in the legislation was Vinny Peanuts
https://connecticut.news12.com/little-italy-honors-local-icon-vinny-peanuts-with-street-naming
Agreed, and Finn Square also has a Friends group if you want to join. I think the first step is to get the DOT to repair the sidewalks…
https://www.finnsquare.org/
Regarding Finn Square– Marte has come to all of our events at Finn Square. The difficulty is getting the DOT to fix our sidewalks. As a Greenstreets space, Finn Square falls between the two bureaucracies, Parks and Transportation.
Even if we are a rich neighborhood, that does not absolve the Parks and Transportation Departments from keeping our parks in order. This seems to be a budgeting problem.
The plan illustrated in this article seems to do away with ANY sidewalks on this plot- one would have to traverse the center of the triangle instead, which I don’t tink is a bad idea, given that there are seldomly used sidewalks on the other sides of Church and Varick. There is no access for the Con Ed guys to back a truck into the substation.
Note that it appears all the vehicles on the plan are pointed in the wrong direction!
Thanks, James, for as always bringing facts to the issue. Vinny Peanuts was truly a local hero, a long supporter of community (Little Italy) and an effective battler for affordable housing. (Google him, note housing on Spring Street.) Plus he sold great snacks.
Marte did well to honor him.
Go Alice and Lesley!!! So excited that this is moving forward. It is not for the faint of heart, but it is absolutely doable, and I am so excited to see this triangle revitalized. And YES to Finn Square too!
My question is: can the developer not be sued in order to cover costs? The variance was not a favor.
You would be better off suing NYC DOT and BSA in an Article 78 litigation for their failure to enforce the terms of the variance.
Yes to Finn Square as well .
Better yet. Close off that one block stretch of Church -it is redundant – and add that to the triangle to make a true amenity
Who is going to maintain annually the new green space?
Different POV here…..
While this would be a relatively low-cost item, it seems to me that DOT should be focusing money and projects in under-served areas of NYC.
Tribeca is one of the wealthiest parts of NYC with quite a few space and park amenities and this is not an “essential”.
As a close by example, Chinatown is in far more need.
Take walk or bus on Allen Street and see the mess in the median-mall.
There is an urgent need for Con Ed to repair the sidewalks around all three streets abutting their ugly substation- Perhaps Con Ed should contribute some funds to this effort
The sidewalk needs repair badly. Otherwise, this is one of the most “tame” leftover triangles along Sixth Avenue. The plan seems overly grandiose for this small plot of land. I suggest taking the money and the energy to deal with the many wild and overgrown triangles that get no attention or love.
Thank you very much for running this story about Barnett Newman Triangle. The newly formed Friends group looks forward to making this into a true Greenstreet with the addition of green infrastructure. Please note that Alice Blank and Marie Stargala are the architects responsible for the design and Marie Stargala for the published drawings of the proposed new Plaza.