Seven Buildings in Union Square Tech Hub Neighborhood Landmarked
Community activists say the action is “a token gesture which does little to provide the protections this neighborhood needs.”
NEW YORK CITY—The Landmarks Preservation Commission voted to landmark the following downtown buildings that are in the neighborhood of the Union Square tech hub where construction is underway:
817 Broadway, a 14-story Renaissance Revival store-and-loft building designed by George B. Post, built in 1998.
826 Broadway, an 11-story Renaissance Revival store-and-loft building designed by William H. Birkmire, built in 1902.
830 Broadway, a Renaissance Revival store-and-loft building designed by Cleverdon & Putzel and built in 1898.
832 Broadway, designed by Ralph Townsend in 1896-1897 for the Boehm and Coon Company in a modified Renaissance Revival style that features Neo-Classical details.
836 Broadway, a Second Empire/Noe-Grec style iron front building designed by Stephen Decatur Hatch and built in 1876 for the estate of James J. Roosevelt.
840 Broadway, a Renaissance Revival style building designed by Robert Maynicke and built around 1899 for Henry Corn.
841 Broadway, the Roosevelt Building, an eight-story, Romanesque Revival store-and-loft building designed by architect Stephen D. Hatch and constructed in 1894 for members of the Roosevelt family.
Village Preservation had advocated for the city council to approve the development’s upzoning only if comprehensive restrictions were placed to preserve the neighborhood. Although applauding the benefits of the tech hub, the non-profit group, formerly called the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, had warned that without zoning protections, it would accelerate out-of-scale development in the neighborhood.
The community group criticized council member Carlina Rivera, saying she reneged a campaign promise to approve the Tech Hub proposal only with zoning protections. The group had proposed creation of a historic district with 193 buildings and notes the seven landmarked structures amount to only 3.6% of the requested properties.
“Normally a preservation group like ours would cheer the landmark designation of seven buildings in our area,” says Village Preservation’s executive director Andrew Berman. “But this token gesture that does not even begin to provide the protections that neighborhood needs or was promised by our council member when she ran for office is a huge disappointment, and another indication of the lack of interest in protecting this neighborhood by leaders at all levels of city government.”
He adds the buildings were cherry picked to be landmarked as they were not in danger of being destroyed. He explains they were overbuilt under existing zoning and therefore face no threat of demolition in the foreseeable future. Berman states that many other buildings in the area are immediately at risk.
Village Preservation has also criticized the Tech Hub as benefitting Mayor Bill de Blasio’s donors and fundraisers. In a May 5, 2019 article in the New York Daily News, Berman criticized the selection process for the project’s developer, RAL, as lacking transparency. He further pointed out that Andrew Rasiej, CEO of Civil Hall, a partner in the project donated $8,000 to the mayor, and that RAL had given at least $10,000 to de Blasio’s now disbanded, non-profit Campaign for One New York.