NYC Council are off the rails at the Moynihan Station development.

City Council member Corey Johnson, Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer and Hell’s Kitchen residents are worried that the sale of air rights for the Related Companies and Vornado Realty Trust’s Moynihan Station redevelopment site could spur overdevelopment.

Johnson and Brewer criticized the Empire State Development Corporation’s efforts to sell 1.5 million square feet of air rights over the alleged lack of transparency. The intention to sell is part of renewed plans to expand New York Penn Station into the James A. Farley post office building. The post office, at 421 Eighth Avenue, would serve as a waiting room for Amtrak passengers.

“The RFP (for a broker) came as an unwelcome surprise to us,” Johnson and Brewer wrote in a letter last week. “We had not been given notice of the timetable for or any indication of a plan or policy to guide the sale of the Farley air rights. … As representatives of this area, we share our community’s concern about significantly increasing density in the immediate area surrounding the station.” [DNAinfo] — Mark Maurer

via Moynihan Station Port Authority | Gale Brewer NYC.

Steve Roth talks about the plans for "renovating" the Hotel Penn

During Vornado's 4th Quarter conference call, Jamie Feldman, a REIT Equity Research Analyst at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, asked the million dollar question to Mr. Roth. 

Q: "...how should we think about Hotel Penn? Do you think you keep it hotel? Or is it too early to tell?"


Mr. Roth replied:

A: "The answer is, while we are zoned for a 3-million-foot tower -- a financial services headquarters tower, and as I tell my children, you have to look at the deals that almost happened, so that was a deal that almost happened when we were -- we had 2 huge investment banks on that at one time. In any event, the -- it looks to me like the math does not support a tower today. We are nothing if not realistic, and our plan is -- I wanted to say our current plan, I'm going take out the word "current." Our plan is to redevelop the Hotel Pennsylvania. Our objective there is multiples. Number one, we own that building for -- in the low hundreds of millions of dollars. It's worth 6x that or more. So our first objective is to get the hotel to be an asset to the neighborhood, not so much to make money in the hotel but to improve the neighborhood so that the value of our 7 million square feet of surrounding office space goes up. So that means we have to focus very hard on the lobby experience, on the hotel -- on the restaurant experience, the nightlife experience, what have you in that. The second is to make money on the hotel. And we believe every dollar that we put into that hotel in terms of renovation will be rewarded with very, very significant double-digit financial returns. Our third objective is to harvest some of the capital that we have in that building because the building is worth a lot of money, will become worth a lot more, and we have no debt on it and what have you. So that's our financial objective and our environmental objective, if you will, with respect to the hotel."

With that two things come to mind:

1. The plans for the office tower, have not been scrapped, just temporarily sidelined?

2. What two investment banks were "on" at that time?

The above transcript was taken from http://goo.gl/9G2og3

New Site, New Ideas!

We decided to go a new route with the launch of the new site.  We are going to use it for new and exiting features, and breaking news.  Naturally we will still post here as needed, but now you have two great place to get your Hotel Penn news!  As always as we expand we are looking for new people to help join our crusade.  If you think you got what it takes let us know!

New Site!

It's a work in progress but, we are updating our original site http://www.savehotelpenn.org/.  We managed to transfer most if not all out post to the new site, (sadly not the comments).  We will be keeping both locations active, and making updates on both sites, so keep tuned!

Happy 95th Birthday Hotel Pennsylvania!

Cheers to many more!

Gimbels Passageway

I came across this article from the NY Observer.  They seem to be under the assumption that the City Council denied the rezoning application for the Gimbels Passageway.  The truth is it was never turned down.  The whole re-opening was part of the 15 Penn Plaza Project that never got off the ground (thank goodness).

Vornado Third Quarter Earnings

Vornado talks about their third quarters earnings, and the renovation of the Hotel Pennsylvania.

http://vno.com/investor-relations/presentations

HP Renovations get $300M Budget

Renovations to the Hotel will soon be starting. Vornado announced in its third-quarter earnings call. Although we don't yet know the scope of the renovation, it is reported that they will be spending up to $300 million on the project.

Penn Station Renderings

As you may know, Madison Square Garden's lease is up and some influential groups in NYC want to see the garden torn down and a better Penn Station rebuilt. While I agree that it is time for a new station, I don't agree with are the (unofficial) design proposals... Take a look for yourself. I have no idea how these designs play tribute to a structure whose loss is possibly one of the greatest architectural blunders the city has ever seen. The architects need to rethink their designs... or get a good spanking.... Check it out here.

