Posted Jun 30, 2010, 11:57 PM
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New Yorker for life
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Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Borough of Jersey
Posts: 51,869
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http://www.tribecatrib.com/news/2010...ice-tower.html
Dep. Mayor: 130 Liberty St. Should be Reserved for Office Tower
By Matt Dunning
UPDATED Jun. 30
Quote:
It appeared to be a plan whose time had passed: an office tower on the former Deutsche Bank building site, just across the street from the 10 million square feet of office space planned for the World Trade Center site. But a high-level Bloomberg administration official still believes the idea could work—10 years from now—and it’s worth waiting for.
Outgoing Deputy Mayor Robert Lieber, in charge of the city’s economic development, said that despite the lack of a willing developer or anchor tenant, an office tower similar to the one JP Morgan Chase had planned to occupy at 130 Liberty Street two years ago could eventually be economically viable.
“What we’re talking about now is something that’s going to take place a decade from now,” Lieber, a member of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation’s board of directors, said during a meeting of the board this month. “I can’t say with any confidence that there’s no need for more office space in Lower Manhattan. I actually believe that there will be.”
“Site 5,” the site of the former Deutsche Bank building, has been in limbo ever since JP Morgan Chase abandoned its plans for a 42-story headquarters there, choosing to move uptown after its acquisition of Bear Stearns in 2008. Though plans for the 1.3 million-square-foot tower were shelved indefinitely, the site has remained zoned for commercial development only.
Lieber’s comments came as fellow board member and Community Board 1 chairwoman Julie Menin asked the board to change the site’s designated use from commercial to residential, which would open the door for an apartment or hotel development on the lot once the Deutsche Bank building is torn down.
Menin had earlier suggested that New York University locate its planned 40-story skyscraper on Site 5 as an alternative to a proposed location on Bleecker Street, where Village residents have opposed its construction. NYU has since rejected the idea but expressed possible interest in the site for part of its expansion. She has also advocated for a performing arts center—now slated for the World Trade Center site—to be relocated to Site 5.
“I just feel like we’re sitting on this and we don’t have a plan,” Menin said. “I think it’s well understood that there’s not going to be a demand for office space, given the towers that are already being built.”
“There is an interest from developers all over the city to build it as a residential or hotel development,” she added.
Any change to the site’s permitted use would require an environmental review and approval by the city’s Planning Commission, LMDC president David Emil said during the June 24 meeting. Both Emil and board chairman Avi Schick said they agreed with Menin that it was time to reevaluate what kind of building will go on the site.
“It can be done, and it probably should be done,” Emil said.
“[The site is] an asset that we hold in the public trust for the community,” board chairman Avi Schick said, “and I think we want to make sure that we engage with the community as we figure out what the best and highest use for that asset is.”
Nevertheless, Lieber, who will leave city government later this summer, called soliciting offers for residential construction a “useless exercise.” He said he believed demand for commercial space at the World Trade Center site would someday exceed the capacity of the three office towers—including the Port Authority’s 1,776-foot-tall tower at One World Trade Center—currently planned for the area.
“I think we’re way too early to think about changing the use,” Lieber said. “The more we mess around with this and create uncertainty around it, the more complicated it’s going to be to get those tenants to come down to Lower Manhattan and occupy that space.
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NEW YORK is Back!
“Office buildings are our factories – whether for tech, creative or traditional industries we must continue to grow our modern factories to create new jobs,” said United States Senator Chuck Schumer.
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