<\/p>\n
Free Upper West Side News, Delivered To Your Inbox<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s really bizarre that, after years without any such proposals, we\u2019ve had two landmark demolition applications in one week \u2014 and they are very different,\u201d said Klari Neuwelt at the Community Board 7<\/a> Preservation Committee meeting on Thursday, November 13.<\/p>\n One application, submitted by Extell Development<\/a>, seeks to de-landmark 30 West 67th Street, part of the former ABC campus, for a nine-story building designed for affordable units. The other, voted on last week by the full CB7 board, involved West-Park Presbyterian Church<\/a>, which had filed its second hardship application in recent years. Unlike the church case, the Extell proposal is not a hardship application. The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission will have the final say, with a hearing slated for December 9. <\/p>\n Extell came buttoned up, as they always do, with a polished presentation about their plans for the landmarked confines of 30 West 67th Street \u2014 the building with floor-to-ceiling windows constructed in 1979 and designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox specifically for ABC\u2019s needs. But before the presentation could get underway, the Preservation Committee, which also came prepared, asked Ward Dennis<\/a> \u2014 the presenter and a principal at Higgins Quasebarth & Partners \u2014 to clarify whom he was representing as he began walking through the deck.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a project by Extell,\u201d Dennis replied, before getting a little cheeky and making clear he wasn\u2019t trying to hide that his client is the same Extell planning a 1,200-foot tower<\/a> just steps away on Columbus Avenue \u2014 roughly the size of the Empire State Building without its spire. \u201cIf you would, maybe on the next slide or two we\u2019ll get to it, thank you.\u201d Extell wasn\u2019t listed on the agenda either.<\/p>\n There it was on the fourth page of the deck \u2014 and Extell appears seven more times in the 86-page document. This moment, just two minutes into the hearing, set the tone for the hour-and-a-half session that followed: the big-city developer and the local community board, back at the table again.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen Landmarks designated the district, they did not include this southern building. So they really bifurcated the building itself \u2014 half the building was put in the district, half out of the district,\u201d said Dennis, who included several New York Times stories: the 1979 piece \u2018ABC\u2019s New Buildings: A Lesson in Placating Fearful Neighbors<\/a>,\u2019 and the 1993 article \u2018Making a Street: Forget About Logos on the Skyline<\/a>,\u2019 both by Paul Goldberger, who won the Pulitzer Prize in 1984 for Distinguished Criticism in architecture.<\/p>\n \u201cNeither of the two new ABC structures is a masterpiece, but that is not the point. They are both intelligently designed, discreet buildings, created as background structures more than foreground ones,\u201d wrote Goldberger in 1979, in the early days of the building, while crediting the architects for coming \u201crespectably close\u201d to keeping West 67th Street the way it was \u2014 not an easy task considering ABC\u2019s needs at the time. \u201cHow could it be, given the massive amount of space added to the block?\u201d Goldberger wrote.<\/p>\n ALSO READ: Vanishing Vendors: Scaffolding, Super Towers, and the Fight to Stay Seen<\/a><\/p>\n The Pulitzer winner also noted West 67th Street\u2019s changing community demographics: the studio buildings once constituted something of an artists\u2019 colony, but a shifting apartment market was turning it into a place for upper-middle-class lawyers and other professionals \u2014 yet the sense of it being a special enclave still remained.<\/p>\n Dan Lobitz of Robert A.M. Stern Architects LLP presented the plan for 30 West 67th Street. Their vision is a nine-story building with 90 studio apartments, plus a one-bedroom unit for the building\u2019s live-in super, with 13 units per floor. Taking into account the neighboring buildings on the block \u2014 Gothic Revival, Renaissance Revival, brownstone with detailed stucco work, warm orange Roman brick, and lighter granite \u2014 they said they wanted their design to harmonize with the existing streetscape.<\/p>\n Rendering c\/o Robert A.M. Stern Architects<\/p>\n Rendering c\/o Robert A.M. Stern Architects<\/p>\n Lobitz described the design\u2019s street-level detailing, noting the deeply set openings meant to create sculptural framing around the doors and windows. These recesses, he said, would also allow for planters to introduce greenery \u2014 an idea used on other buildings on the block, and one they believe \u201cconnects back to the street trees and back to Central Park as well.\u201d<\/p>\n He pointed to the custom metalwork and lanterns, and the small decorative metal railings that suggest balcony forms \u2014 not actual balconies, but a familiar New York detail, shaped here with a gentle curve to echo elements found elsewhere on West 67th Street. A cross-section of the entrance showed how deeply set the stone frame would be, along with a fabric canopy \u2014 \u201csuch a New York feature that we love and want to do here as well,\u201d Lobitz said. Rendering c\/o Robert A.M. Stern Architects<\/p>\n Rendering c\/o Robert A.M. Stern Architects<\/p>\n On the opposite side, balancing another entrance for ancillary uses, the design features similar detailing, but with a metal marquee to differentiate it from the main entrance. The residential door itself, shown in the plan, has sculptural stone framing at the base and detailed elements above, complemented by photorealistic renderings of dark bronze, custom-made door pulls. The second-floor railings reflect the same attention to detail, and Lobitz noted plans for a custom lantern similar to the main entrance. Cross-section plans highlight the deep openings with planters, showing how alternating stone and brick create structural depth. Elevation details illustrate how these elements interact along the fa\u00e7ade, which also includes subtle setbacks. At the rooftop, the amenity space features green metalwork with decorative elements that both conceal mechanical equipment and create the feel of a small rooftop village.