The BroadsheetDAILY May 10, 2019

Concert Venue Big Enough to Host 3,000 People Planned for Financial District

The Trinity Place facade of the landmarked American Stock Exchange building.

Plans are under way to develop an 80,000-square-foot concert and performance venue on the former trading floor of the American Stock Exchange building, in the Financial District.

Representatives of Live Nation Entertainment, a firm that owns or operates more than 200 venues throughout North America and Europe, including the outdoor concert space on the roof of Pier 17 in the South Street Seaport, came before Community Board 1 (CB1) on Wednesday evening to explain their plans.

In a story first reported by Crain’s, Live Nation Entertainment is partnering with another management company that already has a significant presence Downtown, Legends Hospitality, which currently manages One World Observatory, atop the World Trade Center. Legends is also currently developing a new food hall and music venue at 28 Liberty Street, which will surround “Sunken Garden” — a 60-foot-wide, circular enclosure created by sculptor Isamu Noguchi, that frames a bed of polished stones and a fountain, beneath the landmarked two-acre public deck at the base of the archetypal Modernist skyscraper once known as One Chase Manhattan Plaza.

A rendering of how the trading floor might appear if converted into a traditional department store – a prospect that seems less likely with the recent closure of the Saks Women’s Store at nearby Brookfield Place.

Together, Live Nation and Legends hope to create an entertainment destination within the 1921 landmarked structure that could host as many as 3,000 people, which has been vacant since 2008, when the American Stock Exchange merged with the New York Stock Exchange.

A view of the Greenwich Street facade of the American Stock Exchange with its cavernous trading floor converted into “experiential retail.”

This proposal is likely to prove controversial. A thematically similar (but much more modest) plan to bring a live performance venue and bar, combined with a luxury bowling alley and upscale pinball arcade, to nearby 23 Wall Street(another iconic, but disused, tabernacle of capitalism) aroused spirited opposition from the community, based on concerns about crowding and quality of life impacts. This scheme was later abandoned by Latitude 360, the firm that had hoped to redevelop 23 Wall Street.

An interior view of the “experiential retail” proposal from 2018, which also conveys some sense of what the trading floor would look like if converted into a concert venue, as is now being proposed

The plan for the American Stock Exchange (located at 123 Greenwich Street) is more ambitious by several orders of magnitude. Located across the street from Trinity Church and in the midst of what has evolved into a residential neighborhood over the last two decades, it would bring thousands of pedestrians to narrow local thoroughfares (some barely wide enough to accommodate a single lane of traffic) that were laid out in the 1700s, such Cedar, Thames, and Carlyle Streets. The siting of a concert venue there could also be expected also to draw many dozens of large trucks and buses to the site (carrying equipment for shows, and ferrying audience members), along with hundreds of for-hire vehicles.

And even some of these narrow streets may be only intermittently available. Thames Street, between Trinity Place and Greenwich Street, has been closed for years, to facilitate construction on a large hotel (on the north side of the street) and then a “super-tall” apartment tower (on the south side). Separately, another block of Thames Street, between Broadway and Trinity Place, is the subject of a proposal by a real estate developer to close the road permanently, and convert it into an outdoor shopping arcade.

With many local streets dead-ending at the World Trade Center complex or the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel, the resulting gridlock could affect not just neighborhood quality of life, but also public safety. Moreover, in recent years, concert venues have proved a tempting target of opportunity, both for terrorists (as was the case in Manchester, in 2018, and Paris, in 2015), and for mass shooters (as in Las Vegas, 2017, and Orlando, 2016).

A historical view of the structure’s legacy trading floor, which offers more than 100,000 square feet of space, uninterrupted by columns, with ceiling heights of more than 60 feet.

In the decade-plus that the American Stock Exchange building has been vacant, developers have floated numerous schemes to monetize its vast interior space. The former trading floor offers ceiling heights of up to 60 feet, and more than two acres of open space, uninterrupted by supporting columns. The most recent example of the push to exploit this potential was a 2018 plan to create a new “experiential retail” mall within the building. But this foundered as the retail sector struggled nationwide, while locally, millions of square feet of shopping space opened or entered the planning pipeline at Brookfield Place, the World Trade Center, the South Street Seaport, and 28 Liberty Street.

Live Entertainment and Legends came before CB1’s Licensing and Permits Committee on Wednesday evening, because a central element in their plan will be regulatory permission to serve alcoholic beverages at the planned venue. It appears likely, however, that licensing for wine, beer, and liquor will be just one among many concerns for community leaders.

