The BroadsheetDAILY ~ News of Lower Manhattan ~ 11/22/19

A Convenient Connection to the Airport Visible from Lower Manhattan Rooftops May Be Less Than Ten Years Away

Seen from Newark Airport, the spires of Lower Manhattan appear almost close enough to touch. But antiquated transportation infrastructure makes the trip to the skyscrapers on the horizon, in some cases, longer than the flights from which travelers arriving at the airport have just disembarked.

The Regional Plan Association (RPA) recently partnered with the Downtown-Lower Manhattan Association (DLMA) to build support for a proposed rail connection between Lower Manhattan and Newark Airport. A report the two organizations produced together, “Taking the PATH to Newark Airport,” summarizes the potential and the prospects for such a link, which local leaders have long pushed for.

The RPA (an independent, not-for-profit civic group that develops ideas to improve the economy, environment, and quality of life in the New York metropolitan area) and the DLMA (parent organization of the Downtown Alliance, which counts as part of its mission the improvement of transit, traffic and transportation facilities serving Lower Manhattan) hope to galvanize enthusiasm for the $1.7-billion proposal to extend tracks on the Port Authority Trans Hudson (PATH) rail transit system, from Newark’s Penn Station to an existing train stop on the outskirts of the eleventh-busiest airport in the United States.

That facility, known as Newark Airport Station, is currently served by Amtrak and New Jersey Transit, but not the PATH system. Establishing such a link would allow passengers originating in Lower Manhattan to transfer quickly and easily across a platform to the AirTrain Newark monorail system, which plies a three-mile loop within the airport, stopping at all major terminals.

The Port Authority, which operates Newark Airport, the PATH rapid transit system, and the World Trade Center, has begun design work on a new rail link that will connect the World Trade Center to the airport.

This connection would allow riders to travel between the World Trade Center’s PATH terminal and Newark Airport in 36 minutes, at a cost of less than $10 — a trip that currently can more than an hour (depending on traffic) and cost more than $50 in taxi fares.

Such a development would come on the heels of explosive growth in both PATH ridership at the World Trade Center and passenger traffic at Newark Airport. In the five years between 2013 and 2018, the number of daily PATH passengers at the World Trade Center swelled from 34,700 to 50,800 — and jump of 46.2 percent. (During the same period, ridership on the PATH system overall grew by only 15 percent.) At the same time, the tally of air passengers arriving at or departing from Newark Airport has expanded by 31 percent — a rate of growth far surpassing equivalent figures for both Kennedy and LaGuardia Airports.

	Jessica Lappin, president of the Downtown-Lower Manhattan Association

Calls for connecting the PATH system to Newark Airport date back to the late 1970s, but remained dormant until the early 2000s, when the Port Authority (which oversees the World Trade Center, the PATH system, and Newark Airport) resurrected the idea, estimating in 2004 that it would cost approximately $500 million. In 2012, the agency allocated money for a feasibility study, and two years later included the proposal in its ten-year capital plan, earmarking $1.5 billion for construction. At the time, building work was slated to begin in 2018, and be completed by 2023. In 2016, however, the plan was put on hold. It was revived again, however, the following year, with a revised cost estimate of $1.7 billion. The new projected date of completion for the plan is 2026.

DLMA president Jessica Lappin said, “obviously, residents, the work force and tourists to Lower Manhattan would all benefit from better access to Newark International airport. Our global world demands global connectivity. It’s important to note that this regional project would also have a great positive economic impact on Newark. A project like this will support continued employment and residential growth along existing PATH lines and bring more opportunities to the new communities served by the extension.”

For more information, contact Scott Baker at ssbaker305@yahoo.com

Decades of Savings Needed to Purchase on Lavish Lanes

A trio of new analyses points to the self-evident conclusion that Lower Manhattan is a mind-numbingly expensive place to reside. The first of these comes from PropertyClub.com, an online real estate marketplace that eliminates middle-men for landlords, brokers and managers. This report tallied to most expensive streets in New York City, by tabulating residential sales on each thoroughfare.

