Landmarks Agency Embraces Effort to Extend Historic District More of Tribeca’s historic buildings may soon be protected from demolition or unsightly development. After recent meetings involving the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission, Community Board 1 and the Historic Districts Council, the LPC is moving toward extending the Tribeca South Historic District below Chambers Street to include many of the buildings on Murray and Warren streets between West Broadway and Church Streets, as well most of the east side of West Broadway down to Murray. The extension would include historic buildings such as 75 Murray and 90 West Broadway. Sixty Warren Street, the residential conversion with a five-story addition that helped renew interest in extending the district, does not fall within the boundaries. "The community felt it was important, especially after Sept. 11, to move forward with designation," said Sherida Paulsen, the LPC’s chairwoman. "There is concern in the community about maintaining the historic character of Tribeca. If there’s anything that we can do to work with the community to preserve buildings that are architecturally and historically important, we will." Preservationists worry that the wave of downtown development in the wake of the World Trade Center disaster could put historic buildings at risk. The proposed extension represents less than half of the area that CB1 and the Historic Districts Council want eventually to protect. "The LPC wants to work on this in phases," said Roger Byrom, co-chair of CB1’s Landmarks Committee. "They feel the full extension that we’ve been asking for is too large to do in one phase. We feel it’s illogical to just have that small section, but they don’t have the resources to do the research." The blocks that the LPC is looking at for a historic district were proposed and researched in the late-1980’s but were not included in the Tribeca South district designation in 1991. Discussions were scheduled to continue this month on the exact boundaries of the area that will be up for designation. CB1 hopes to add other blocks such as the west side of West Broadway between Chambers and Warren streets. Paulsen said the commission’s staff would meet with building owners early this month, and that a public hearing on the extension may be held by June. The LPC staff would then prepare a designation report for the Commission to vote on.