Andrew Berman

The first public hearing on the Rudin Management Company's plans for the site of St. Vincent Hospital in Greenwich Village will be this evening at 6:30 at P.S. 41 at 116 West 11th Street. Andrew Berman, executive director of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, emailed us the announcement on Monday night.

He called Rudin's plan "almost unprecedented in its scope, especially in the Greenwich Village Historic District."

Rudin last year bought eight buildings at 12th Street and Seventh Avenue that St. Vincent Catholic Medical Centers is vacating as part of a consolidation. Bill Rudin, president of Rudin Management, talked to The Observer's John Koblin in June about the plans, which would include an apartment complex on the east side of Seventh:  read more »

As executive director of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, Andrew Berman has led efforts against New York University’s expansion in both the Village and the East Village as well as against Donald Trump’s 45-story Trump SoHo Hotel Condominium New York.  read more »

Know this about the Hotel Gansevoort's large billboards: They have to be at a 90-degree angle facing away from Hudson Street and more toward the meatpacking-district hotel. Currently, they face away from Hudson at about an 86-degree angle, according to sources familiar with the ongoing dispute.

The Real Estate last week got a happy email from the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation. The email said the city had responded to complaints about the billboards by requiring the hotel to make adjustments to the billboards or to take them down. The city's angle measurements, according to society executive director Andrew Berman, were probably done last week.

On Wednesday, The Real Estate got a two-sentence statement from a representative of Michael and William Achenbaum, the brothers who own the Hotel Gansevoort. The statement was attributed to Michael:

There has been no violation issued against the hotel or sign. The sign is currently being installed in a matter that is legal-the city is aware of this and has approved it.

So, with the angle of the billboards being adjusted, perhaps the dispute has been resolved. Or has it?

"Signs like this belong in Las Vegas," Mr. Berman said on Wednesday, slicing to the heart of the billboards dispute.

Developing...

- Tom Acitelli

Trump's been oh so good about keeping his Soho condo-hotel low-profile. So much so that he refrained from making comments like he did back in June (you know, the opposition-is-totally-wrong type of stuff) and stayed out of the press (he declined comment for a story in The Observer on the project two weeks ago).

But then this. And now this: According to preservationist Andrew Berman, Trump had a questionnaire on his Soho condo-hotel Web site asking potential buyers if they would use the project as a "primary residence," "secondary residence," or "investment property." Err, in other words: Not too discreet as to whether this is a real hotel or a pretend hotel (though, we must admit, we didn't have a chance to click on this while it was still up on the site. It's no longer there). If it's a pretend hotel (read: a condo in condo-hotel clothing), then Trump may have trouble building it.

Throwing caution to the wind? Or just a little-too-public slip-up?

Either way, maybe now City Council Speaker Christine Quinn needs to meet with her people again and really try to figure out how to answer Berman's claims, which are suddenly looking very real.  read more »

- John Koblin

With a tall tower tucked among tiny office buildings and warehouses on the West Side in Soho, here c  read more »

Before last night's Community Board 2, representatives for the proposed Trump International Hotel and Tower (to be located at 246 Spring Street) nervously paced the linoleum halls of Housing Works, at 320 West 13th Street, thumbing at cell phones and BlackBerries.

Unfortunately, Sean Yazbeck, the most recent Apprentice winner--who the Donald has tapped to manage the project--was not in attendance.

As The Real Estate reported yesterday, community activists led by the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation are opposing the Trump-led plan to build 45-story condo-hotel in Hudson Square.

At the heart of their opposition is the claim that the newest Trump Tower would violate zoning laws by placing permanent residences in an area zoned for manufacturing.

Last night, GVSHP's Andrew Berman told the gathering of about sixty Village residents that the project is a "Trojan horse" and a "back-door method to sneak in illegal development."

Berman began his self-described "spiel" by asking those in attendance to raise their hands if they opposed the Trump venture. As in a first-grade class obeying its teachers, a roomful of hands shot up.  read more »

Community Board 2 will be holding a hearing to discuss the proposed 45-story, 400-plus unit Trump International Hotel and Tower Soho, at 246 Spring Street (at Varick), tonight at Housing Works, at 320 West 13th Street (west of Eighth Avenue), at 6:30 p.m. The Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation is a featured presenter at the hearing.

GVSHP executive director Andrew Berman will be on hand to share his orgaznization's concerns regarding the $370 million project, namely that this is an attempt by Trump to build residences in an area zoned for manufacturing. The zoning law allows hotels to operate in certain manufacturing districts, as long as "units may not be made subject to sale, lease or other arrangements under which they would not be available for transient occupancy." (D.O.B. ruling, April 19, 2004.)
According to the New York Post, the hotel would sell rooms to individuals, who could then rent them out as hotel rooms. GVSHP alleges that this is just a scheme so that Trump could provide apartments and pieds-à-terre to individuals under the guise of "transient" housing.
And if that doesn't make your blood boil, consider this: Apprentice season No. 5 winner Sean Yazbeck will manage the construction, if and when the project--which hasn't been granted the necessary building permits yet--moves ahead. So strike a blow for culture, if not zoning laws.  read more »

-Matthew Grace

The Landmarks Preservation Commission yesterday designated two additional historic districts in Greenwich Village yesterday: an extension of the Greenwich Village Historic District, nearly three blocks between Greenwich and Washington streets from Christopher to Perry streets; and the Weehawken Street Historic District, between Christopher and along Weehawken Street.

