Lead Stories

Be interactive !  Check for fast-breaking updates.  Register your comments and concerns with the NoHo NA. on the NoHo Manhattan Blog.
BP's Community Task Force on NYU Development Issues Community Planning Principles - Next Meeting Sept 10	NoHo NA looking for some fresh, talented, volunteer Steering Committee members.
New Noise Code - Takes effect July 1st.  Get a very useful booklet HERE NY Times Adds Building Permit Mapping Feature	Day Life, Night Life Film Crews leave ugly trail on Bleecker and Elizabeth UPDATE NoHo won it's appeal at CB#2Manhattan's Full Board Meeting on Sept 20th to deny an application on Bond St. in the "Public Interest."
Is San Genaro Festival Messing with Your Quality of Life?  Tell the City what needs to be done.  On Tuesday, September 18th at 1PM in council chambers at City Hall, there will be an oversight of CAU (Community Assistance Unit) regarding their very liberal issuance of permits for street fairs. Street fairs can create traffic snarls, noise late into the evening, crime, trash, public drunkenness, and other things that detract from a community’s quality of life. Please come and lend your support – let CAU know that these permits should not be issued without the approval of local community boards. Show CAU that there needs to be oversight of their permitting procedures so that the local community can establishment parameters for location, dates, and duration of street fairs, as well making sure that there are adequate measures taken to abate noise and provide sanitary facilities. Have some comments?  Need to expound?  We are waiting for your comments on the NoHo Manhattan Blog.
Second NYU Open House on Campus Planning - Monday, Sept 17, Hemmerdinger Hall, 100 Wshington Square East, 4:00 - 8:00 p.m.  Meet the planning team.  Let them hear your thoughts about your neighborhood and how NYU can have a more positive impact on its future.  Have some comments?  Need to expound?  We are waiting for your comments on the NoHo Manhattan Blog.

Alerts for: NoHo Manhattan Sam Chang Buys Whitehouse Hotel for $7.8 M. New York Observer  - July 10, 2007 Can anyone in the New York City hotel business keep up with Sam Chang? On June 11, the prolific hotelier purchased the Whitehouse Hotel at 338 Bowery for $7.8 million, according to city records 32 charged at New York gay bar after police drugs raid - PinkNews.co.uk - A popular New York gay bar has been temporarily closed down following a drugs raid, police have confirmed. Mr. Black, a popular gay venue at 88 Bleecker St., in the NoHo district of New York City is well known for hosting evenings with bare-bottomed waiters.

The Bowery - the 3rd & 4th Avenues Subcommittee has been added to the CB#3 schedule.  To review what the Bowery Initiative entails specifically,  GVSHP offered the following in their latest newsletter”  We have also begun to work with local community groups on examining the terribly inadequate zoning for the Bowery, where shockingly out-of-scale new developments like a 23-story hotel at 5th Street are going up. See www.gvshp.org/EVcorridor.htm . This Monday, 9/17, at 6:30pm, 113 Second Avenue (btwn 6th & 7th Sts), the Community Board Zoning Task Force will meet to discuss plans for a rezoning of the Bowery.

With all our new high-end condos and rare authentic AIR lofts, the nightlife industry is very hot to join us in even greater numbers.  Most residents and property owners feel we have done more than our fair share in absorbing over-density of liquor licensed establishments, especially when it directly affects our now rather expensive NoHo investments.  PLEASE join your neighbors...and find more ... to sign our petition asking our community leaders and elected officials to uphold the Padavan Law and the 500ft. rule.  Petition Bowery and Lafayette Corridor Liquor License Locations.  Download Full Map

What's Going Up....

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8-10 Bond St.  -UPDATE:  There is a new application for an as-of-right hotel at this location which will be heard at CB#2 Manhattan's Zoning Committee in October.  We understand that the applicant is looking for a Special Permit to allow an un-zoned use on the floors below the second story - such options in our M1-5b zone would include a bar or restaurant larger than 2000 sq feet -- or retail.

