The real estate wing of Trinity Church, which was deeded much of the land in lower Manhattan by Queen Anne in 1705, has unveiled its master plan to turn the western end of Soho into an actual 24-hour neighborhood. Currently, only 4 percent of the space in the area is residential. With the addition of 3,000 to 3,500 new apartments, they hope to boost that number up to 25 percent. This will require rezoning (the area is almost entirely set off for commercial use), and they've taken their plan to Community Board 2's Land Use and Business Development Committee. They also want to put a cap on the height of new buildings (so we don't get any more Trump Sohos protruding out like a middle finger), block any big box stores from coming into the neighborhood (except supermarkets), and prevent the intrusion of any new nightclubs.

The cornerstone of their plan is a new 429-foot tall tower in the sweeping empty space between Sixth Avenue and Varick Street, just above Canal. To avoid putting pressure on already overloaded neighborhood schools, Trinity hopes to build a 420-child school in the base of this building and lease it to the Department of Education, for free and forever. Also, in an effort to be nice, they plan on building a park in Duarte Square, which is this really desolate stretch of pavement that I walk by every day on the way to work and never understand.

Trinity says it’s time for residential in Hudson Square [Villager via Curbed]