Tribeca’s Murray Street was calculated to be the third-most expensive anywhere in the five boroughs, with a median sales price of $5.4 million, and a volume of sales in excess of $364 million. Park Place, West Street, and Chambers Street took places five, six, and seven, respectively, while Leonard and Warren Streets also appeared in the top 20.

Community-Focused Cultural Center Faces Uncertain Future, as Tourism Magnet Thrives

	The 9/11 Tribute Museum, at 88 Greenwich Street, which is endangered by skyrocketing property values in Lower Manhattan.

The 9/11 Tribute Museum, a highly regarded local cultural institution, is grappling with a precarious outlook, according to a story first published in Crain’s New York Business, which says that the space housing the facility, located at Greenwich and Rector Streets, may be sold out from under the organization by its landlord.

Battery Park City Resident Charged with Latest in String of Alleged Sex Crimes

Battery Park City resident and music industry executive Adam Lublin, a resident of the Tribeca Pointe building at 41 River Terrace is facing further charges of sexual misconduct, in addition to the counts filed against him by the Manhattan District Attorney’s office related to three other alleged incidents.

In a story first reported by the New York Post, Mr. Lublin was arraigned again on Monday, when he was charged in relation to a September 10 incident, inside his apartment, in which he allegedly took videos and photos of himself molesting a woman who was sleeping there. Investigators found these videos archived in an online account registered to Mr. Lublin.  To read more…

Council Member and Borough President Push for Transparency in Development

A proposed law now under consideration by the City Council would compel disclosure of air rights transfers that make possible “super-tall” towers, such as the one planned for 80 South Street, which would have a roof height greater than that of One World Trade Center.

Community Board 1 has endorsed a proposed new law — sponsored by a City Council member representing the Upper East Side and supported by Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer — that would require City government to notify local officials whenever development rights are transferred between building lots. Such transfers are often used by developers to maximize the zoning potential for the site of a planned skyscraper.

Seaport Structure Reborn as Flood-Proof Food Emporia as Owner Celebrates with Support for Local Charity

The Tin Building as it will appear in 2021, when renovations are complete and a new food hall and market, helmed by renowned chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten, is slated to open.

The South Street Seaport’s historic Tin Building reached a milestone on Wednesday, when the last and highest structural beam was placed (after being ceremonially signed by dozens of well-wishers) within a reconstructed edifice, following an unprecedented, years-long effort to preserve it.

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Nadler Sponsors Legislation to Make Lower Manhattan Heliopolis No More

Support is building among decision-makers to heed a decade long call by Lower Manhattan community leaders to enact a comprehensive ban on non-essential helicopter flights in New York’s airspace.

On October 26, Congressman Jerry Nadler was joined on the steps of City Hall by fellow federal legislators Nydia Velazquez and Carolyn Maloney, as well as Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer and State Senator Brian Kavanagh, along with a coalition of activists and community leaders, to announce a new proposed law — the Improving Helicopter Safety Act of 2019. To read more…

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Many ships pass Lower Manhattan on their way to and from the Midtown Passenger Ship Terminal.  Others may be seen on their way to or from piers in Brooklyn and Bayonne.  Stated times, when appropriate, are for passing the Colgate clock in Jersey City, New Jersey, and are based on sighting histories, published schedules and intuition. They are also subject to tides, fog, winds, freak waves, hurricanes and the whims of upper management.

Governors Island Caps a Banner Season; Faces Momentous Decisions in 2020

Governors Island has recently concluded a record-breaking season, and faces a year of both expanded amenities and milestone decisions in 2020, according to a recent discussion at Community Board 1.

At the September 17 meeting of the Board’s Waterfront, Parks, & Cultural Committee, Clare Newman, the president and chief executive officer of the Trust of Governors Island, began by noting that, “as everyone knows, we are now open six months of the year, which means you can experience spring summer and fall on Governors Island.”

FiDi Renters Seek Recompense for Years of Rent Overcharges

A map, compiled by New York University’s Furman Center (which advances research and debate on housing, neighborhoods, and urban policy) illustrating the dozens of Lower Manhattan buildings — erstwhile office towers, converted to residential use — that have benefited from the 421-g program.

