Send an email and help Save Gansevoort Market! A developer is proposing to build two massive buildings on historic Gansevoort Street in the landmarked Meatpacking District. This project threatens Gansevoort’s unique character, its historic streetscape, low buildings and market-style architecture. Sign our petition and it will send an email directly to the Landmarks Preservation Commission (and please sign this even if you have already signed our old petition)!
[The next LPC meeting on the massive Gansevoort development will be Tuesday, June 7th, 9:30 AM at 1 Centre Street. Please come and show LPC you oppose this project!]
Dear Chair Srinivasan –
The revised plans submitted by Aurora Capital for 46-74 Gansevoort Street fail to meet the conditions that you and the other commissioners set forth during the February 9th public meeting. The Landmarks Preservation Commission should require the applicant to submit a proposal that is consistent with your explicit comments on February 9th.
I strongly urge you to require that the height of the proposed buildings at 74 Gansevoort Street and 60-68 Gansevoort Street be further reduced, per your own instructions.
Regarding 74 Gansevoort Street:
• The developer has ignored the commissioners’ directive that in addition to removing the penthouse, the height of this building should be significantly lowered. The revised building (exclusive of the penthouse) is a mere 2 feet lower than the previous proposal.
• Furthermore, the commissioners were explicit that the height of this building should be evaluated in the context of the LOFT buildings in the district. However, the developer attempts to justify its size by referring to various large WAREHOUSE buildings in the district, which are in general considerably taller than the loft buildings specified by the commissioners.
The existing loft buildings in the district average about 55 feet in height. By contrast, the developer’s revised building is 82 feet tall (97 feet tall when the large array of mechanicals is included). The proposed building at 74 Gansevoort Street should be lowered to about 55 feet in height so as to be comparable with the average loft building.
• Additionally, it should be noted that 7 individual records from the Department of Buildings show that the pre-existing tenements at this site were between 50 and 55 feet tall; the developer’s proposed building is thus nearly double the size of the previously existing structures.
Regarding 60-68 Gansevoort Street:
• The commissioners were clear that the new building at this site should be no higher than the previously existing tenements. 20 individual DOB records show that the tenements at this location were between 50 and 55 feet tall. However, the developer is now proposing a structure that would be 62 feet tall (70 feet including mechanicals). The proposed new building at 60-68 Gansevoort should be lowered to a height of no more than 50-55 feet.
I am disappointed that LPC has arbitrarily reached back to an earlier stage in the district’s history to justify replacing existing low-rise market buildings with massive new construction. Nonetheless, if the rationale is to return Gansevoort Street to its earlier tenement configuration, then the new buildings at 60-68 and 74 Gansevoort must conform to the size of their predecessors.
Sincerely,
Developer’s revised plan
Gansevoort Street as it currently exists – the last remaining intact block of one- and two-story market buildings in the Historic District
[efb_likebox fanpage_url=”savegansevoort” fb_appid=”OPTIONAL_SEE_FAQ” box_width=”400″ box_height=HEIGHT_OF_BOX_IN_PIXELS”” responsive=”1″ show_faces=”SHOW_CONNECTIONS(1/0)” show_stream=”SHOW_STREAM_POSTS(1/0)” hide_cover=”1″ small_header=”1″ hide_cta=”OPTONAL_HIDE_CUSTOM_CTA_BUTTON(1/0)” locale=”NAME_OF_YOUR_LANGUAGE_LOCAE(default en_US)”]
Let us stop destroying the best of NYC!!!!
There is no justification for the size and height of these commercial buildings. They go against the ambience and the purpose of the neighborhood.
Why won’t you accept my email address? This is MY NEIGHBORHOOD and I want to sign!
Hello – we’re sorry that you are having problems with our email page! This is the only report that we have had of any problems (other than duplicate signatures being rejected). I have gone ahead and entered your name and email address into our email form, and sent a message on your behalf. To have even more impact, please send a brief personal email opposing the project to, and come to the LPC meeting this Tuesday, 9:30AM, 1 Centre Street (at Chambers St.): http://www.savegansevoort.org/2016/06/05/next-lpc-meeting/
what about bourdain’s outdoor market?
It’s beyond time that the senseless destruction of the City’s history, in the name of enriching the few, be stopped. For shame! What, despite his misleading comments about new “efficient” buildings, did Bloomberg’s insanely sanctioned building spree do to the carbon footprint of this city? When will this end? When every possible square foot has been plowed under and replaced with the antiseptic mediocrity (or, in some cases, atrocity) of virtually all new construction? When shadows cover every point on the ground for extensive periods during the day? When the inhabitants of these new dwellings finally realize that they have destroyed what made the City unique, what brought them to it in the first place?
Please reject this proposal. The character and historic value of the neighborhood is already compromised. This would destroy it. As a 40 year resident, I have seen the neighborhood become ravaged. Please do not destroy this beautiful neighborhood with these ridiculously large buildings that have absolutely no historic character.
The Mayor, the City Council, and the entirely useless Landmarks Commission are all clearly in the pocket of the real estate mafia. This is a DISGUSTING and UNNECESSARY plan that will ruin the HISTORIC Meatpacking District for all time. It’s a despicable plan and there is no justification for it. Maybe the comptroller or some other forensic accountant should have a look at the bank accounts of the people who are voting to approve this monstrosity.