Restoration Proposal Update

Our proposal for restoration has been completed and sent out to Vornado! We'll keep you informed on our progress. In the meantime, why not check us out on Facebook?

Restoration Proposal

We are currently in the process of writing up our proposal for the restoration of the hotel. We hope to come up with a plan that will restore the hotel but also set it up for great success in the 21st century. We will send the proposal to Vornado as soon as we can. We hope to work with Vornado to help make Hotel Pennsylvania one of the best hotels in Manhattan. More updates to come!

New Chapter - New Name

Now that the threat of demolition is finally over, we felt it was time to change our name to something more suitable for our current intended actions. We are now the "Hotel Pennsylvania Preservation Society". Our current goals are to persuade Vornado to RESTORE the hotel instead of just renovating it. Don't get us wrong, we're so grateful that Vornado even decided the hotel isn't being demolished, but our work will never be done until it is restored to it's original 1919 splendor. Until then, on behalf of all of us here, Welcome to the Hotel Pennsylvania Preservation Society!

WE WON!

In a shocking move this week Vornado has announced to give up its plans to tear down the historic Hotel Penn, and instead bring in new management to renovate the old girl!!  A quote from CEO Steven Roth,  "We're not going to tear down the hotel," Mr. Roth said. "In fact, we're going to invest in it aggressively and try to make it into a really profitable, really good hotel for our purposes."

All of us at the Foundation are thrilled with this news!!

Vornado CEO Fascitelli Stepping Down, Roth to Replace!

The Wall Street Journal reported today that "Vornado Realty Trust (VNO) said President and Chief Executive Michael D. Fascitelli is stepping down, and Chairman Steven Roth will return to his former role as CEO.

The real estate investment trust said Mr. Fascitelli plans to take a break after which he will pursue new challenges.

Mr. Fascitelli--who will step down April 15--will continue to serve on Vornado's board. He joined Vornado 16 years ago as president and trustee and became CEO in May 2009.

Mr. Roth joined Vornado in April 1980 and has been board chairman since May 1989. He was Vornado's CEO from May 1989 through May 2009.

Separately, Vornado's 32.4% affiliate, Alexander's Inc. (ALX), said Mr. Fascitelli would resign as its president effective April 15 and that Mr. Roth continues to serve as its chairman and CEO. Vornado is the manager that conducts Alexander's operations.

Vornado owns and manages commercial properties around New York and the District of Columbia. The real-estate investment trust has been buying up more in its strongest markets, while shedding properties in its noncore markets.

Its latest announcement comes a day after Vornado reported its fourth-quarter earnings slipped 1.3% with a loss from its stake in J.C. Penney Co. (JCP), though core funds from operations and revenues improved.

Shares closed Tuesday at $83 and were inactive premarket. The stock has risen 11% in the past three months."

In the past Mr. Roth who has never been a fan of the hotel has referred to it as a "placeholder, like a parking lot"

What does this mean to the fate of our beloved Hotel?

50 years goes by quickly, let's not let history repeat itself.

Penn protesters (David Hirsh) FRanzen, Samton, Saarinen, Johnson, Parkinson (01).jpg

Fifty years ago today, John F. Kennedy was President, the Beatles had not released an album in the U.S., and in New York City, a group of architects, historians and planners gathered under the banner of  the “Action Group for Better Architecture in New York” to protest the demolition of Pennsylvania Station.  Built in 1910 by the firm of McKim, Mead and White, the classically-inspired train station was widely regarded to be “one of the largest and finest landmarks of its age, “consisting of "nine acres of travertine and granite, 84 Doric columns, a vaulted concourse of extravagant, weighty grandeur, classical splendor modeled after royal Roman baths, rich detail in solid stone, and an architectural quality in precious materials that set the stamp of excellence on a city” (“Farewell To Penn Station” NYT, 10/30/63).  Unfortunately, its railroad owners allowed it to deteriorate and by the time its demolition was announced in 1961, the years of deferred maintenance had taken their toll, rendering the glorious public spaces somewhat shabby and dilapidated. AGBANY strove to prevent its destruction but the forces of politics and money doomed the 52-year-old building, despite even the damning words of The New York Times.  As Jane Jacobs, present at the protest, later recalled, “There was no exhilaration to this kind of thing.  It was more like a wake. The city was making everyone's life absurd with its goofy decisions.''



