By Brian J. Pape, AIA, LEED-AP In the 17th Century Wouter van Twiller operated a brewery here before this tiny street was laid out in the early 19th Century. The first documented mention of Gay Street appeared in the Common Council minutes of April 23, 1827. Gay Street was widened in 1833. 1820s period houses
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City Council Proposes 18 Tenant Protection Regulations
By Carol Yost At long last, with a new Democratic majority in Albany, chances are better than ever to break the stranglehold the greedy landlords have held on our city. By hook AND by crook, saying they’re only trying to make an honest buck, they’ve managed to get laws that allow them to eliminate rent-regulated
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IN AND OUT
Open Top Openings: Encore 1 Little West 12th Street (between Gansevoort Street and Ninth Avenue) When I spoke to Harold Moore a few months ago about his just-opened French spot Bistro Pierre Lapin, he explained that French food had fallen from favor in New York but that recently it was making a comeback, following the
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Why Do Google and Hi-Tech Firms Expand in the Lower Westside?
By Brian J. Pape, AIA, LEED-AP For those who have lived or worked in our area, the answer is obvious; we love the charm, character, mish-mosh of building styles and sizes, and the crazy streets, like nowhere else in the city. But are we loving it to death? Landmarked properties and districts help some areas,
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City Planning Rolls Out Information Sites Called ZAP and POP
By Brian J. Pape, AIA, LEED-AP Attending a training seminar in December at the relocated and remodeled Department of City Planning (DCP) offices at 120 Broadway, the infamous Equitable Insurance Building, one gets a sense of history and how the city has changed over the years. The DCP is the source for much information about
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Integral Yoga Natural Foods Closes Doors After 45 Years
By Sarah Dowson Recently hundreds of loyal natural-foods patrons were shocked and heartbroken to learn that Integral Yoga Natural Foods (“IYNF”), at 229 West 13th Street, had closed because of overwhelming competition in the changing retail landscape. IYNF sold organic fruits and vegetables, prepared foods, freshly juiced vegetables, as well as flour, grains, and spices
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Integral Yoga Natural Foods: Some Memories
Having finished my organic red kale the other day, I ambled over to Integral Yoga Natural Foods (“IYNF”) at 227 West 13th St. with the intention of buying another bunch to munch and maybe a few spices too. I felt devastated to see a sign on their door announced they were closing due to “overwhelming
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27 Christopher Street’s Private Makeover
By Ananth Sampathkumar, Partner NDNY Architecture + Design 27 Christopher Street has been home to some illustrious residents. The beautiful Neo-classical building was built in 1911. Designed by Joseph Duke Harrison for the Switzer Institute and Home, the structure was a Catholic school till the New York Foundling took it over and named it the
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Gourmet Garage Dies as Rent Hits One Million
By George Capsis A couple of people called me to say Gourmet Garage was closing—wow! Sure, I, who grew up in the Depression, found the prices larcenous, but the breads were good and if you didn’t want to travel up to Trader Joe’s—that was about it… And bang—when you read this they will be closed.
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550 Washington May Get Googled
By Brian J. Pape, AIA, LEED-AP As we reported in last month’s issue, 550 Washington Street is quickly moving forward after years of trial and error. And a prediction by Dean Shapiro, Oxford’s vice president of real estate, appears to be coming true: Hudson Square (as the neighborhood is called) is attracting an “educated, technically
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L Train Shutdown and Beth Israel Closure Litigation Proceeds
By Arthur Z. Schwartz Almost as though related by fate, two community-based lawsuits addressed to attacks on the fundamental livability of our community proceed in parallel through the Court system. Both cases involve a fundamental decision by government to largely ignore the needs of our community and proceed while giving “lip-service” to the concept of
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IN AND OUT
Correction: in the October In & Out, we reported that Toosh, a shoe store at Bleecker Street (east of 7th Avenue South) was closing. We hear from the owner that it is not, and a further check reveals that it is very much open. We apologize for the error. High rents and real estate taxes
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What to Expect When You are Renovating
By Ananth Robert Sampathkumar, Partner—NDNY Architecture + Design Your first renovation project can either be a wonderful adventure, an expensive endeavor or a slow burn through hell. Preparing yourself before taking on such a task can save time, money and even reverse the accelerated aging process that construction projects tend to inflict. Here are a
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Who Else Did 9/11?