Teach a Kid to Fish…

Battery Park City Parks will celebrate life in the Hudson Estuary with their annual Go Fish! festival, on Saturday, May 11, from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm, in Wagner Park.

Experienced anglers will guide participants through catch-and-release fishing, while also imparting lessons about life in the Hudson River.

The day also features an art project and a nature walk, plus the kindie rock and reggae tunes of Brooklyn-based Father Goose.

Admission is free, and open to all.

BPCA Awards Underwater Contract to Firm That Promises Peace and Quiet

A barge moored in South Cove, conducting pile remediation work on the underwater columns that support the Esplanade.

The Battery Park City Authority is continuing a decade-long project to shore up the underwater columns that support the Esplanade, but has found a way to do it without keeping residents up at night.

At the April 23 meeting of the BPCA’s board, Gwen Dawson, the Authority’s vice president of real property, explained, “the esplanade of Battery Park City rests on a relieving platform which is supported by 3100 total concrete piles. We initiated a program in 2007 to perform certain remediation steps on these piles, to wrap them in fiberglass, to make sure that their lives could be extended — we are told up to an additional 30 to 50 years.”

The Taste of Tribeca in 2006

Saturday (May 18) will mark the 25th anniversary of Taste of Tribeca, the street food fair that raises money for two beloved local public schools: P.S. 234 and P.S. 150.

Come to Duane Street (between Greenwich and Hudson Streets), from 11:30 am to 3:00 pm, for gastronomic wonders from 60 of Tribeca’s top chefs and restaurants — including seven that have been participating since 1994: Bouley, Bubby’s Tribeca, Duane Park Patisserie, Gigino Trattoria, The Odeon, Tribeca Grill, and Walker’s.

Tickets, priced at $45 in advance and $55 on the day of the event, get you six tastes and two pours on the Beer & Cider Tour, and are on sale now at www.tasteoftribeca.com.

On May 22, the Battery Park City Seniors group will host a memorial service for Arlene Kalfus, who died tragically on April 4, when she was struck by a bus on South End Avenue.

Ms. Kalfus, a long-time resident of Gateway Plaza, was a longtime contributor to Battery Park City Seniors, whose loss is acutely felt, both because of her many volunteer activities and her dry sense of humor.

The service will be held in the Battery Park City Authority’s community room, located within 200 Rector Place.

(Please use the entrance on the west side of the building, facing West Thames Park.)

Anyone planning to attend is asked to R.S.V.P. to Philomena Pinto at JPinto8925@aol.com.

Amazon Opens High-Tech Retail Outlet in Brookfield Place, But Will Accept Low-Tech Form of Payment

	Retail, Reimagined: The Amazon Go store in Brookfield Place

New York politicians still smarting over Amazon’s decision to cancel plans for a corporate headquarters in Long Island City can console themselves that the online retail giant has at least opened a 1,300-square-foot bricks-and-mortar store in Lower Manhattan.

On Tuesday, Amazon debuted the first East Coast location of its Go chain, on the upper level of Battery Park City’s Brookfield Place. The experimental retail brand amounts to a revolutionary reimagining of the traditional storefront, by eliminating cash, cashiers, and even automated checkout kiosks.

Lower Manhattan Experiences Chain Reaction as Two Esteemed (and Non-Corporate) Booksellers Plan Local Outposts

A rendering of the South Street Seaport location planned  for McNally Jackson books.

Local connoisseurs of independent bookstores have reason to celebrate: Two highly regarded operators will be coming to Lower Manhattan soon. The first is McNally Jackson, which has confirmed that its much-delayed plan to open in the South Street Seaport will finally be realized this year.

Also coming to Downtown is the much-admired Shakespeare & Companyindependent bookstore, which already has locations on the Upper East and Upper West sides.

City Moves Ahead with Traffic Signal for Rector Place and South End Avenue, Ten Months After Approval

May 10

Owner of Tribeca Kiosk Is Told Twice That Once Is Just about Enough

Chin, Nadler Announce Push to Ease Lower Manhattan Traffic By Reconfiguring Verrazzano Toll

Congressman Jerry Nadler  and City Council member Margaret Chin  look on as MTA chief Patrick Foye describes a plan to reinstitute two-way tolling on the Verrazzano Bridge.

