Posted May 20, 2014, 3:29 PM
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New Yorker for life
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Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Borough of Jersey
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http://tribecatrib.com/content/oppon...-plans-seaport
Opponents Press Case Against Developer's Plans for Seaport
Julie Finch, of Save Our Seaport, displays her drawing that she says is to scale to show that developer Howard Hughes's proposed tower would dwarf the nearby Brooklyn Bridge
By AMANDA WOODS
May. 19, 2014
Quote:
Save Our Seaport, the group leading the fight against a developer’s plan for a 50-story tower at the Seaport, took to the streets this month. With the developer, Howard Hughes Corp., yet to reveal its final plans for the Seaport, more than a dozen concerned neighbors and others gathered twice at the Seaport’s Titanic Memorial Park to drive home their concerns over what’s to come.
Since last November, when the Hughes Corp. unveiled preliminary development plans, including a residential tower where the New Market Building now stands next to Pier 17, Save Our Seaport has been hammering away with its message that such a structure would overwhelm the low-rise, historic Seaport.
“I call upon the City of New York to prohibit hideous and irrevocable scarring of the Historic District by a totally inappropriate high-rise building on the waterfront," said Robert Rustchak, a merchant marine captain, speaking to the group assembled near the lighthouse monument at Fulton and Water streets.
“I call upon the city to re-shoulder its responsibility to its history, to its citizens and its community.” “I’m particularly dismayed that the city would be willing to compromise the unique character of this incredible district that is so incredibly important to the history of the city,” added architect Gina Pollara, who oversaw the development of a new park on Roosevelt Island.
On June 16, at a special meeting of Community Board 1’s Landmarks Committee, the Hughes Corp. will present its plans for the historic Tin Building and other projects within the South Street Seaport Historic District, which need to be approved by the Landmarks Preservation Commission. (The meeting takes place at 6 p.m. in the community room of Southbridge Towers, 90 Beekman St.)
While the tower project lies outside the historic district, it is likely that members of Save Our Seaport and others will use the forum as an opportunity to speak out against it and other parts of the plan.
Paul Hovitz, a member of Community Board 1’s Seaport Committee as well as Save Our Seaport, said he believes the tower has been a major sticking point in the closed door Seaport Working Group’s discussions. Since February, the group, made up of Lower Manhattan civic leaders, elected officials and Hughes Corp. representatives, has held a series of meetings with city officials about the developer’s Seaport plans.
“We are guardedly optimistic that the working group that is reviewing the plans for the proposals for the Seaport will come back with what CB 1 has said, ‘No tower, even if you’re going to give us affordable housing. No tower, even if you’re going to give us a school.’”
Hughes Corp. has proposed to restore and add a floor to the Tin Building, where the company plans to install a food market of at least 10,000 square feet. Also as part of its plans, the developer would rebuild the piers, construct a new marina and continue the East River Esplanade through the Seaport. Hughes Corp. has contended that a tall tower is needed to pay for the improvements.
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