By Mark Channing Miller The US attorney’s office has just agreed to take another look at who did 9/11. The accepted view is that a handful of Muslim fanatics trained in U.S. flying schools commandeered four commercial passenger planes and aimed two of them at the World Trade Center, one at the Pentagon, with the
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Then&Now: James J. Walker Park
By Brian J. Pape, AIA, LEED-AP Ask someone which Village parkland was originally under water, and you’ll probably get the correct answer: Hudson River Park. Ask which Village parkland was once a cemetery, and you’ll probably get only one answer: Washington Square Park. But James J. Walker Park also fits that description. The land prescribed
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Bring Back Bleecker
By Robert Ragaini From the Summer 2018 newsletter of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation “The transformation of and vacancies on Bleecker Street have been a particular concern to GVSHP. We have worked with local merchants on […] walking tours to bring patrons to the street and to see if disincentives for keeping storefronts
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From XS to Excess
By Ananth Robert Sampathkumar, Partner—NDNY Architecture + Design In July 2012, the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) launched adAPT NYC, a novel competition to design a new model for micro-apartments (under 400 square feet) in Kips Bay, Manhattan. The competition was won by Monadnock Development LLC, Actors Fund Housing Development
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Village Community School Looks to Expand
SPACE & TIME—in this bustling urban environment we live in, everyone is looking for ways to better utilize what little we have of it. By Brian J. Pape, AIA, LEED-AP Village Community School (VCS) at 272 West 10th Street, between Greenwich Street and Washington Street, has applied for an expansion of its property’s buildings to
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The Village Community School’s Proposal: Is Bigger Always Better?
By Alan Chapell Seems like the West Village has become one of the busiest neighborhoods in NYC for development. One by one, our precious open spaces are being plugged in—all in the name of progress. But as the methodical drumbeat of development marches onward, it might be worth asking ourselves if all of this so
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Hospital Transformations Hearing
By Penny Mintz It has been a busy few weeks for the future of Beth Israel and hospitals in general. On October 3rd, the City Council’s Health and Hospital Committee conducted a hearing about the ongoing hospital “transformations.” Matt Siegler, a senior vice-president from the Health and Hospitals Corporation testified about the changes in our
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After Every Storm
By Stanley Wlodyka. There’s a black line spray painted 10 feet off the ground in the basement of Westbeth Artists Residency. The entire basement—every hall, every room—is marked. It’s a stark reminder that some of the artists who live there lost everything on October 29, 2012, when Hurricane Sandy hit New York. Hugging West Street,
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IN AND OUT
Correction: in the September In & Out, we reported that Ghandi Café (283 Bleecker Street east of 7th Avenue South) appeared to have closed. Not so! We apologize for the misinformation. The big news this month was that the Small Business Jobs Survival Act (SBJSA) had a hearing at City Hall on October 22. The
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Ready to Eat
By Caroline Benveniste The retail activity on Hudson Street waxes and wanes with the seasons. Sometimes many of the restaurants and shops on one block close en masse (like Bespoke Kitchen, Tavo and La Maison Supreme), and other times improbably fancy stores open on a formerly bleak block (Günter Seeger, Sherri B and Martial
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Ambitiously Pursuing a More Vibrant 7th Avenue South Neighborhood
By Brooke Schooley Carved diagonally through residential streets in 1917, 7th Avenue South quickly became a service station-lined gateway to the Holland Tunnel, running from West 11th to Clarkson Street. You can see the vestiges of that era in the avenue’s low-rise buildings with their art deco trimmed cornices. Today, 7th Avenue South’s wonky intersections and
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A New Middle School for the West Village
By Ananth Sampathkumar, Partner NDNY Architecture + Design Middle School 297 NYC moved into its new location at 75 Morton Street this fall. The school officially opened in 2017 and had been sharing space with The Clinton School near Union Square for a year, while the building was under construction. In the mid 2000’s, parent
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St. John’s Gets Another Do-Over: The Saga of 550 Washington Street
