More than 300 East Side residents gathered recently to view a preliminary architectural concept for what could eventually be a waterfront esplanade running from 38th Street to as far north as 63rd Street.
The public session, held June 10, was the brainchild of the Municipal Arts Society, Community Board 6, City Councilmember Dan Garodnick and other East Side elected officials. During the previous week, they had sought community input in a preliminary session and then on June 8, brought together six of New York City’s top landscape architects for a “charrette” -- an intensive design workshop. The result was an architectural design concept, a vision, for an East River waterfront esplanade.
Garodnick, whose district covers much of the waterfront area, explained that the fate of three separate, but concurrent, development projects along the East River are to be decided shortly. First, New York State intends to rebuild the midtown segment of the FDR Drive. Second, the former Con Edison site is being redeveloped as office and residential space. Third, if the United Nations should expand with offices on Robert Moses Playground, a riverfront esplanade could be offered as replacement for the alienated parkland.
“Together they present a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to make the vision of a green space along the East River shoreline a reality,” Garodnick said.
Further -- and making an extension as far north as 63rd Street potentially feasible -- the temporary roadway that was created eastward of the FDR Drive from 54th Street to 63rd Street while the FDR was being reconstructed, could be reconfigured as a pedestrian esplanade. Elected officials have asked the State Department of Transportation to hold off on demolishing the steel beams that secured the roadway until the city can study the possibility of converting the area to public parkland.
What the East Side residents viewed at the meeting was a preliminary concept focused primarily on the 38th to 42nd Street section fronting the Con Edison site, with a promenade built up over a reconstructed FDR Drive and containing grassy parkland, seating and viewing areas. The plan is clearly at a preliminary stage and must cross many hurdles before it would become a reality. But Garodnick told the enthusiastic crowd of residents, “The most important thing that you can do to help move this forward is to make your voices heard.”
Among elected officials joining Garodnick at the session were State Senator Liz Krueger, Assemblyman Jonathon Bing, Assemblyman Brian Kavanaugh, Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer and City Council Chair Christine Quinn.
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CONSPICUOUSLY ABSENT
While the Charrette was well attended by our elected officials, Community Board 6, the Municipal Art Society, the public, and even the East River Development Corporation's (ERDC) landscape architects, nobody from the New York City Planning Commission deigned to show up. The Commission has repeatedly asserted that it will evaluate the ERDC proposal for the Con Edison Waterside properties without considering such issues beyond the property lines such as the Waterfront, FDR Drive rehabiliation, or the possible U. N. tower in Moses Playground. This might make sense if the ERDC were building in the barren Mohave Desert, not in the most densely populated borough of the most densely populated City in the United States! How shortsighted! How can this powerful city agency call itself the Planning Commission when, at least in this very major instance, it abandons what real urban planning is about?
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CHARRETTES: WHAT AND HOW
A Charrette is an intensive design session, or sessions, in which a group of architects or planners, often in teams, draft a solution to an given design issue within a fixed, brief time frame. The structure varies. The National Charrette Institute (NCI), for example, lays out an affair going lasting four days or more in which each designer team comes up with its version of an answer, followed by a series of meetings and refinings during which plans are winnowed out one after another until, at the end, a single solution is achieved.
Charrettes can be used in many fields, including urban planning. Frequently the public participates, offers comments and suggestions, and even takes part in the various stages, including choosing the end result. The recent East River Waterfront Charrette is an example of this type; the public did participate in the preliminary and intermediate stages but not, however, at the conclusion. Essentially, it was the designers, all noted landscape architects, that made the ultimate choice. From beginning to end, it lasted four days.
The word “charrette” is, of course, French in origin, meaning “cart.” Here it derives from the carts upon which late-nineteenth century Beaux-Arts Institute students loaded their works to be hauled off for their final examinations, pass or fail. Many would-be artists often jumped onto the charrette itself as it lumbered through the cobblestone streets of Paris, hastily applying last-minute finishing touches to their canvasses. Subsequently, the definition of “charrette” was extended to any planning session working to an early, imminent deadline.
