New Group Professes 'Love' for Tower and Seaport Developer's Plans
From left, Maria Ho-Bruge, Joy Martini and Lisa Gorke at the meeting they organized to show support for the Howard Hughes Corp.'s Seaport redevelopment plans, including a 496-foot-high tower, rendering at left, where the New Market Building now stands. Photo: Carl Glassman/Tribeca Trib Rendering: SHoP Architects
Three Peck Slip School parents are at the helm of a newly formed group called Friends of the Seaport that supports Howard Hughes Corp.’s development plans––until now an all but silent voice in the midst of opposition by local elected officials and area activists.
Monday evening, the women—Maria Ho-Burge, Joy Martini and Lisa Gorke—managed to pack the Pine Street School auditorium with a standing-room-only crowd, where they declared their enthusiastic backing for the plan, including a controversial residential tower on the river that is nearly 500 feet high.
“We’re deeply committed to these Seaport streets and we’re immensely excited about a development project that will give our community, at last, a beating heart,” said Ho-Burge, whose family lives on Wall Street.
The women said they decided to organize like-minded residents out of frustration that their opinions were not being heard. “As we’ve watched the debate play out with respect to the project, we haven’t felt included, engaged or represented,” Ho-Burge told the gathering, which was given a presentation on the plans by architect Gregg Pasquarelli and Hughes Corp. executives.
The organizers, among some other parents, say they are enthusiastic about a three-story, 71,000 square-foot middle school that the developer is promising to include on the third, fourth and fifth floors of the tower. The proposal, which has yet to formally begin a seven-month city review process, also includes East River Esplanade improvements, a marina, some below-market housing built on historic Schermerhorn Row, restoration of the historic Tin Building, an infusion of funds for the Seaport Museum, and more.
“We discovered that many of us love the modern construction of the new pier,” Ho-Burge said, referring to the shopping mall that the Hughes Corp. will be building on Pier 17. “And guess what else? A lot of us love the proposed tower.”
Martini, an Exchange Place resident, said the Hughes Corp. plans are necessary to repair “the blighted buildings on South Street” and improve connectivity between the Seaport and neighborhoods to the north.
“Since the city has neither the funds or, as far as I know, any plans to improve it,” she said, “how about we work with private developers and not against them to the benefit of our children, our city and maybe even a more healthy workforce?”
Gorke, a Broad Street resident who has two children at the Peck Slip School, added that she believes the plan “keeps what we want as well as what [Hughes Corp.] needs to be able to give us that money.”
While the trio had their share of supporters in the crowd, there was enthusiastic applause for Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer and her stated opposition to the tower.
“You need a new school,” Brewer said. “But I must admit, what we would like to work on with you, and Howard Hughes knows how we feel, is to find a way to have a tall tower and a school––but not right in the middle of the South Street Seaport.”
At a meeting last month, Brewer said that “there are conversations” about relocating the tower, or transferring its air rights, farther from the Seaport Historic District. David Weinreb said last month that the developer is “not ruling out” transferring the air rights, but no viable alternative sites have yet been presented.
Hughes Corp. has promised to give $10 million to the struggling Seaport Museum and house it in two new structures. Asked by the meeting’s organizers to speak, Jonathan Boulware, interim president of the museum, did not weigh in on the developer’s overall proposal. Rather, he said he stands behind development principles devised by the Seaport Working Group, a task force of Lower Manhattan civic leaders, elected officials and selected residents. Among those principles is the call for “alternatives” to the proposed tower, one that fits within the context of the nearby historic district.
“That was a rational process and the results of [it were] laudable,” Boulware said. “If we can go with those––[if] we can go back to the rational, thoughtful concepts of the Seaport Working Group––the museum will stand behind those.”
In her comments, Councilwoman Margaret Chin said she was glad that all sides are being heard. But, she emphasized, the plans are “not a done deal” and the public will have more opportunities to be heard.
“There’s a whole process, we’re not there yet,” Chin said, “but as we keep on talking and discussing and negotiating, we’ll get there.”
The developer will publicly present its plans for the Seaport Historic District at two separate CB1 Landmarks Committee meetings––one on Dec. 10 and one in January––and finally at the Landmarks Preservation Commission later in January. (The tower lies outside the district and will not be considered.) No date has been set for the Hughes Corp. to present its mixed-use project, including the tower, to the community board—the first step in the lengthy city review process.