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Little Alley Called Big ‘Safety Valve’
as CB1 Rejects Closing
The company constructing a 15-story residential building at 3–9 Hubert
St. hit a dead end at Community Board 1 last month when the board denied
its request to close Collister Street, between Beach and Hubert streets,
for nine months.
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Citing safety concerns and a desire to finish
the job three months faster, Pavarini Construction Company asked to
close the alley so that a construction hoist, which lifts men and
materials, could be placed there. But on May 21 the board voted 25–8
to put the hoist on Hubert Street, the only alternative, so that pedestrians
can walk between the building and the lift, a setup that the builders
said they wanted to avoid.
"In our experience, it’s best to pull [the hoist] off a
main thoroughfare," said Brad Bradley, the project manager. "Collister
Street is barely a secondary street. It’s really an alley."
Alley or not, those opposing the plan called the 13-foot-wide byway
an important thoroughfare for local drivers, providing an escape from
the Holland Tunnel traffic inching its way north on Hudson Street.
Some board members said they use Collister to bypass Hudson Street
traffic from Beach and Laight streets. |
"That’s a very important safety valve,"
said Albert Capsouto, chair of the board’s Tribeca Committee. "I
think everyone who lives in northern Tribeca uses it once in a while."
But Pavarini brought in a traffic consultant who argued differently. Sue
McCoy of Philip Habib and Associates said she had conducted a study a
few days earlier that showed "very low numbers" of cars using
the alley. "Since Collister is not a through street, it’s not
a true safety valve for traffic on Hudson," she told the board.
At the meeting, several residents spoke out against putting the hoist
on Collister Street. One Beach Street resident who lives next to the alley
worried about an ailing neighbor whose rest might be disturbed by the
operation.
Mary Parvin, who lives nearby on Hudson Street, said she objects to having
Collister Street, "which is a little treasure and an intrinsic part
of Tribeca," closed for a crane.
Board member Marc Ameruso held up photos of a hoist in midtown. "If
they can do it at Eighth Avenue and 48th Street, I think they could manage
it on Hubert Street," he said.
Bradley said Pavarini will begin construction this month and that he expects
the hoist to be installed by December.
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