The Greenwich Village Society for Historical Preservation has been lobbying the city since 2004 to have these two swaths of land landmarked, along with the recent down-zoning of the far West Village, and now that hard work has paid off. Said Andrew Berman (through a press release), executive director of the GVSHP: "We fought so long and hard for this, it's almost hard to believe this day has finally come.  read more »

After 40 years, the City has finally seen the wisdom in stopping the destruction of one of the New York's great historic neighborhoods, which will now be preserved. Between today's landmark designation and the downzoning of the area we fought for last year, the City has taken some very meaningful steps to save this endangered neighborhood." For a map of the historic district, click here. -Matthew Grace

Paul White, the executive director of Transportation Alternatives, writes in on the death of Jane Jacobs, and, appropriately enough, uses the occassion to promote a car-free Central Park, one of Jacobs' latest causes.

And Andrew Berman, executive director of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, passses on a eulogy to the Village's departed éminence grise.  read more »

Read both of them after the jump.

On Tuesday, the Landmarks Preservation Commission declined to make a decision regarding 122 Greenwich Avenue, at Eighth Avenue and 13th Street in the Village. According to City Realty and other attendees, there was much back and forth, with some residents--and the New York Landmarks Conservancy and the NYC Chapter of the American Institute of Architects--favoring Hines' plan to develop the current parking lot into an 11-story, 36-unit glass-sheathed undulating residential tower, and several dozen opposed to it. The ground floor, at 8,000 square feet, is planned for retail.  read more »

Yesterday, the Board of Standards and Appeals gave the go-ahead to continue construction on an eight-story residential development at 163 Charles Street in the far West Village.

The neighborhood was recently down-zoned after a concerted push by area residents and activist groups, most notably the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation.

GVSHP executive director Andrew Berman has been at the forefront of many battles around the nabe; after the down-zoning, he's been trying stop projects that were conspicuously started right before the height limits went into effect. But with limited success.

Artist Julien Schnabel just received a pass to continue construction on his 12-story tower on West 11th Street; Diane von Furstenberg's former studio and residence at 387-91 West 12th Street, which was sold for $21 million to Coalco, a Russian-owned development company, was slated to be the site of a 150-foot Christian de Portzamparc-designed glass-box tower. That project is in limbo.

163 Charles is just east of the three Richard Meier-designed towers that started the rush to build--and limit the height of--new buildings in the neighborhood.  read more »

(City Realty)

-Matthew Grace

The dissolution of the marriage between investor and art collector Adam Lindemann and his socialite  read more »

The Board of Standards and Appeals approved Related Companies' plan to build a 190-foot, 160,000-square-foot residential tower at the site of the Superior Ink factory at Bethune and West streets in Greenwich Village earlier today.

This is a partial victory for the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, which has been lobbying the B.S.A. to quash, or at least scale down, Related's project. It was originally designed to be 270 feet tall.

This should be one of the last new towers to go up in the neighborhood; last year the Department of City Planning down-zoned the whole area after a push by preservation activists and locals who were concerned about all the new, large-scale developments, such as the Meier towers on Perry and Charles streets, going up.

In a press release, GVSHP executive director Andrew Berman vowed to keep pressuring the Landmarks Preservation Commission to landmark the Superior Ink factory: "This historic neighborhood deserves nothing less."  read more »

-Matthew Grace

Last week, The Observer reported on the ongoing battle in the West Village that has entangled artist Julian Schnabel at 360 West 11th Street, as well as, Richard Meier’s partners at 166 Perry Street. Mr. Schnabel’s proposed 110-foot addition to his three-story stable building particularly infuriated neighbors and preservationists.

The City Council passed a downzoning of the West Village a month ago, and a dispute rages over whether Mr. Schnabel’s building is “vested” and should be grandfathered through under the old zoning rules (the maximum height of new developments dropped from 200 to 100 feet).

This morning, an e-mail circulated from the Greenwich Village Society for Historical Preservation stating that Mr. Schnabel’s building had been officially stopped. However, that work stoppage appears temporary.

“There is clearly a stop-work order in place,” said Andrew Berman, executive director of the GVSHP. “It’s clearly on the basis that the current work would not conform with the current zoning. Whether or not that is temporary or permanent, we are waiting to find out.”

The final decision from the Department of Buildings still hasn’t been reached.

“It’s still in flux,” said a spokesperson for the Department of Buildings. “[Julian Schnabel and his partners] haven’t addressed our concerns at this time. If, going forward, we revoke the permit, they have the option to go to [the Board of Standards and Appeals] to appeal.”  read more »

We'll keep you posted.

-Michael Calderone

A collective sigh of relief could be heard emanating from New York University's Kaufman Management C  read more »