In October of 2020, SOM and the Howard Hughes Corporation finally revealed their proposal for 250 Water Street, a long-awaited mixed-use complex that would rise on what is currently a surface parking lot at the edge of Lower Manhattan’s Seaport Historic District. Yesterday, the team went before Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) to present an updated version of their pronged tower plan, but some residents are so against the project that they’d rather an NYPD tow pound be built there instead.
The 48,000-square-foot parking lot has sat undeveloped after decades of failed attempts to fill it, but this time, with a project that will bring the first affordable housing units to Manhattan Community District 1 and provide the South Street Seaport Museum with an infusion of cash, Howard Hughes is confident it will move forward.
The $1.4-billion scheme would see two 38-story residential towers sit atop a 6-story base holding office and retail space, with each topping out at 470 feet. The two towers would hold a total 360 units of housing between them, with at least 100 set aside for neighborhood residents earning less than 40 percent of the area’s median income under Mayor de Blasio’s Mandatory Inclusionary Housing program. In the base, 5,000 square feet would be set aside for community use.
As previously mentioned, the air rights transfer required for the project would pour $50 million into the beleaguered South Street Seaport Museum’s coffers, some of which would go towards the creation of an SOM-designed addition (which was also shown at the LPC). The copper-clad annex would connect to the historic museum building and ideally set the museum up for self-sufficiency down the line. The new renderings debuted before the commission yesterday showed off a new entrance atrium, exhibition hall, and outdoor terrace all framed in cross-laminated timber.
Of course, as with any large project, supporters and detractors have been duking it out. While Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer, Robert Tierney (former LPC chair), and a host of other current and former politicians have pushed for the project, Manhattan Community Board 1, which recommended the LPC reject both projects, and local residents are opposed.
As Gothamist reported yesterday, January 5, a group of residents called the Seaport Coalition are pushing to relocate an NYPD tow pound to the site instead. Claiming the tower complex at 250 Water Street would destroy the district’s historic fabric, they instead want the city to claim the parcel through eminent domain (Howard Hughes purchased the site in 2018 for $180 million) and build a 60-foot-tall parking garage there to replace the tow pound recently shuttered at Pier 76.
The coalition has proposed putting neighborhood amenities on the roof and calling the project “Resiliency Park,” which Gothamist also scoffed at, as the waterfront neighborhood is at risk from climate change-induced flooding and any form of parking doesn’t really seem like it would mitigate that.
Howard Hughes spokesperson James Yolles told Gothamist:“The proposal to replace the parking lot with a large tow pound proves that a few of the project’s opponents care far less about what’s right for the neighborhood and the historic district than about preserving their own apartment views in the guise of historic preservation.”
Regardless of alternatives, a number of opponents were on hand at the LPC meeting on January 5 to speak out against the project. That included a representative from the Historic Districts Council, who argued against both the height of the proposed towers as well as the design of the museum expansion, calling it a “trojan horse” for further deregulating historic districts around the city.
The LPC will reconvene and vote on both proposals this coming Tuesday, January 12. If approved, the project could begin the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure this year and break ground in 2022.
