Approval Sought for New Face of an Old Problem Penthouse
Built in 1997 against the fervent objections of neighbors in the adjoining building, the penthouse at 155 Franklin St. was something of a rarity, a 2,200-square-foot “rooftop mezzanine” allowed under a short-lived loophole in Tribeca zoning.
Now, 15 years after residents at the abutting 100 Hudson St. building lost their fight—and their views—when the penthouse went up within a few feet of their windows, the structure has a new and dubious distinction: it is falling apart. An entirely rebuilt and redesigned structure is up for city approval.
“It’s shocking to see just how poor the conversion really turned out to be,” said Roger Byrom, chair of Community Board 1’s Landmarks Committee. “Unfortunately we didn’t have some of the technology we
have today to be able to prove they weren’t building what they were allowed to build.”
The renovated penthouse, barely visible from the street, will be covered in brick with dark wood windows and sliding doors, copper finishes on the roof, and a covered patio with seating and lattices to support an “exciting outdoor vegetative experience,” as its architect, Danny Forster, described it.
Despite objections from Elliot Fine, one of the neighbors who led the fight against the original structure, CB1 approved the new architect’s designs for recladding and repairing the addition.
The new design is not an improvement, Fine told CB1’s Landmarks Committee, after viewing a presentation by Forster. “It’s very aggressive,” he said. “It definitely projects out and that was not part of the original deal.”
The proposal goes before the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission for final approval on Feb. 7.
Developer Christopher Clark, who converted 155 Franklin, known as the Sugarloaf Building, into condominiums in the 1990s, built the penthouse for himself and his wife. At the time, Fine and his next-door neighbors fought a protracted legal battle against its construction. In a compromise brokered by the Department of Buildings, Clark was allowed to build the penthouse, but was required to maintain a greater distance from his neighbors’ windows than typically mandated. Clark sold the penthouse, along with the two apartments below it, to a single owner in 2008, according to news reports. He did not respond to several requests for comment.
The architects have a series of problems to tackle. The parapet running along the east side of the building is rotted, as are many of the windows. Water collects between the deck and the roof and leaks into the sixth-floor apartments.
“We have a huge issue in that the penthouse itself cannot support its own weight, let alone the weight it was carrying with the vegetation that was there,” Forster said.
The unidentified owners plan to rebuild the parapet, demolish and replace the roof, build a steel frame around the penthouse, and then attach a new brick facade to the frame.
Forster said his clients also plan to wrap the building’s cooling tower, which has been a vexing source of noise to neighbors.
The challenge with having lot-line windows is that you never know when your view is going to change, Byrom told Fine.
“I think the feeling of the committee is this is an improvement over what is already there,” Byrom said.
Fine’s next-door neighbor, Rick Gilberg, said in a telephone interview that the design seemed tasteful, but added that he was wary after his previous experiences.
“The first time we saw people on the roof 15 years ago, we asked them what they were putting in and they said ‘a garden,’” said Gilberg, who late last month looked over the plans with Fine and Forster. “So when we hear ‘facade renovation,’ our first thought is, “It’s a facade, not a renovation.’”
Gilberg said he and several of his neighbors from 100 Hudson would be at the Feb. 7 hearing.“Maybe it’s going to be a nice situation, but we are going to have to see,” he said.
By Jessica Terrell