By Brian J. Pape, AIA, LEED-AP If you don’t have your scorecard handy, you’re going to miss some plays with this development along West Street across from Pier 40 and the Hudson River Park Trust (HRPT) headquarters. More than four years ago the developers of St John’s Terminal were considering an office/commercial scheme that would
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Christine Blasey Ford and the Power of Memorable Architecture
By Ananth Sampathkumar, Partner, NDNY Architecture + Design Christine Blasey Ford testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee on September 27th, 2018. Her testimony about the assault on her was both riveting and painful to watch. What made her statements so compelling to me was the clarity of architectural detail in her account. Her recollection included
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Greenwich House Pottery Expansion Plans Fire Up the Neighbors
By Ananth Sampathkumar, Partner NDNY Architecture + Design NIMBY or ‘Not In My Backyard’ is a term you hear quite often in conjunction with developments in the West Village. With residential properties in close proximity to commercial, retail and institutional establishments, the chances that a new development infringes on the light and air qualities of
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IN AND OUT
Retail may be struggling, but some brands have decided that the way forward is to improve customer experience, and one approach is to add food and drinks to the mix. Another trendlet we continue to observe is the proliferation of Asian restaurant openings in the Village. The item that received the most press this month
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Free Wi-Fi Kiosks in the Village
By Brian J. Pape, AIA Have you ever needed a map to show you where you were and where you needed to go in the Village? Have you wondered what we should do now that all the street payphones are gone? Have you wondered what the new sidewalk kiosks sprouting up all over the city
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Tech And Creative Hub Developments Around Greenwich Village
By Ananth Sampathkumar, with Brian J. Pape July 10th was a big news day for two important developments around Greenwich Village. The first breaking story was about the new Tech Hub being proposed at 124 East 14 Street (between Irving Place and 3rd Avenue). Back in February 2017, Mayor Bill de Blasio unveiled the new
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Class War in Greenwich Village: Mini Versailles or Senior Housing with a Garden?
By Jim Fouratt Recently, when I called attention to the possibility of “class war” over a city-owned lot on Elizabeth Street, I was half joking. In 2012, when Councilwoman Chin was being pressured by both Mayor Bloomberg and City Council Speaker Quinn to approve the massive NYU expansion in her district, Chin finally relented, after
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In Limbo at the West Village Houses
By Brian J. Pape, AIA, LEED-AP Every year in June, West Village Houses (WVH) elects the entire board to a one-year term. This June 26th election saw several members leave and new members join the board. As our readers know, the issues facing the 420 shareholders, in the 42 buildings of WVH lining the west
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Correction
A reader residing in West Village Houses pointed out a phrase in the last paragraph of June 2018 article “West Village Houses Rally for Preservation” (Pg. 6) that needs correction: “In 2002, WVH was sold under the (HDFC) cooperative Programs to 380 of 420 tenants for about $150,000; the Program included a 25% “flip tax”
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Save the Stones
Dear Editor: On Gansevoort Street, between Hudson and Greenwich streets, the original 150-year-old paving stones are being replaced by crudely cut multi-colored stones with a band of black stones running down the middle. The Meat Market district is a historic district and the original cobble stones should have been retained. I have seen in the
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A Positive View of West Village Houses
I’m kind of sick of the bad press afforded to West Village Houses. That is why I want to set some basic things straight, both as a long time resident at WV Houses, and as a residential real estate broker. The 40, five-story walk-up buildings are located on six sites: Bank Street to its North
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Maison Kayser Closes
They are picking them off higher on the vine by George Capsis Oh, wow. I got a call from Peruvian born, Nelly Godfrey, who lost her restaurant on the corner of Christopher and Bedford in a years’ long struggle with our very own king of evil landlords, Steve Croman. By the way, Croman has just
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Radical Changes from New Developments in West Village
By Brian J. Pape If you haven’t taken a walk around the West Village lately, then you are in for a shock. Block by block, foot by foot, the West Village is going through a transformation that is both rapid and radical. Hudson Yards, that city within a city just a little north of us
