Criminal Court's Possible Move to Thomas Street Worries Neighbors

The entrance to 71 Thomas Street, at West Broadway. There are concerns among those nearby that the building will house a criminal court. Photos: Carl Glassman/Tribeca Trib

Tribeca residents and business owners in the vicinity of 71 Thomas Street, at West Broadway, are up in arms over a possible move to that address by the New York County Criminal Court. The building now houses Manhattan's civil court.

With word of the potential move spreading quickly over the past few days, Community Board 1's Tribeca Committee will be taking up those concerns at its meeting Wednesday evening. The meeting begins at 6 p.m. in room 709 of 49 Chambers Street.

The court will be moving out of its current location at 346 Broadway, a nearby city-owned building at Leonard Street that is for sale, two court representatives told the Trib on Tuesday. They said they could not comment on whether 71 Thomas was being considered as a potential site for the court.

“We’re looking at a number of locations,” Justin Barry, chief clerk of the citywide criminal courts system, told the Trib in a phone interview.

Jon McGowan, a clerk who works for a state Supreme Court judge, may have sparked the concern with an email he sent out on Monday about a "hot rumor" among the court officers and "a couple of judges" at 71 Thomas Street. "This move will occur October 2014," he wrote. "The civil Supreme Court staff, it is rumored, will move to 111 Centre Street."

In a follow-up email to the Trib, McGowan said he sent the email because "I didn't want to believe this, but since my wife and I live on Duane Street, we wanted the larger Tribeca community to be aware."

Lynn Wagenknecht, owner of the restaurant Odeon, located across the street from 71 Thomas, said she worries that the court’s presence could draw unsavory people to the neighborhood.

“We’re all very upset about it,” she said. “They’d basically be people who have no connection to the neighborhood, who are coming in for reasons that are not positive.”

“This kind of transient visitation,” she added, “is obviously not at all what the neighborhood needs.”

A resident of 145 West Broadway, who requested anonymity, expressed a similar concern.

“I don’t see a need for [the court] here,” said the resident. “It’s going to be a lot of people on the street that we really don’t need in the neighborhood.”

— with additional reporting by Carl Glassman