The lot, just south of North Moore Street, has been empty since 1988, when the two-and-a-half-story townhouse that had stood there since 1802 was illegally torn down. The outlines—-some call them “ghosts”—-of the Federal-era townhouse still mark the side walls of 112 and 116 Hudson.

The modern building is being developed by Arthur Fefferman and designed by architect Harry Kendall, who teamed up on Tribeca’s Fischer Mills Building. It will be six stories high with a glass facade and an additional floor and penthouse set back on the roof.

The newcomer will be attached to the red-brick and cast-iron 1887 structure at 116 Hudson St., just south of Bubby’s restaurant, which will be restored and its fire escape removed. Each floor will contain one residential loft extending through both buildings.

Three rows of ornamental sunshades jut out horizontally from the façade between the floors and three thin metal mullions run down the glass wall.

The building’s ground floor will be combined with the commercial spaces at 116 Hudson, now the Hudson Lounge, and 112 Hudson, which used to be the Fourth Estate news shop and café, to create one large retail space.

Because the site is in the Tribeca West Historic District, the new building needs the Landmarks Preservation Commission’s approval.

The building’s ground floor will be combined with the commercial spaces at 116 Hudson, now the Hudson Lounge, and 112 Hudson, which used to be the Fourth Estate news shop and café, to create one large retail space.

Because the site is in the Tribeca West Historic District, the new building needs the Landmarks Preservation Commission’s approval. “The lucky inhabitants of these spaces will span time, from 1887 to 2003, in one living space,” said Kendall of BKSK Architects, in a presentation to Community Board 1’s Landmarks Committee. “It’s like a piece of modern furniture in a traditional room,” added George Schieferdecker of BKSK. But the committee, which plays an advisory role with the Landmarks Commission, voted to recommend rejection of the design. “[It] is more than just modern, it’s so different than everything else in the whole area,” said Rick Landman. “I have difficulty with it in a historic district,” said Mark Donnenfeld. The committee suggested relatively minor changes and several members said the design was too timid, lacking prominent aesthetic features, even in contemporary materials, to counterbalance the bold elements of neighboring brick buildings. Kendall noted that the site had always created a visual break in the block’s line of facades, first with the small townhouse, then as a vacant lot.

The Landmarks Commission took no action on the project following a presentation on Jan. 28. The commissioners suggested modifications, but appeared to largely favor the look of the new among the old.

“We are pleased that the project concept of modern and historic has been generally applauded by the commissioners and that the changes are not substantive,” Kendall said after the hearing.