Aurora principal Jared Epstein caused an uproar last August when he fallaciously described Gansevoort Street as “blighted“.  Now, Aurora Capital and Gottlieb Real Estate, the developers of the proposed massive Gansevoort project, seem to be doing their best to make that description a reality.  

Macellaria, the Italian restaurant at 48 Gansevoort Street much beloved in the community, has just been forced to close.  Macellaria actually wanted to remain in their location as long as possible, and asked to stay open on a month-by-month lease.  Despite the fact that this would have enabled the developers to continue to generate income from this property and it will be many months – at a minimum –  before any construction can begin, Aurora and Gottlieb said “No.” They gave Macellaria no option except to close. 

Rapha Racing at 64 Gansevoort Street is about to close because they lost their lease, and Sugar Factory at 46 Gansevoort St. has been vacant for several months.  The Gansevoort  Market at 52 Gansevoort St.  is currently thriving, but we’ve been told that Aurora/Gottlieb plans to evict them as soon as their lease expires.

We recently heard that the developers are conducting a telephone “push poll” encouraging community residents to support their project on the grounds that these landmarked buildings are in bad shape..  It appears that Aurora and Gottlieb are now going out of their way to make the block look as decrepit as possible – even if  it means they have to lose income  – in order to make it  easier for them to argue that this historic block is not worth preserving.

Macelleraria, 48 Gansevoort Street:

Rapha Racing at 64 Gansevoort Street:

The Gansevoort Market, 52 Gansevoort Street.  Now a thriving success,  however Aurora/Gottlieb plans to evict them as soon as their lease expires:

Sugar Factory at 46 Gansevoort St, now closed for several months:

But there’s hope!  Someone posted this sign on the Sugar Factory door:

And it snowed, and it snowed…

The Villager newspaper has a report on the Gansevoort developers’ latest tactic, a deceptive “push-poll” designed to manipulate people into voicing support for their plan.

As the article states,

Push polling is a form of telemarketing disguised as a survey, in which a caller asks the listener a series of leading questions meant to influence his or her opinion on a particular subject.  The Gansevoort pollsters reportedly asked community members questions like, “Would you prefer to see a series of decrepit, partly demolished buildings, or a historically sensitive restoration of what Gansevoort St. looked like until the 1930s?”

One resident who was called by the pollster called the poll “deceptive” and a “pretty low way to go about doing things.”

Tellingly, the developers are refusing to reveal the questions asked in the ‘poll’ or the script used by the interviewers.

Read the full article here.

The next LPC meeting on the proposed massive Gansevoort development project (which we had thought might be held January 12th) has been postponed; LPC is now telling us that this meeting will NOT take place in January

We’ll post an update as soon as we are given a date.  Please check back!  We will need a good turnout at this meeting to remind the Commissioners how strongly the community opposes this massive development.

Curbed.com lists the 10 biggest preservation battles of 2015 – and Gansevoort Street is #4 on the list!

Video of the November 10 Landmarks Preservation Commission hearing on the proposed massive Gansevoort development is now available online!

The Gansevoort hearing starts at about 6 hours 15 minutes; comments by elected officials start at 7 hours 7 minutes, and comments by the public start at about 7 hours 18 minutes.

The LPC will next hold a public meeting at which the Commissioners will question the developer, ask him to respond to the public comments, and then most likely ask the developer to make revisions to the proposal.  Whether those requested revisions will be significant is the big question!   The public will be able to attend (but not speak at) this meeting, which will be held in January; we hear it may be on January 12th.  We will need a good turnout at this meeting to remind the Commissioners how strongly the community opposes this massive development.

More photos and a full report from the hearing are here.

Thanks to your help, we rocked the Landmarks Preservation Commission hearing last Tuesday! 150 people turned out to show support.  That’s amazing turnout for a rainy workday afternoon in a location far from our community. The hearing room was completely full, and the foyer outside was packed – there were even people waiting in the hallway outside the foyer.

About 50 people testified; only two of these people spoke in favor of the project (and one of the two was a near-by property owner).  Assemblymember Deborah Glick testified in person speaking on behalf of herself and State Senator Brad Hoylman.   Borough President Gale Brewer and Councilmember Corey Johnson sent members of their staff to testify.  Both Save Gansevoort and the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation had multiple speakers, and the New York Landmarks Conservancy, Landmark West!, and  Historic Districts Council presented statements opposing the project.

Together, we all made a powerful argument that the Gansevoort block is defined by it’s market history and character, and that, quite simply, the proposed development would obliterate that character and history.

The testimony lasted until 7:00PM!  Given how late it was, the LPC Commissioners decided to adjourn  the hearing and postpone their own discussion and questions to the applicant until a future meeting. 

Since none of the Commissioners had the opportunity say a single word about the proposal, for now we have little idea what they currently think about this project. 

WE WILL NEED PEOPLE TO ATTEND THIS FUTURE MEETING TO REMIND THEM HOW STRONGLY THE COMMUNITY OPPOSES THIS MASSIVE DEVELOPMENT! The public will be able to observe this meeting but will not be able to speak.

We’ll post the date and time of this meeting as soon as it’s available. Let’s keep the pressure on!

The crowd waiting to get into the hearing room:

Inside the hearing room:

In the background, a small part of the overflow crowd which filled the foyer and hallway:

The Commissioners listen to the presentation by the developer’s architect. There’s a lot of paper on that table!

Seated in the aisle:

Exhausted after a hard day of testimony!

The New York Times grabs the Gansevoort story, and asks the right question:

So does an unspectacular yet wholly unique row of buildings render the block between Greenwich and Washington Streets sacrosanct, or is it out of place? With everything around it being transformed, is that all the more reason to redevelop the strip, or to rescue it?

It’s pretty obvious which answer the Landmarks Preservation Commission should give!

Read the full article here.

The all-important Landmarks Preservation Commission hearing on the proposed massive Gansevoort Street development will be this coming Tuesday, November 10.

This is the big one! It is the only public hearing that the Landmarks Preservation Commission will hold before deciding whether to approve or deny this plan. 

Tuesday, November 10, 3:30 PM (note that time has changed)
1 Centre Street, 9th floor (the Municipal Building at Chambers St.)
Entrance on South end of building near subway station, ID required for entry.

We need your help to pack the hearing room. Nothing is more powerful than a strong turn-out of community members expressing their opposition to this project.  Join us and tell LPC why you believe this plan for a massive transformation of landmarked Gansevoort Street would destroy the historic character of the district. Even if you don’t wish to speak, it’s important that you be present. We will have stickers for people to wear to display their opposition to this proposal, and you will be able to state that you oppose the proposal when you sign in.

If you can’t come when the hearing starts around 3:30, please come later – you will be able to speak if you sign in before 4:00 pm, and you will be able to enter the hearing room and show support if you arrive before 5:00 pm.

FREE TRANSPORTATION: We will have a free bus to the hearing leaving from 73 Horatio Street (outside the West Village Nursery School) on Tuesday at 2:30. The hearing will take several hours after which the bus will travel  back to Horatio. If you want to use this bus, please RSVP with your name and phone number to savegansevoort@gmail.com

Join the facebook event here.

See you at the hearing!!

The leading West-Side preservation organization, Landmark West!, has just announced its opposition to the massive Gansevoort development project:

A new proposal by BKSK Architects would seek to alter an entire row of the districts edge- one full block and either alter, or completely eradicate the century-old structures to replace them with 122 feet of vertical development.  There are of course, times when alterations to landmarks are appropriate but assembling a full block within a known historic district should not be carte blanche to start from scratch. 

Read their full statement here, and their testimony before the Landmarks Preservation Commission here.