A prominent family of bond traders wants to move their business and their homes to Tribeca, and they’ve found just the place for an 11-story building to house both. But they are hardly getting a welcome from their intended neighbors.

		The lease on the floor that Samuel A. Ramirez and Co. now rents at 61 Broadway expires next year. The Ramirezes (Samuel, Sr., and his wife Diane, son Samuel, Jr., and his family and a daughter and her family) bought a lot on the northwest corner of Hubert and Greenwich streets. Architect Morris Adjmi designed a building that provides five floors for the family’s business, three floors for the three families, two top-floor residential apartments and a ground-level retail space. But the building is about five stories taller than zoning allows and the Ramirezes need a variance from the city. Last month Samuel, Jr., the company’s senior vice president, and his mother came before Community Board 1’s Tribeca Committee to learn what the board thinks of the plan. Not much, as it turned out. “Any increase over what we have to accept as of right is going to take away more light and air,” said committee chair Albert Capsouto. “The shadows will be cast all the way down to Canal
Street,” said Carole De Saram, a board member who lives in northern Tribeca. Several residents of a building behind the site, at 399 Washington St., also voiced opposition. “We lose our light whatever is built, but I’ve been opposed to all over`development outside the zoning here for 23 years,” said Jon Steinberg. “Once you establish a precedent, it would be disastrous all around.” The Ramirezes’ lawyer, Howard Weiss, argued that the building was in character with surrounding architecture. (The project is to go before CB1’s Landmarks Committee on May 12. See Community Calendar page 26.) To get a variance, Weiss must show that the Ramirezes would suffer a financial hardship if the building were to conform to zoning. He argued that soil conditions at the site make construction of the foundation too costly for a five- or six-story building. Weiss called the meeting with the committee “informational.” He said he would be back soon with an engineering report and modifications. “We’ll see if we can accommodate some of what was expressed,” he said later in an interview. But residents doubt that there is room for accommodation. “My assumption is that they’ll come back with nine stories and think it will get through,” said Steinberg. “I strongly doubt it.”