The Financial District’s rapid transformation from an office to a residential neighborhood has been immensely beneficial to Lower Manhattan, and the area’s recent boom has been mostly free of architectural casualties. But that’s about to change thanks to demolition beginning on the old vestry at 68-74 Trinity Place, which will soon be removed to make way for a new Pelli Clarke Pelli-designed mixed-use building standing almost 500 feet tall.
Demolition permits for the old structure were filed last December, and YIMBY reported on the building’s fate back in 2013, when it became clear it would be removed. While the office annex is certainly attractive, it was built in 1923, and no longer meets the needs of Trinity Church.
The loss of the old building is in this case unfortunate, but if any neighborhood has an abundance of pre-war towers, it is the Financial District (and most of the worthy ones are already landmarked). Pelli Clarke Pelli is designing the new structure, and while renderings had previously been revealed, it would appear changes are still planned.
68-74 Trinity Place, old rendering by Pelli Clarke Pelli
Job applications for the new tower were filed and reported by YIMBY last September, just as the great filing frenzy of 2014 was getting underway. Figures on the permits conflicted with previous reports, indicating the building had received a slight height boost, to 44 stories and 499 feet. Its total scope encompasses 250,995 square feet, with Trinity set to occupy 93,180 square feet on the first seven floors, and 111 condominiums set to divide 157,185 square feet above.
While the number of floors set aside for Trinity has remained constant, the residential component has received a 12-story boost, from 25 to 37 floors. That is likely a response to the increasingly gargantuan condominium projects rising in the surrounding blocks, which include both 50 West Street and 125 Greenwich Street.
68-74 Trinity Place
Whether plans for the new tower continue changing remains to be seen, but outward progress is now visible on the old structure. It appears that a significant portion of the building’s interiors have now been removed, and per the latest photos, exterior demolition is now getting underway as well.
68-74 Trinity Place
Previous statements from Trinity Church pinpointed 2017 as the project’s completion date, but given previous delays, it would appear that delivery in the 2018-timeframe is more likely.
Subscribe to YIMBY’s daily e-mail
Follow YIMBYgram for real-time photo updates
Like YIMBY on Facebook
Follow YIMBY’s Twitter for the latest in YIMBYnews
Just one more example of why a beautiful ‘older building’ either attains ‘landmark Status’ or it has a date with demolition in NYC. One more ‘gem’ gone forevermore. There are so many that books have been written about them. Someday, perhaps the taller glass-and-steel structures replacing today’s ‘outdated ones’ will meet up with the same fate. After all, it’s called ”Progress” and just about everything here takes up space of something which went before.