Landmarks Approves Tweaked Design For New Hotel At 456 Greenwich Street

Approved design for 456 Greenwich Street, rendering by Stephen B. JacobsApproved design for 456 Greenwich Street, rendering by Stephen B. Jacobs

Do what the Landmarks Preservation Commission asks and you shall receive its blessing. So was the case for the hotel planned for 456 Greenwich Street, sitting partly in the TriBeCa North Historic District. The proposal went before the commission in early August, but the brick choice and square fenestrations didn’t fly. So, the applicant was forced to come back. They did so on Tuesday and had perhaps the most pain-free experience in this journalist’s experience with the LPC.

456 Greenwich Street (via Google Maps)

456 Greenwich Street (via Google Maps)

First, just a bit of history. The existing building, a single-story garage, was built in 1942. In September of 2014, the LPC heard a proposal to convert it into a restaurant. The color – white – was not well-received (to put it lightly). In November, the color had been changed to red and the LPC said yes to it. Since then, the plan for a restaurant has been scrapped.

On August 4 of this year, an eight-story hotel was proposed to replace the garage. As previously reported by YIMBY, Western Heritable Investment Company, Caspi Development, and Barone Management are the developers. The commissioners loved the idea and had no problem with the size. There were, however, two major sticking points.

August proposal for hotel at 456 Greenwich Street

August proposal for hotel at 456 Greenwich Street

First, a square pattern had been proposed for the second and third floor windows and for the fourth and fifth floor windows. It rubbed the commissioners the wrong way. In response, masonry piers were added to the design to break up the square and create more verticality. Second, the brick proposed was too light. The design now has a more rusticated color. Additionally, the base was raised a bit at the corners and darkened.

The commissioners were so pleased they had almost nothing to say and neither architect Stephen B. Jacobs nor preservation consultant Cas Stachelberg (of Higgins Quasebarth & Partners) had to say anything. The application was approved without objection.

Here are some more details about the hotel itself. Previous reports said the hotel would have 100 rooms. In August, Jacobs said it would be a “five-star” hotel with an average room size of over 420 square feet. There will be a pool on the roof. Due to the flood plain, the first floor is raised up 30 inches and all mechanical elements are on the roof. Additionally, there will be ground floor retail.

456 Greenwich Street - Supplemental LPC Submission_2015-08-20 Be 456 Greenwich Street - Supplemental LPC Submission_2015-08-20 Be 456 Greenwich Street - Supplemental LPC Submission_2015-08-20 Be 456 Greenwich Street - Supplemental LPC Submission_2015-08-20 Be 456 Greenwich Street - Supplemental LPC Submission_2015-08-20 Be 456 Greenwich Street - Supplemental LPC Submission_2015-08-20 Be 456 Greenwich Street - Supplemental LPC Submission_2015-08-20 Be 456 Greenwich Street - Supplemental LPC Submission_2015-08-20 Be 456 Greenwich Street - Supplemental LPC Submission_2015-08-20 Be 456 Greenwich Street - Supplemental LPC Submission_2015-08-20 Be 456 Greenwich Street - Supplemental LPC Submission_2015-08-20 Be 456 Greenwich Street - Supplemental LPC Submission_2015-08-20 Be 456 Greenwich Street - Supplemental LPC Submission_2015-08-20 Be 456 Greenwich Street - Supplemental LPC Submission_2015-08-20 Be 456 Greenwich Street - Supplemental LPC Submission_2015-08-20 Be 456 Greenwich Street - Supplemental LPC Submission_2015-08-20 Be 456 Greenwich Street - Supplemental LPC Submission_2015-08-20 Be 456 Greenwich Street - Supplemental LPC Submission_2015-08-20 Be 456 Greenwich Street - Supplemental LPC Submission_2015-08-20 Be 456 Greenwich Street - Supplemental LPC Submission_2015-08-20 Be 456 Greenwich Street - Supplemental LPC Submission_2015-08-20 Be 456 Greenwich Street - Supplemental LPC Submission_2015-08-20 Be 456 Greenwich Street - Supplemental LPC Submission_2015-08-20 Be 456 Greenwich Street - Supplemental LPC Submission_2015-08-20 Be 456 Greenwich Street - Supplemental LPC Submission_2015-08-20 Be 456 Greenwich Street - Supplemental LPC Submission_2015-08-20 Be 456 Greenwich Street - Supplemental LPC Submission_2015-08-20 Be 456 Greenwich Street - Supplemental LPC Submission_2015-08-20 Be 456 Greenwich Street - Supplemental LPC Submission_2015-08-20 Be 456 Greenwich Street - Supplemental LPC Submission_2015-08-20 Be 456 Greenwich Street - Supplemental LPC Submission_2015-08-20 Be 456 Greenwich Street - Supplemental LPC Submission_2015-08-20 Be 456 Greenwich Street - Supplemental LPC Submission_2015-08-20 Be

Evan Bindelglass is a local freelance journalist, photographer, cinephile, and foodie. You can e-mail him, follow him on Twitter @evabin, or check out his personal blog.

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1 Comment on "Landmarks Approves Tweaked Design For New Hotel At 456 Greenwich Street"

  1. Roman Pazuniak | September 9, 2015 at 10:07 am |

    Just an idea, why doesn’t YIMBY do side-by-sides of the previous designs to give the readers a more immediate impression of what the changes in a design were. I know I could click back, but automatic side-by-sides would be nice.

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