<\/p>\n Rendering c\/o Robert A.M. Stern Architects<\/p>\n Rendering c\/o Robert A.M. Stern Architects<\/p>\n \u201cThat is a magnificent plan. Every detail \u2014 the contextual piece, the architecture, the finer points \u2014 is just extraordinary. I would hire you,\u201d said CB7 member Sheldon Fine. \u201cBut this is a residence for whom? And what relationship \u2014 and this involves Extell \u2014 to the affordability of the project in general? Is this an affordable residence? If it\u2019s affordable, build it up. If it\u2019s not, it\u2019s just a beautiful addition to the neighborhood.\u201d<\/p>\n Extell and A.M. Stern Architects said they designed the building for \u201caffordable units,\u201d but declined to get into detail or conversation about units being classified as affordable housing, saying that the focus was on determining whether the building contributes to the character of the historic district. One board member questioned, \u201csaying it\u2019s designed to be affordable; what does that mean?\u201d asking if it was ever contemplated to have a certain percentage of affordable housing, and to what income levels did they see the units selling to. \u201cWe\u2019re not ready yet today to discuss affordable and what pop[ulation] and you know, what type of units, that\u2019s really not for here, we\u2019re ready to discuss LPC application,\u201d said Lobitz. \u201cI don\u2019t really want to go beyond that for this meeting. I think we\u2019ve been in touch with a lot of people here, but this is really focused on the LPC portion.\u201d <\/p>\n ALSO READ: Goddard Riverside Unveils New Supportive Housing Residence on West 107th Street<\/a><\/p>\n Preservation board member Jay Adolf led the conversation, suggesting that the Landmarks Committee focus on the building\u2019s aesthetics, while the Housing and Land Use Committee work with Extell and Robert A.M. Stern Architects to discuss affordable housing options. The same approach applied to questions about the building\u2019s residential courtyards and plans for the cellar and sub-cellar. In response, Lobitz said, \u201cI understand, but we\u2019re not doing wine cellars here. We\u2019re not having tenant storage rooms. We\u2019re not having screening rooms, not having party rooms. There\u2019s not going to be a children\u2019s room.\u201d<\/p>\n When it was time for public input, Megan Fitzpatrick, director of Research and Preservation from Landmark West, a historic preservation and land-use nonprofit, shared the following statement:<\/p>\n \u201cThe proposed new design for 30 West 67th Street is architecturally beautiful \u2014 there\u2019s no question about that. However, in pursuing it, we would lose one of the last remaining vestiges of the ABC campus, the only purpose-built, protected remnant of the broadcaster\u2019s seven decades in the neighborhood, and thus a piece of our neighborhood\u2019s layered history.<\/p>\n \u201cThe existing building, although a non-contributing feature of the historic district, is not an eyesore or an afterthought; it is an integrated part of the streetscape, designed to pay homage to the many significant apartment buildings and studios that surround it. Its setbacks and scale complement the surrounding landmarks, allowing their architectural details to stand out rather than compete.<\/p>\n \u201cAdditionally, we should ask ourselves what the City truly wants to prioritize. The current structure is well suited for adaptive reuse, particularly for housing, and demolishing it would run counter to the City\u2019s own \u201cCity of Yes\u201d proposals, which specifically promote the reuse of existing office buildings and the goal of a carbon-neutral future.<\/p>\n \u201cPreservation and progress do not have to be in opposition. Here, they can and should work hand in hand. There is ample footprint in the 2.6-acre site to redevelop otherwise, as-of-right.\u201d<\/p>\n City Council Member Gale Brewer<\/a> also joined via Zoom, adding:<\/p>\n \u201cI would say that we have to get the beautiful building, and talking to some of the residents \u2014 not everybody \u2014 people on the block are willing to go to 13 stories along North Holland. We have to get to 30 percent or more of the entire 2.4 acres as affordable housing. How we get there, I\u2019m not sure, but it has to include, in my opinion, senior housing and definitely family housing. Our schools need families, and the schools around the city need families. The administration of all stripes and sizes is interested in family housing. So how we get there, I don\u2019t know. I think it\u2019s fine to have a discussion, but we need that kind of percentage \u2014 30 to 40 percent of the 2.4 acres \u2014 which obviously translates to spread. However we get there, I don\u2019t know, but we are going to get there.\u201d<\/p>\n Both the Preservation Committee and the Housing Committee voted in favor of the building\u2019s application as appropriate for the Historic District. The resolution notes, \u201cLarge portions of the Upper West Side have fewer apartments than they did 10 years ago due to dwelling unit consolidation, a challenge particularly acute in the Historic District.\u201d It also states, \u201cNew York City is in a housing crisis driven in part by a lack of housing, and CB7 consistently ranks affordable housing as its top district need.\u201d The resolution recommends that the applicant, Extell, return to CB7 and the LPC with a larger building that would use more of the lot\u2019s eligible floor area to provide additional affordable housing on the Upper West Side, particularly within the UWS\/Central Park Historic District. <\/p>\n The Housing and Land Use Committee meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, November 19, at 6:30 pm. Register here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n