After years of delays, construction of the new 7 story, 32 unit condominium building at 340 Court Street between Union and Sackett Street is progressing quickly now. Just in the last few days, the steel frame has begun to rise quickly.
The property has recently been acquired by Alchemy Properties, a development , marketing and consulting firm which took over the project when The Clarret Group pulled out.
Renderings of the new building have not yet been published or presented to the community, but Kenneth Horn, president and founder of Alchemy, told a small group of area residents at a meeting in June that the firm is moving ahead with the original Rogers Marvel design, which was widely criticized as unappealing and its façade too dark when it was presented to the community back in 2008.
Though Mr. Horn told the group that the envelope of the building will not change, he did agree that the façade needed to be improved. "The building will not be black" he stated. "It will be significantly lighter."
We shall see. Interestingly, I found this rendering of the building on Rogers Marvel's own web site. Could this be the revised, lighter façade of the building?
rendering courtesy of Rogers Marvel
One thing is for sure: the 7 story building will significantly alter the street scape of Court Street.
Just to clarify, it's going to be 7 stories, not 70 - right?
ReplyDeleteThanks for catching that. Yes, 7 stories, but 70 feet high (plus bulkheads.)
ReplyDeleteEven 7 stories plus bulkhead is going to be VERY high. Bummer,was really liking seeing the open sky there. I love that part of Court Street. BIG change coming.
ReplyDeleteit needs to be higher--court street can take the height. before y'all chop my head off, i feel that there's a need for senior housing & that would be the best place for it!
ReplyDeleteI keep hearing about this need for senior housing, and I am very unclear about what that means. It's a very generic term - are we talking assisted living, condos, greatly reduced rents? And what statistics are being used to support this need? But as far as this corner goes, is there senior housing planned. and what kind?
ReplyDeletei guess there's a need if you keep hearing about it, r.s.!
ReplyDeletedrats, i was really hoping they would make this into a pool
ReplyDeletealso: what an ugly building!
I like the lighter design a lot. Looks like a sandstone of some kind. If so & real stone it would look very good. Regarding height & density, as a resident in the neighborhood I could be selfish and want it small to reduce the burden on facilities but instead I consider that I am very fortunate to live so close to so much including shopping and decent subway stops. I think that this infrastructure should be shared lots more people to reduce the burden on the environment of pushing people to live out further from the city. Big buildings if they are built with quality materials & design don't detract from the fabric of the area in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteI love how the original Marvel presentation of the project makes the building look barely taller than its surroundings. That angle they used, looking upwards, is very clever. I've seen that angle in other presentations to make projects appear tp blend in with the context of the neighborhood better.
ReplyDeletevince, just because you keep hearing a need for senior housing does not tell me anything. Who is the source, and what is the agenda, is what I am wondering.
ReplyDeleteby the time you need senior housing, r.s., i'm sure you'll be back in pennsyltucky! don't mean to be snarky, BUT, seniors ARE being pushed out of gentrified neighborhoods & there needs to be housing for these folks that have made this neighborhood what it is...desirable!
ReplyDeleteCalling it 7 stories is right and wrong. The 7th story are actually a couple of small bulkheads that are set pretty far back from the street line and thus probably won't be noticed much if at all... so that leaves really a 6 story building, but the upper 2 floors here are also set back and look to be made of glass, which because of the setback and reflections of the sky should limit their impact on the scale of the neighborhood. The true quality of the design is the solid 2nd to 4th floors with punched windows which reflects, albeit in a modern way, a traditional facade. One can easily look at the rendering, both the street level and the aerial and count the floors for themselves. This project will have a positive impact imo and will set a good precedent on how to handle the transitions of old scale versus modern scales.
ReplyDeleteVince, I am sorry to be so skeptical about senior housing. I see the mention of need for it as a trojan horse, like affordable housing. Past history is that developers use these terms in order to get their big-scale projects passed. Because in order to create affordable, or senior housing, the project has to be much much bigger so that the developers can make their investment back.I overheard a local pro-big projects person (will not mention his name) say that we needed to develop Public Place site for senior housing. Well, here we are on the eve of a hurricane, and that is the WORST place to put such a vulnerable population - not even mentioning the toxic history. (And I have never been to pensyltucky by the way, to return to.)
ReplyDeleteHello All,
ReplyDeleteIs it just me, but does it seem that after that 'growth spurt' in August things have kinda stopped?
R.S. & Vince: It's always nice if developers would think of supplimental apartments/condo units for older people. But this is on a case by case basis & very personal.
We live in a 5 story Sand-Stone and the Landlord charges the elderly tenants under 300 for their 2 bedroom units but for the studio & 1 bedroom they charge F.M.V. of over $2,000. If the owner has a paid-up mortage and can afford to be nice - that's great.
Developers will NOT do this nor can they be expected to. However, in this case, since this site did NOT displace any former residents (young or old) it shouldn't matter and the developers should get whatever the market can bare.
Vince: Overall, when people BUY in C.G. they tend to stay. It's the renters who move in from "Pennsyl-Tucky" and "Vermon-Tana" that will run from C.G. as soon as they can find a "Flat" in Greenwhich Village.
We should welcome ALL new-comers to the neighborhood - but ESPECIALLY those who BUY here. Keep in mind, 90% or more of the shop keepers do NOT live here - so lets be nice to those neighbors who do.