The decade-long effort to refurbish the historic Battery Maritime Building may soon resume, after years of inaction. The City’s Economic Development Corporation (EDC) — the agency that negotiates strategic partnerships designed to harness private-sector resources to public projects, and thus foster economic growth — has announced that a partnership between builder Centaur Properties and hospitality firm Cipriani USA is taking the helm on the project.
Centaur has a total of 35 properties scattered throughout Manhattan, but is primarily known for developing a condominium (now approaching completion) overlooking the High Line, designed by Brazilian architect Isay Weinfeld. Cipriani is a legendary proprietor of food destinations and event spaces worldwide. The firm’s Lower Manhattan footprint includes two venues carved out of historic building lobbies: Cipriani Wall Street (in the former banking hall of the onetime headquarters of National City Bank) and Cipriani 25 Broadway (in the erstwhile ticketing hall of what was once Cunard’s New York office).
The EDC began trying to remake the Battery Maritime Building in 2007, when it recruited the Dermot Company and the Poulakakos restaurant organization to create within the historic structure a 140-room hotel, that was also to have included a rooftop restaurant and bar, an event space, and an indoor market. This was, in some ways, an unsurprising choice, because the Dermot Company and the Poulakakos group were also the partnership on a similar project nearby: the restoration of Pier A. EDC’s deal with Dermot required the redevelopment to be complete by December 2015.
But the real estate cataclysm of 2008, followed by design changes necessitated by 2012’s Hurricane Sandy, caused the project to fall years behind schedule and its budget to swell by tens of millions of dollars. The EDC’s deal with the Dermot Company finally collapsed in mid-2015, after which point the agency negotiated a new partnership with Stoneleigh Capital, a real estate firm that operates ski resorts in Colorado and California, as well as luxury hotels and spas around the world. This arrangement called for Stoneleigh to complete the project by December of this year. But the company proved unable to obtain the necessary financing, and never began work. By the close of 2016, Stoneleigh had left the Battery Maritime Building development.
An illustration of how the structure’s Great Hall – which was originally conceived as an indoor market, but is now slated to serve as a catering venue and community gathering space – might appear upon completion.
Centaur has hired Mexican architect Ismael Leyva to design the remaining spaces in the structure, which EDC estimates to be more than half complete. Mr. Leyva is known locally for having collaborated on the design for River House in Battery Park City. Revised plans now call for a hotel with approximately 40 rooms.
The publicly owned structure, located at 10 South Street, next to the Staten Island Ferry terminal, is a landmarked Beaux Art ferry terminal built in 1909. It served as the gateway to boats taking passengers across the East River for three decades, but after commuters and vehicles gained direct access to Manhattan with the advent of bridges, tunnels, and subways, ferry usage declined and the building fell into disrepair. (Today, its sole use as a berth is for ferries taking passengers to and from nearby Governors Island.)
For decades, developers and community activists have proffered competing visions for the building, with the former advocating commercial uses and the latter pushing for civic amenities, such as a school or museum. Among the building’s more notable features is its Great Hall, a majestic 8,500-square foot space, with ceilings 34 feet high, lined with Gustavino tiles. Originally slated to house an indoor market, this space is envisioned in the newest version of the EDC’s plan as an event venue and community facility.
EDC now hopes to complete the rehabilitation of the Battery Maritime Building in mid-2019.