Landmarks Commission: Bright White Eatery Is Not Right for Tribeca
Rendering of proposed design for a hotel's restaurant-bar at 456 Greenwich St. Rendering: Gene Kaufman Architect
It’s unsuited for Tribeca, in so many ways.
That was the opinion of Landmarks Preservation Commission members last month when they weighed in on the proposed restoration of a northern Tribeca parking garage and its conversion to a one-story, bright-white restaurant and bar.
The building, at 456 Greenwich St., on the corner of Desbrosses, lies in the Tribeca North Historic District. Earlier in September, Community Board 1 had recommended its rejection by the Landmarks Commission, with one member remarking that it should come with a sign saying, “White Castle.”
The commissioners, who did not take a vote but asked architect Gene Kaufman to rethink his design and come back, were as equally unflattering of the plan.
“This building gets weird when it starts to not look like a garage anymore,” said Commissioner Michael Goldblum. “It looks like more of a one-story restaurant in Forestdale or something in Florida.”
“Olive Garden comes to mind,” he added.
“The building has a very suburban look to it,” John Gustafsson agreed.
“To me, it sticks out of nowhere,” said the commission’s new chair, Meenakshi Srinivasan, noting that the color in particular seems “very disconnected” with the district.
Kaufman said the building’s brick facade couldn’t be restored to its original color because the masonry is two different colors—red and yellow—on its two sides. And he defended the color, saying that there are some precedents for white buildings in the area.
“White and any other light color, particularly white, will fade and erode,” he told the commissioners. “I didn’t want to start with a dark color that will get darker.”
There were objections, too, to the six-foot high wall that would surround a 1,500-square-foot patio-like space in front of the building. Several commissioners said it should not be solid but have openings. And they didn’t care for the metal-and-glass canopy extending over the Greenwich Street sidewalk that Kaufman called contemporary, with “historic” materials. Srinivasan said it looked like it belonged on an apartment building, not among the industrial-style canopies of Tribeca.
There is the potential for open-air seating on a rooftop terrace and the open space in front of the building. The prospect of crowds eating and drinking outdoors prompted several neighbors from across the street to speak out at the hearing.
“There’s going to be a roof there, there’s going to be all kinds of parties and weddings and stuff going on,” said Todd James, of 465 Greenwich St. “It’s completely disruptive.”
“We love northern Tribeca because it’s quiet,” added Jean Powers, who lives in the same building.
The restaurant and bar would be connected to a planned 11-story hotel. Kaufman said neighbors shouldn’t worry about noise because the hotel, being even closer to the site, would be affected “as much or more than anyone else.”
The hotel, as yet undesigned, lies just outside the historic district and the purview of the Landmarks Preservation Commission. Unused air rights from the garage site are being used to allow for a taller building. Commissioner Frederick Bland called it “very cynical” to “put all of the FAR [floor area ratio] as high as you can, immediately outside the district, and then paint this little remaining remnant.”
If the decision, Bland said, is to restore the building rather than demolish it and put up something bigger that is more in keeping with the surrounding buildings, then the structure should remain largely unchanged.
“Eating and drinking in a renovated garage,” he said, “is pretty cool.”