- Rendering of the proposed 23,000- square-foot residential building at 414 Washington Street in Tribeca. Image courtesy of Joseph Pell Lombardi and Associates.
Construction will require demolition of two Tribeca buildings. In August, Landmarks issued a permit for construction of a new building within the North Tribeca Historic District. The eight-story red brick and limestone residential building will be constructed at 50-52 Laight Street and will require the demolition of two buildings: a 1919-built, one-story freight building at 50 Laight Street and a 1940s-built, one-story red brick garage at 52 Laight Street. Landmarks allowed the demolition of both existing buildings, calling them insignificant and noting that neither contributed to the Tribeca North Historic District. The approved design would be seven stories along the street wall and includes a loggia, an open-sided arcade along the building’s roofline. Landmarks liked the scale of the building, but noted that the loggia was atypical for the district.
Landmarks also issued a permit for an eight-story, 23,000- square-foot residential building proposed by Atlantic Walk LLC to replace the existing parking lot at 414 Washington Street on the corner of Laight Street. Designed by Joseph Pell Lombardi, the new building will have patterned red brickwork on its Laight and Washington Street facades, recessed bays on its second through fifth floors, arch window openings, and will be set back from the street at its sixth story. In its approval, Landmarks emphasized the importance of the corner lot, noting that the new building would provide a needed termination to the block and strengthen the streetscape.
- One-story building and garage at 50-52 Laight Street to be demolished in Tribeca. Photo:Morgan Kunz.
LPC: 50 Laight Street (COFA# 06-8978) (August 21, 2006) (Suellen DeFrancis Architecture, Metropolis Group, Inc., for applicant); LPC: 414 Washington Street (COFA# 07-0958) (August 3, 2006) (Juan Reyes, Davidoff Malito & Hutcher, Joseph Pell Lombardi & Assoc. Architects, for Atlantic Walk). CITYADMIN
CITYLAND Comment: The owner of 414 Washington Street, Atlantic Walk LLC, testified at the City Council’s hearing on the four-block rezoning application in North Tribeca (see full story on front cover), which impacted its lot. Atlantic Walk stressed that if the City Council further reduced the permitted floor area or street wall height, its Landmarks-approved design would no longer be economically viable. They emphasized that they designed the building under the current zoning and requested that the FAR be maintained at 6.02, raising the high cost of the custom made brick and other materials approved in 414 Washington Street’s design. Under the Council’s modified approval, 414 Washington Street will have a 5.5 FAR. The attorney for Atlantic Walk informed CityLand that the interior of the building will be redesigned to adjust to the floor area ratio change.