PAST INFO:  A community meeting was held in May 2006 with the attorney and architects for this site.  The BSA application for a seven story high end residential building with retail on the first floor has not yet been scheduled. Watch the Zoning Committee Calendar (go to "Calendar" at the CB#2 Website)  You can see the proposed building at www.TRAStudios.com (be warned, their flash site takes forever to load -- even with high-speed access)  click on projects.  Another meeting in June 27, 2006 discussed this and two other BSA applications that propose to develop residential and retail.  The issues are design and what kind of retail we, as a community, want to allow.  Our current M1-5b zoning restricts a number of categories (but unfortunately does allow more bars...and billboards!).

 

22 Bond St/23 Great Jones St. (Block 530, Lot 19) -- this through lot, currently a two-story building is rumored to be an as-of-right 14 story hotel.  DOB job filings however indicate that it is to be a nine-story building with hotel use from the fourth to the ninth floors. Job Description: Vertical extension to existing 2 story building ( cellar, 1st & 2nd). Add 3rd thru 9th floors to be used as hotel suites. Change of use on 2nd floor to Joint Living & work quarter. Obtain new CO.   According to DOB records the plan was disapproved in February..  You have all probably noted, however, that the cellar on the Great Jones St side has been excavated and re-shored.  When and if we discover anything more on this we will post it.  

 

 

 
25 Bond in NoHo at last reveals its handsome face. "Eight stories of hefty rough-cut Jerusalem limestone partnered with details of dark bronzed steel. It's been designed by architect George Schieferdecker of BKSK Architects as six stories of four bold asymmetrically arranged sections with recessed windows down below and a couple of stories of contrasting steel crowning the top. The building runs for a full 100 feet along Bond Street across from Ian Schrager / Herzog and de Meuron's all glass palace at 40 Bond," as quoted from Wired New York

 

Before it is completed, however, there will be a full 100 running feet of granite sidewalk, artist- etched and continuing into the main lobby.  There is no doubt that Goldman Properties has taken contextual to heart and new heights.  See this weeks coverage in www.curbed.com

              

32-40 Bond St.:   --See Curbed.com coverage.   Or you can visit 40bond.com !  OR you can read an extensive review at Triple Mint !!

"40 Bond will have 27 loft style apartments. Five townhouses will have their own separate entrances and private rear gardens. A triplex penthouse will top the 11-story condo. Units will have dual gas and wood-burning fireplaces custom designed by Herzog & de Meuron. Floors will be wide-plank oak, and ceiling heights will be over 11 feet. Floor to ceiling windows will be fully-operable. Fixtures will include lighting by Jasper Morrison and kitchen appliances from Miele. A long list of amenities includes concierge services provided by the staff at the Gramercy Park Hotel on 24-hour call." 

(Photo:  http://curbed.com/2007_09_40bond1.jpg )

41-43 Bond St. - Self-storage king Adam Gordon plans to break ground on a nine-story condominium at 41-43 Bond Street later this year. Mr. Gordon’s Adam Gordon Holdings closed on the buildings located at that address in June for $7.7 million, according to city records.

“I decided to go forward with the project because I really think that the cast-iron and terra cotta architecture and cobblestone streets make Bond Street unique,” Mr. Gordon told The Observer.

41-43 Bond Street is not the only property on the block that Mr. Gordon snatched up recently. He also bought the Bouwerie Lane Theater at 54 Bond Street. He intends to make the landmarked building his home and will convert second and third floor spaces to high-end residential, leaving the ground and basement spaces for retail (no bars or restaurants).

A working group is being formed of property owners on Bond and Bleecker to address this BSA application with Mr. Gordon and his architects.  Contact here if you are interested in joining the group (1 person per building).
Photo: Zella Jones

 

46-48 Bond St.:   New Special permit application to build 11 stories residential/retail.  The developer, Don Capocia (principal/Owner Great Jones Lumber) engaged a second architect who, at least for the BSA hearings, designed a building more contributing to the architecture of this street.  Though originally proposed as rental units, we learn from Curbed coverage that 14 condo units will be sold starting at $2,000,000. 

Architect Deborah Berke, (this is her first residential condo project) explains:  The façade of 48 Bond is an elegant composition of slabs of granite and sheets of glass. The scale of the material is unusually large, contributing to its abstract and bold quality. The stone and glass play off each other and accentuate their contrasting textures.

Full Coverage at Curbed.com  (Photo from Curbed http://curbed.com/2007_9_48bond.jpg )

30 Great Jones St.  Just sold, this manufacturing building will be converted to residential spaces.  Rumors that it was purchased by New York University are completely false.

