[NYguy]

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...googlenews_wsj

Hudson Square Seeks Residents
Neighborhood Better Known for Tech, Ad-Firm Offices Bids for New Housing Units.



By JOSEPH DE AVILA
February 22, 2011

The Manhattan neighborhood near the mouth of the Holland Tunnel has become a haven for tech and advertising firms. Now its biggest property owner wants more people to live there.

Trinity Real Estate, the real-estate arm of Trinity Church, has proposed a rezoning plan to pave the way for up to 3,500 new housing units in the Hudson Square neighborhood. The plan also calls for the construction of a new 420-seat primary school.

The school would be housed in a yet-to-be-built apartment tower on land owned by Trinity at the intersection of Canal and Varick streets and Sixth Avenue. The rezoning would cover around 18 blocks stretching between Canal and West Houston Streets and between Sixth Avenue and Greenwich Street.

"We think we have the potential to be a really terrific New York City neighborhood," said Erin Roeder, vice president for neighborhood development at Trinity.

The plan is still in its early stages. If approved by the city, the rezoning would be a boon for Trinity, which owns about six million square feet of property in Hudson Square, and for other building owners in the area.

The 30% retail vacancy rates in the neighborhood are among the worst in Manhattan, and retailers won't come there unless there are residents to serve, Ms. Roeder said. "We are heavily invested in the area," she said.

Trinity Church has been a force in the neighborhood ever since England's Queen Ann granted about 215 acres of land in Manhattan to the church in 1705. Trinity later gave land grants of its own for new churches, chapels and for what now is Columbia University. It now owns about 15 acres of land in Manhattan.

During the 19th century, the area now known as Hudson Square became a hub of printing and industrial activity. By the 1980s, the neighborhood was changing into a commercial office district that began drawing advertisers from Madison Avenue.

Trinity and others sought a new image for the area. A flurry of suggestions were floated for different names—one was "WeVar" for west of Varick Street—but in the end the Hudson Square name stuck.

"We definitely need our own identity because we are our own distinct neighborhood," said David Reck, a 34-year resident of Hudson Square and chairman of the local community board's land use committee. The community board has been talking about rezoning for years and is going to review the Trinity plan before it goes to the city.

Media companies such as Viacom, Penguin Group USA and CBS Radio have flocked to the area in recent years. Under the current zoning, 96% of Hudson Square is occupied by retail and commercial office space. The proposed changes will allow up to 25% of the neighborhood to be used for housing.

It would also place height limitations on new buildings and bar new nightclubs from opening, Mr. Reck said.

Hotel development would be restricted. New hotels with more than 100 rooms would have to apply for a special permit and would be subject to public review under the plan.

Not everyone agrees with that. "I don't necessarily think that's a good idea," said Charles Blaichman of CB Developers of the hotel limitations.

Mr. Blaichman, who hasn't reviewed the rezoning plan in detail, was one of the developers of the Urban Glass House, a 12-story building erected in 2006 that is one of the few new residential buildings in the area.

He likes the notion of getting more people living in Hudson Square.

"It would help with some of the commercial retail space there. It would certainly improve the atmosphere of the neighborhood if they can get some residential there," Mr. Blaichman said.