NEW YORK—Groups that say redevelopment of South Street Seaport will destroy the area's character are asking the Landmarks Preservation Commission to reject the plan.
General Growth Properties (GGP) released their plans in June. They have slated new shops and restaurants as well as a 42-story tower that would serve as an upscale residential building. To make room for the new structures, they plan to raze the Pier 17 mall and move the 101-year-old Tin Building. Aging infrastructure would have to undergo major upgrades to support such development.
GGP owns the Seaport area as well as such landmarks as the Water Tower Place building in downtown Chicago. They have been granted the construction of a large East Harlem mixed-use complex, which was approved this month. However, sharp falls in their shares this year along with $27 billion worth of debt have prompted speculation of a takeover.
Not So Quaint?
The proposed tower would stand nearly 500-feet high—over four times as high as other proposed buildings, 190 feet higher than the Statue of Liberty, and 219 feet higher than the towers of the Brooklyn Bridge. Viewed from the Brooklyn Heights promenade, the tower would jut into the skyline from its proposed location.
Simeon Bankoff, executive director of the Historic Districts Council, called the redevelopment plan a “disaster.” “It's a unique place that is unparalleled in this city,” Bankoff said. “To create this glass wall...destroys the scale, the ambiance, the spirit of the Seaport.”
He argued that the redevelopment plan is simply too big a step, not the “small incremental changes” typical of remodeling a historical district. “Instead, General Growth is looking at the Seaport as a clear field,” Bankoff said.
A GGP press release dated June 18 states that the developer “worked closely with local business leaders and the Lower Manhattan community to develop a vision for the Seaport.”
GGP could not be reached for comment as of press time.
Alternatives
The oldest neighborhood in Manhattan has become increasingly tourist-dominated over the years, and some residents want it back. Instead of a five-star hotel, they suggest open space, an open-air market, schools, or cultural centers.
“What's important about revitalizing the district is that we bring New Yorkers back to it,” said Lisa Kersavage, director of advocacy and policy of the Municipal Art Society of New York City, a non-profit organization that advocates for intelligent urban planning.
“A hotel is great, but we don't want a place that's dominated by the tourist market and retail that's geared toward them.”
Permits, Permits, Permits
A Landmarks Preservation Commission hearing was held Tuesday afternoon on the issue though the LPC will not vote on it just yet. If approved, the plan will go through the City's land use approval process and environmental impact assessment, then to community board and City Planning Commission and finally to the City Council, which makes the ultimate decision. Some State and Federal permitting may be involved because of the location's function as a pier, according to MASNYC's Melissa Baldock.
The LPC has jurisdiction over the entire area, except for the proposed site of the tower. They could redraw the district to include it, but could simply reject GGP's plan altogether, Baldock said.
If the plan succeeds in obtaining all required permits, a very different-looking Seaport could begin to take shape in 2010 and be completed by 2014.