1-4 East 4th St., 306 Bowery and Skidmore House --  See above.

NoHo III - With the purchase of 41-43 Bond St. (see above) and its planned demolition to become a nine-story condo, it is a travesty that the Landmarks Preservation Commission has NOT announced the calendaring of NoHo III on the 2007/2008 agenda.  We urge you to write Councilman Gerson to push further on this agenda. 
Address: 51 Chambers St., Suite 429, New York, NY 10007
Phone: (212) 788-7722
Fax: (212) 788-7727
Email Address: gerson@council.nyc.ny.us

Day Life/Nightlife ...

The Lafayette St and Bowery corridors are oversaturated with Liquor Licenses.  In addition to the potential for negatively affecting quality of life for the many residents, it also affects the competitive health of licensed establishments and businesses that have shown compatibility with our neighborhood.  We have been circulating a petition for signatures that will be used to invoke 500 ft rule hearings when new or additional licenses are sought at CB#2 (or CB#3).  Do feel free to request a copy to sign.  We need more signatures for Sept 20 Full Board Meeting at CB#2.

SLA Task Force Report, Dec 06

Padavan Law/500 ft Rule Explained

License density within 500 ft of 1 Bleecker St.

45 Bleecker Theater - The operator, Louis Salamone and the NoHo NA successfully negotiated an agreement for a wine and beer license, only attached to the cafe at the entrance.  A variety of other quality of life covenants were also agreed to including 1:00 a.m. closing. 26-28 Bond St  denied on Sept 20 at CB#2's full Board meeting.  See text below.

NoHo Statement:  We strongly oppose more bars and restaurants in our neighborhood (NoHo) which already far exceeds allowable density as described in the Padavan Law. We commend the builders and owners who have pledged not to include additional bars or restaurants in their buildings. We ask that a current application for a restaurant/bar at 26-28 Bond Street be denied outright. We further seek far greater scrutiny regarding current liquor license density on any and all further liquor licenses, bars, and/or restaurant because bars and restaurants in the area of NoHo do not represent the totality of economically or socially contributing possibilities that could now, or in the future, serve the public interest. We, the people who live in this area, and whose lives and investments are affected adversely by the noise, congestion, public drunkenness, vermin, and air pollution that restaurants and bars, as a class of business, bring to our neighborhood, in the public interest.

Film Crew destroys trees, leaves garbage, oil spills and debris on Bleecker and Elizabeth Streets in NoHo On the evening of 8/29/07 and early morning of 8/30/07 massive 20th Century Fox (permit #FF-135) FILM CREW tractor trailer type trucks and house trailers descended on Elizabeth Street (Btwn Houston/Bleecker) and Bleecker (btwn Lafayette/Bowery). These oversized trucks parked on both sides of the street (though the permit only allowed Bleecker St.) impeded traffic and local business for business/ deliveries, garbage truck pick up that day. Further these vehicles apparrently were not equipped with the "clean diesel" filters now required by law, emitting fume continuously for over 40 hours. If the suspension of the Habitability of our neighborhood’s personal and business for close to 40 hours (they left in the early morn of 8/31/07) wasn’t enough; they damaged our trees! The slap in the face came when I reported that these massive oversized, albeit illegally sized trucks much too big for the extremely narrow 19th century structured Elizabeth Street, where smack up against our trees on both Elizabeth and Bleecker street, ripping into the tree’s branches. I’m told a film crew supervisor can down to investigate but by the attached photos obviously didn’t do a thing. The tree trunks have been damaged- holes in the structure of a tree will rot and can cause it to die. Who will come to fix them so that the damage doesn’t go any further. Maybe I should call an arborist and charge it to 20th Century Fox? , wrote Charle Cafiero, an Elizabeth St. Resident. District Manager Bob Gormley and Assemblymember Deborah Glick have attempted to get some response from the Mayor's Office of Film, Theater and Broadcasting.  Nothing tangible has yet been offered regarding the care of the trees or the illegal diesel truck emissions. STILL NO SUBSTANTIVE RESPONSE FROM THE CITY ON THIS ONE  !!!...Sept 22, 2007

The SoHo Journal Politics Blog covers the issues behind the issues. Beware!

 

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