NOHO NEWS Sept 08

The Community Task Force on NYU Development - All information, proposals, meetings are posted at www.communitynyc.org
CB#2 adds new Board Members and Committee Assignments - View and Download here
NoHo/Bowery Partnership – The Exploratory Committee is advancing on a plan to initiate the nonprofit street cleaning service on Bleecker and Bond Sts, east of the NoHo BID area to the Bowery and along Bowery to Great Jones. Tax deductible donations will be sought for this service that will be provided from 8 am to 4 pm Monday thru Sunday. Inquiries
41-43 Bond St demolition is completed. Plans for the new building have been submitted to LPC for preliminary opinion and have been modified to reduce the height, eliminate the underground parking and remove the balconies at the rear. The new plans were reviewed by a special committee of NoHo property owners on Thursday, April 24th and were heard and approved by the Full Board of CB2 Manhattan on June 19th, 2008.
53-55 Bond St – We understand the owner of these lots intends to develop . These parcels are NOT included in the NoHo III Designation.

More property development news below.....
ADD ME TO THE NOHO E-MAIL LIST - - Totally free, confidential and helpful if you have an interest in the neighborhood.

OTHER HEADLINES

402-408 Lafayette St Proposed Hotel

There's a new Blog in Town -- www.streetsblog.org . Stay up to date on what's happening on bike lanes, street closures and general traffic control.

OTHER TID BITS

Keeping the Mixed Use Nature of NoHo. 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.	Bowery and Lafayette Corridor Liquor License Locations. Download Full Map
Evolution

Bond St. - North Side	Bond St. - South Side

NoHo Residents Investigating Formation of a Non-Profit NoHo/Bowery Partnership. Ongoing Update. An exploratory committee has been formed of residents, property and business owners in NoHo, to introduce NoHo to the Association of Community Employment Programs for the Homeless (A.C.E.) and their local initiatives, the SoHo Partnership and the TriBeCa Partnership.

As NoHo evolves toward a more vibrant live/work and arts based community the Committee has two concerns:
That the effort we put into to keeping our neighborhood contextual and vibrant can be apparent on well-kept streets and sidewalks.
That we do not forget our long established reputation for supporting programs that improve the prospects for those less fortunate.

With that in mind, they are working toward a collaboration with A.C.E. in forming a not-for-profit, the NoHo/Bowery Partnership, that would, by donations, provide street cleaning and other sidewalk maintenance services seven days a week from 8:00 am to 4:00 pm, 362 days a year. The initial sweep areas would include Bleecker, Bond Streets east of Lafayette and The Bowery, and both sides, from Houston to Great Jones St. A NoHo/Bowery Partnership would be under the A.C.E. umbrella and managed by their experienced staff.

The area West of the the East side of Lafayette St. is maintained by the NoHo BID.

What's Going Up....
regularly updated details on Properties in Development in NoHo

41-43 Bond St. - Phase Two will be a review of plans for the new building, which is designed in 20th Century manufacturing style to compliment other landmarked buildings on the block. These plans have been by CB#2 Landmarks and the full Board. The Zoning Committee will hear their Board of Standards and Appeals application for a change of use to residential probably this fall.

45 Bond St. - Just in time! Two new stories - NO make that THREE STORIES -- NO, maybe FOUR stories - have been added before NoHo III landed. A bit aesthetically challenged, and still claiming to be a commercial office building, Mr. Weiss has somehow eluded LPC and DOB and the Loft Board's scrutiny.....now isn't that amazing!

Edison Parking - Five Lots at Lafayette and Great Jones. On Dec. 21st. over 30 NoHo residents and property owners met with Jerry Gottesman, Owner, Edison Properties. Mr. Gottesman, who also owns Manhattan Mini Storage and the Hippodrome, as well as the just developed Ludlow, purchased the adjacent 30 Great Jones St. property in September and quickly began its demolition.

Edison endorsed the landmarking of NoHo III and has no immediate plans for this property.

More meetings are anticipated between Edison and NoHo property owners.

East 4th St. Water Tunnel Construction - This project which began last year will be here for awhile. We understand that the major blasting has subsided. For those who fear for the safety of The Merchant's House and Skidmore House, the Borough President's office is actively engaged in monitoring, with the ever watchful eye of Pi Gardner, Exec. Director of the Merchants House.

When it is finished, we expect that this will become a park. The DEP has, however, transferred the air rights back to the owners of the property -- the Goldman Family -- who have in turn leased this property and the Skidmore House and the parking lot to Atlantic Development for 70 years. See the Skidmore House entry for more. (Photo: Adam Woodward). Senator Tom Duane has convened several meetings, with CB#2 member Toby Bergman present, along with Pi Gardner of the Merchants House, Stan Ries and Zella Jones of the NoHo NA, John Fout of Councilmember Mendez staff and Gregory Bender of Assemblymember Deborah Glick's staff to get the particulars on where this park stands in present plans.

363 Lafayette @ Great Jones- (SE Corner - former Jones Diner) - UPDATE: This location may be filing for an as-of-right Office Building.

PAST INFO: The Attorney and the applicant made a presentation to NoHo in May, 2006. Though a confusing design (at best), the proposed six-story building will preserve many of the lot line windows in contiguous buildings. The applicant will be seeking a variance for residential and groundfloor retail and may be amenable to a restriction on bars or restaurants. The 20 Bond St. Co-Op is still negotiating with the developer for a more compatible design. The billboard erected inside the fencing at this location is, unfortunately, legal !

Parking Lot & Skidmore House at East 4th and Bowery- The parking lot has been cleared, the scaffolding is up, and construction has begun.

402-408 Lafayette -(Crunch Gym Building) in the NoHo I landmark district has made several applications to landmarks for renovations to groundfloor entrances on Lafayette and on Broadway as well as a rooftop addition and a request for a 74-711 action for a change of use, which would be for a Hotel. The Landmarks application is currently on hold at Landmarks.

The All New CBGB's....sorry, meant John Varvatos boutique.

Lots of coverage at Curbed.com

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 continue to advocate for the neighborhood on these applications and have thus far prevailed in a number of covenants attached to SLA applications signed by interested NoHo residents and property owners.

SLA Task Force Report, Dec 06

Padavan Law/500 ft Rule Explained

Getting Around...

Houston St. Construction - Construction on the Houston St. road bed is now in full Phase II, meaning it is in the NoHo portion of Houston St. Most of the roadbed work will be done from 7 AM to 6 PM, Monday through Friday. But NoHo can expect weekend night work also regularly.

All known service interruptions will be posted on area buildings. Anyone who is or knows someone, disabled should notify Karen Flores (212-337-3594), the Community Construction Liaison, so she can take special measures to protect their needs and safety during construction. To subscribe to a daily community construction update go to www.houston.outreachny.com . (Photo: Adam Woodward).

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

Don't forget to visit NoHo Arts & Culture listing over 60 artists and art-supporting institutions in our neighborhood.

If you have additional suggestions, are an artist living in NoHo, have any professional photography of our neighborhood, or slides of your artwork, please forward them.

Don't forget to use the Activist Links page

You can also visit NoHo at i-neighborhoods.org - look for NoHo Manhattan. I-neighbors is run by a team of faculty and students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). I-neighbors was designed to encourage neighborhood participation and to help people form local social ties.

Managing Editor
Zella Jones
Citizen

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