In the wake of a June ruling by New York State’s highest court that tenants in Financial District rental buildings had been illegally deprived of rent stabilization benefits, a pair of apartment dwellers is litigating to recoup the money they lost by paying inflated, market-rate rents for years.

In October, Bruce Hackney and Timothy Smith, tenants at Ten Hanover Square, filed suit against their landlord, alleging that the owner’s, “failure to follow rent regulations was part of a fraudulent scheme to deregulate apartments in the building.”

Schools Agency Begins Belated Outreach Effort to Former Lower Manhattan Students at Risk of 9/11 Illness

The City’s Department of Education is partnering with the United Federation of Teachers union for an unusual mission: tracking down former New York City public school students who were pupils at Lower Manhattan schools on September 11, 2001 (or in the months that followed) and informing them that their health may be at risk. The project will also seek to put these students in touch with the World Trade Center Health Program and the September 11th Victims Compensation Fund.

In September, the DOE began mailing out the first of more than 19,000 letters to the last known addresses of students who attended schools such as P.S. 89, I.S. 289, P.S. 234, P.S. 150, and Stuyvesant High School, along with dozens of other elementary, middle, and high schools below Houston Street.

Downtown Alliance and BPCA Expand Free Wireless Coverage by 1.5 Million Square Feet

The Battery Park City Authority  and Downtown Alliance have teamed up to bring improved or new free WiFi service to an additional 1.5-million square feet of outdoor space in Rockefeller, Teardrop, and Wagner Parks along the Hudson River in Battery Park City.

The next phase of the project, slated for 2020, will aim to cover large swaths of the Battery Park City’s Esplanade. For more information about free WiFi coverage in Lower Manhattan, please browse: www.downtownny.com/wifi

Chin Pushes Legislation to Rein in Production Permits

	A late-night film shoot on  Tribeca’s Staple Street

City Council member Margaret Chin is co-sponsoring a package of bills to clamp down on rampant film and television production in Lower Manhattan.

Although the new laws, if enacted, will have City-wide effect, their impact would be especially significant in the square mile below Chambers Street, where dozens of movies and TV shows commandeer local streets (sometimes for days at a time) each year.

Lawsuit Over Similarity Between One World Trade and Architecture Student’s Design Moves Ahead

	Jeehoon Park’s 1999 design for a skyscraper with eight sides that taper between a square base and a square roof.

One thing is reasonably certain: In 1999, Jeehoon Park, then a student at the Illinois Institute of Technology’s College of Architecture, created a design for a very tall building with a large square base tapering to a smaller square top. In Mr. Park’s vision, the square formed by the roof was rotated 45 degrees relative to the one at the ground level, so that the center-points on each side of the quadrilateral below corresponded to the corners of the one above, and vice versa. And instead of four vertical walls, the structure’s facade consisted of eight elongated triangles.

That structure was never built. Or was it?

Amid a Booming Economy, Lower Manhattan Retail Space Languishes

Vacant storefronts dot the landscape of Downtown

A new report from City Comptroller Scott Stringer finds that in one Lower Manhattan zip code — 10013, which covers parts of western Tribeca SoHo, and the Canal Street corridor in Chinatown — there are 319 empty retail spaces, comprising almost 300,000 square feet of unused property. To read more…

Composting Catches on in Battery Park City

	Jake Jacevicius and Joshua DeVoto of BPCA parks operations dump out a binful of fruit and vegetable scraps where the neighborhood’s composting process takes place.

You’re probably heard of the farm-to-table movement. Thanks to the Battery Park City Authority’s compost initiative, there’s a burgeoning table-to-earth movement in this Lower Manhattan community.

	In an instant, both wagon and horse were vaporized, and the closest automobile was tossed twenty feet in the air. Incredibly, the iconic bronze of George Washington surveys the devastation from the steps of the Sub-Treasury without so much as a scratch.

As the noon hour approached on a fall Thursday morning in 1920, a horse-drawn wagon slowly made its way west down Wall Street toward “the Corner,” the high-powered intersection of Wall and Broad. Its driver came to a gentle stop in front of the Assay Office, where stockpiles of gold and silver were stored and tested for purity. But theft was not his motive.