A century before the Beaux-Arts goings-on, “charrette” stood for something far grimmer than pass or fail. The carts hauled the condemned to the guillotine; they were especially busy during the 1789 French Revolution and the Terror that followed. That was a real “dead line.” Fortunately, modern-day charrette participants need not expect such a finale as reward for their well-intentioned efforts.
WHAT’S UP IN TURTLE BAY - CONSTRUCTION- 2007
The unprecedented Turtle Bay building boom, which began last year, continues full blast:
U. S. Mission to the U. N. - 45th Street at U. N. Plaza: This is 27 stories of architectural concrete, with slitted windows which become wider higher up - a fortress designed with security uppermost. It is now some eight floors up - slow going since architectural concrete requires nearly zero tolerances.
NEW HAPPENING! 823 United Nations Plaza at 46th Street. The old ADL site had been acquired in late 2005 by the Macklowe Organization for approximately $101,000,000. In late June, 2007, 18 months later, it was acquired by a venture including William and Arthur Zeckendorf and Eyal Ofer's Global Holdings for $160,000,000, according to the press. Even allowing for the cost of demolition (now nearly complete), Macklowe will garner a 50% profit! Zeckendorf-Global are planning a 242,000 square foot "super high-end luxury" condominium, most likely 40 or more floors tall. Both TBA and the Friends of Dag Hammarskjold Plaza are closely monitoring this job, particularly as it may affect the adjacent Hepburn Garden.
NEW HAPPENING! 313-315-317 E. 46 Street: Three existing houses were razed; plans have been approved for an 18 story, 90,000 square foot condominium. The press reports that the owner, Eastern Consolidated, has put this property, along with the approved plans, on the market. Bids are expected to exceed $40,000,000 - about the same per square foot of property that was paid for the nearby 823 U. N. Plaza site. The next door Albano Building may become temporary swing space for U. N. staff displaced by Secretariat refurbishing.
865 United Nations Plaza between 48th & 49th Streets: Conversion to condominiums in existing 16 story building is under way.
250 East 49th Street: After a year and a half of delays, punctuated by damage to next door buildings and site flooding, plans for a 24 story, semi-circular apartment tower have been approved. Demolition is finished; a new builder has been selected and excavation has been renewed.
NEW HAPPENING! 249-251-253 East 50th Street: Once home to Lutece, Katherine's, and the Leopard, these three houses have been acquired by a developer. Plans for a 19 story building replacing 251 and 253 and a 3 story addition atop 249 have been rejected by the Department of Buildings.
The M: 343 E. 50 Street: This conversion of three existing 4 story townhouses into a new 7 story condominium is completed and being tenanted.
211 East 51 Street: An existing 14 story apartment house set on a split zoning lot (50% high-rise commercial, 50% low-rise residential) adjacent to Green Acre Park is to be converted into condominiums. As dictated by code, a seven story tower addition is limited to the western, commercial-zoned half. Plans have been approved. This work is being coordinated with the Green Acre Foundation.
NEW HAPPENING! 303 East 51st Street: The City granted partial approval for a new 31 story, 99 apartment condominium tower, the shape of which is not as yet set. Foundations are complete. The owner, Kennelly Development, has recently acquired additional frontage on 2nd Avenue. There, three existing houses have been approved for demolition down to the first floor roof.
952 2nd Avenue between 50th and 51st Streets: Demolition is complete. Conversion of 2 existing four story to six floors of apartments had been approved, but with the original houses gone, what may appear here is now an unknown.
955 - 957 1st Avenue between 52nd and 53rd Streets: Former Metropolitan Café. Size and height is not yet determined. Demolition is complete.
210 East 52nd Street: This office block may be converted into a transient hotel.
252 East 53rd Street: The Veneto: New 32 story condominium is in final stages.
310 East 53rd Street: A 30 story condominium was recently completed and is being occupied.
TBA continues to keep close watch on construction and a wary eye on so-called “soft spots” (sites developers consider worth assembling expecting to put up yet more “luxury” condominiums).
