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Developer Solicits Input For South Street Market An executive from the developer that will be transforming the South Street Marketplace came before Community Board 1 members Dec. 11 to ask what they think the neighborhood needs. “The company is looking for ways to activate the seaport,” said Michael McNaughton, the vice president of asset management for General Growth Properties’ northeast region. “These are the beginning steps of revisioning the district.” McNaughton, whose company is best known for building shopping malls around the country, told board members the General Growth wants to know what community amenities they would like to see incorporated into whatever development General Growth undertakes in the area. That development has remained a question ever since the Fulton Street Fish Market moved to the Bronx two years ago. Given the open-ended prompt, members of CB1’s Seaport, Financial District and Waterfront Committees had a long wish list. Ro Sheffe said the area needs passive recreational space, libraries, and cultural institutions. Marc Ameruso suggested a swimming pool, a basketball court, and educational lecture programs like those run by the 92nd Street Y. Other suggestions included an aquarium, public kitchen facilities, a bowling alley and cinemas. McNaughton listened carefully to each suggestion, taking notes on a small pad. He asked the board members to consider forming an ad hoc committee to work with him in fully articulating the needs of the community on the east side of Lower Manhattan. But Waterfront Committee chairwoman Julie Nadel had a question of her own for McNaughton. “You’re here asking us to tell you what we want, but you’re not telling us what you want,” Nadel said. “For this to work, doesn’t there need to be some sort of reciprocity there?” McNaughton agreed, but said General Growth’s plans remain uncertain. When pressed, he said he should be able to give the community a sense of the developer’s intentions in the coming months. “We should be able to show you something by the end of February, certainly,” he said.
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