NEW YORK CITY-The fate of Chelsea Market’s expansion plan will be up for discussion at a town hall meeting at Holy Apostles Church on 296 9th Ave. Thursday evening. Residents of Manhattan’s Community Board 4 will have the opportunity to weigh-in about the positives and negatives of Jamestown Properties’ proposal to construct new office and hotel space here.
The Atlanta-based developer is seeking a rezoning change to pave the way for a 300,000-square-foot tower above the existing market and a new hotel on the corner of 16th St. and 9th Ave. GlobeSt.com previously reported that Jamestown secured a $380 million loan for the recapitalization of the market, buying out its partners Angelo, Gordon & Co., Belvedere Capital and developer Irwin Cohen in the mixed-use complex. The loan was financed through German bank Landesbank Baden-Wurttemberg and was arranged by CBRE’s Capital Markets Group.
While the project still requires a full review through the city’s Uniform Land Use Review Procedure, Lee Silberstein, a spokesperson for the Chelsea market expansion, tells GlobeSt.com in a statement that the developer has been engaged in a dialogue with community stakeholders for the better part of 2011. "In that light, although Jamestown Properties was not asked to be a part of tonight’s discussion, we are interested in listening to our neighbors and thought it was important for us to attend," Silberstein says, anticipating that the first public hearing regarding the matter will begin next year. “We have always been and continue to be committed to the long-term stewardship of Chelsea Market.”
But opponents say the proposed new construction would be out-of-scale for the largely residential area. “It would up-zone a block that’s already built a very, very high density,” Andrew Berman, executive director of the Greenwich Village Society For Historic Preservation, tells GlobeSt.com. He says the development could also create shadowing over the low-rise Gansevoort Market Historic District and the new High Line Park. “It would tip the balance in the neighborhood very much further in the direction of commercialization in a largely residential neighborhood. There would be a big traffic impact. The Chelsea Market complex is one of the most iconic historic buildings in New York. It’s been a smashingly successful example of adaptive re-use, and this is really about greed, not need.”
The current market, located at 75 Ninth Ave., spans the entire blockfront between 9th and 10th Aves. on 15th and 16th Streets. The property is 99% occupied by tenants like Google, Major League Baseball, NY 1 News, Oxygen Media and EW Scripps.
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