Month: December 2018

Leader of the PAC

The much-anticipated Perelman Performing Arts Center (PAC) at the World Trade Center has passed several new milestones on the road from vision to completion in recent days. Last week, the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation (LMDC) allocated an additional $89 million to cover construction costs for the project. At the December 13 meeting of the LMDC’s...
The Perelman Performing Arts Center (shown here in an architect's rendering) was recently given an $89-million grant by the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation. Now under construction at the World Trade Center site, the project is expected to open in 2021.

Today in History December 19

1606 – The ships Susan Constant, Godspeed, and Discovery depart England carrying settlers who founded, at Jamestown, Virginia, the first of the thirteen colonies that became the United States. 1776 – Thomas Paine publishes one of a series of pamphlets in The Pennsylvania Journal entitled “The American Crisis”. 1777 – George Washington’s Continental Army goes...
Washington and Lafayette at Valley Forge

Lower Manhattan Suffers from Deficit of Saks Appeal

Two years after opening amid much fanfare, Saks Fifth Avenue is pulling the plug on its three-level, 86,000-square-foot women’s store in Brookfield Place. The space, at 225 Liberty Street, was extensively remodeled in 2015 and 2016 to accommodate Saks, which was billed as the anchor retail tenant that would lead the transformation of the shopping...
The 225 Liberty Street lobby after being privatized for Saks, which recently announced that it will close in January

Today in History December 18

1271 – Kublai Khan renames his empire “Yuan”, officially marking the start of the Yuan dynasty of Mongolia and China. 1499 – Rebellion triggers in Alpujarras in response to the forced conversions of Muslims in Spain. 1655 – The Whitehall Conference ends with the determination that there was no law preventing Jews from re-entering England...
Kublai Khan on a hunting expedition

Lower Manhattan Activists Aim to Bury the Tombs Plan

Although the administration of Mayor Bill de Blasio has backed away from its controversial proposal to build a new, 40-story jail on top of a historic government office building at 80 Centre Street, it still aims to bring more prison capacity to Lower Manhattan. The revised iteration of this plan is to expand the Manhattan...
The Manhattan Detention Complex (colloquially known as "the Tombs") located at White and Centre Streets, may become the site for a new jail, more than 50 stories tall, with triple the interior space of the current facility.

Today in History December 17

546 – Siege of Rome: The Ostrogoths under king Totila plunder the city, by bribing the Byzantine garrison. 1538 – Pope Paul III excommunicates Henry VIII of England. 1777 – France formally recognizes the United States. 1790 – The Aztec calendar stone is discovered at El Zócalo, Mexico City. 1812 – War of 1812: U.S....
La Muerte del Libertador