A gaggle of elected and appointed officials gathered on Staten Island to announce their support for changing a decades-old tolling policy on the Verrazzano Bridge, which may have a significant benefit for traffic congestion in Lower Manhattan.

U.S. Congressman Jerry Nadler and City Council member Margaret Chin (both of whom represent Lower Manhattan) were joined by Congresswoman Nydia Velázquez, and Patrick Foye, chairman and chief executive of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), the agency that oversees the bridge, to trumpet the virtues of restoring two-way tolls on the span, which connects Staten Island and Brooklyn.

Governors Island Overseer Departs as Community Leaders Grapple with Future Development Prospects

	A view of Governors Island from the observatory atop One World Trade Center

Michael Samuelian, the chief of the Trust for Governors Island, the non-profit organization that administers the 172-acre park situated some 800 yards off the tip of Lower Manhattan, will be stepping down in June. His tenure, which began in 2016, will end shortly after the Island reopens for the season, on May 1.

Mr. Samuelian presided over a renaissance on Governors Island, with each year during his term setting new records for attendance, with expanded hours and a longer season.

In the season that begins next week, Governors Island will also launch a new ferry, Governors I. The 132 foot-long, 40 foot-wide vessel was built specifically to serve the Island, and can carry up to 400 passengers per trip, which will increase capacity by 1,000 visitors per hour.

Long Overlooked Pier Becomes ‘Porch’ Overlooking East River Waterfront

	Eco-Park on the East River

Downtown’s list of great public spaces has increased by one, with the opening on April 19 of a new “Eco-Park” at Pier 35, on the East River shoreline, in the Two Bridges neighborhood. The 28,000-square-foot facility includes lawns, dunes, and a sloped concrete “urban beach,” designed to replicate the natural breeding habitat of mussels. To read more...

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New Renderings for Planned Tower at 80 South Street Show Building Taller Than One World Trade Center

	Community leaders fear that the number of apartments contained in a building this large could overwhelm local infrastructure

The on-again/off-again skyscraper proposed for 80 South Street, in the Seaport District may be on again.

Contract Alleges That Developer Cut Corners on Foundation, Resulting in Dangerous Tilt

	One Seaport

A 670-foot residential building now under construction in the South Street Seaport neighborhood is leaning precipitously north and east, according to a lawsuit filed against the developer by one of its former contractors. The tower, known as One Seaport, is located at 161 Maiden Lane (on the corner of South Street) and is 58 stories tall.

In a story first reported by the Commercial Observer, a suit filed in March with the New York State Supreme Court by building contractor Pizzarottialleges that the 161 Maiden Lane, “is leaning, as a rigid body, outside of its vertical control,” and, “is now exhibiting a bowing or curve in its verticality that is due entirely to said leaning.” The suit also claims that, “the building… has settled and moved to such a degree that the structure is encroaching on a neighboring property line.”

Local Resident Oversaw Move of Holocaust Freight Car to Lower Manhattan

In nearly 40 years of involvement in logistics, almost all of it in the field of fine art transportation, participating in this move was professionally the most significant, and personally the most emotional, project I have ever undertaken.

The rail car is on loan from the Auschwitz Museum in Poland, to an exhibition services company in Spain, which is co-sponsoring the new exhibition, “Auschwitz: Not Long Ago, Not Far Away,” with the Museum of Jewish Heritage.

Lower Manhattan Site of First Synagogue in North America Honored by Street Co-Naming

City Council member Margaret Chin and community leaders gathered in the Financial Districton Monday afternoon to commemorate the long-overlooked site of America’s first Jewish temple, the Mill Street Synagogue, located on what is now South William Street. The thoroughfare was co-named “Mill Street Synagogue/Seixas Way,” in a nod to the temple’s first cleric, who was also a patriot leader during the American Revolution.

To read more…

New York’s Version of Big Ben

Will Be Gutted, Converted to Penthouse

	The clock tower at  346 Broadway

At the March 26 meeting of Community Board 1, Lynn Ellsworth, chair of the Tribeca Trust, relayed somber news. “Our lawsuit against Landmarks Preservation Commission has lost on appeal,” she explained. “It came down to procedures used by Commission in their judgment calls. The Court basically told us that we have go to the legislature, because they don’t want to deal with it, it’s too messy.”

The structure in question is the 1898 Renaissance Revival building located at Broadway and Leonard Streets and designed by McKim, Mead, and White as the headquarters for the New York Life Insurance Company.

	John Watts     Why isn’t he smiling?