The myth goes that from the rubble of Pennsylvania Station, the Landmarks Preservation Commission sprang fully formed. The reality is more complicated – preservationists had been hard at work for years formulating strategies to defend and preserve New York City’s historic buildings from thoughtless destruction – but the myth serves its purpose. The demolition of Penn Station became a rallying cry and a graspable moment, one where the effects of slow-moving public policy became blindingly obvious.  AGBANY gathered as a wake – but as a hopeful one, praying that Penn Station would be the last masterpiece to fall before the bulldozers of short-sightedness.



The half-century that followed has been good for the appreciation of urban history. Jane Jacobs’ vision of “small plans and big ideas” has found traction with new generations of planners who try to engage affected communities in planning projects.  The adaptive reuse of buildings and neighborhoods have become, at least, accepted options to redevelopment plans. Dozens of cities across America have seen that preservation and urban husbandry can bring old growth neighborhoods back to life and breathe new economic, social and cultural vitality into abandoned city districts. In New York City, we have seen the designation of 108 historic districts and the triumph of preservation projects like the High Line and revitalization projects such as Prospect and Central Parks transform the City in exciting and successful ways.  But the work of saving our city is far from over.



Neighborhoods throughout New York still suffer the blows of sledgehammers to their historic streets and ungainly towers still sprout like pernicious weeds in otherwise well-tended gardens. Worst of all, Jane Jacob’s words still apply – the city is making everyone’s life absurd with its goofy decisions.  For every successful revitalization of a neighborhood, there are plans seeking approval to bury the area in mammoth towers. The historic Chelsea Market building, reinvented as a destination for food lovers and neighborhood shoppers, is being asked to shoulder the burden of over 100 feet of towers. New York University, previously a well-respected commuter school and now the largest private university in the country, has unfortunately developed a voracious appetite for development – development which threatens the scant open space of Greenwich Village. Facing the lower Manhattan waterfront, DUMBO has become a national model of how to redevelop a formerly industrial area by capitalizing on its architecture, but its character is threatened by an over-scaled slab which will block the Brooklyn Bridge. The naturally-developing regeneration of Prospect Heights has been body-shocked by the behemoth Atlantic Yards plan.



Fifty years ago, professionals in ties and white gloves took to the streets to call attention to “an act of civic vandalism”.  They hoped for a time when such actions would not be necessary, when the appreciation of the ideals of our past would guide development and build a better future. Their actions helped move us closer to that worthy goal but we are not there yet. We must remember the lessons of Penn Station, all of them, and strive to not allow them to be repeated.

Thanks to the HDC for posting this to its members.

Responsible Landmarks Coalition

Below is an excerpt from the Responsible Landmarks Coalition, the organization that wants to change the way our NYC buildings are designated and how the ones that are already Landmarked should be treated.

"New York City’s Landmark Law has enhanced New York City by preserving and protecting its most noteworthy historic buildings and neighborhoods over the last 47 years. However, there are many concerns about the manner in which the Law has been implemented, particularly in recent years as the number of properties under the Landmarks Preservation Commission’s jurisdiction has skyrocketed. Among the most important reforms that are needed are:

Provide An Open & Transparent System
The landmark designation process should be open and transparent, particularly to those property owners who will be most impacted by the decision.

Apply Consistently High Standards
A consistently high standard should be applied in determining whether an individual structure or district merits landmark protection.

Promote Growth & Success Of New York City
Landmark designations and oversight of landmark properties must be reconciled with other policy considerations that are critical to the growth and success of the City.

Administer The Laws In A Sensible Manner
The Landmarks Law should be administered so that the best examples of City’s architectural and historic heritage continue to adapt and meet the needs of the citizens of the 21st Century."

Defending Preservation Distance Learning Presentation

Below is the link to the Power point presentation show at the HDC meeting.  It describes what the bill is and how it effects us.

http://www.mediafire.com/view/?2furhc7t4u1d9wo

HDC Meeting

As promised here are the videos from the HDC meeting last night. The second part maybe out of sync.

Help Save the Landmarks Law

I managed to attend the HDC's "Help Save the Landmarks Law" meeting today. We have lots of information to share, including a video of most of the meeting. Right now we encourage you to read these PDF flyers that we got from them.

Once the video is uploaded we will post it here.

http://www.mediafire.com/view/?z5om81lufi8qxn0

http://www.mediafire.com/view/?4d3vnrifh3w4frt

http://www.mediafire.com/view/?63t4nz5tp0ndhbi

http://www.mediafire.com/view/?p4fxg3xoja03ya4

http://www.mediafire.com/view/?61c2jcl0a6mq4zw

http://www.mediafire.com/view/?hnankqaqh8b0q1i

http://www.mediafire.com/view/?qseml1ztt3d4cd9

http://www.mediafire.com/view/?97lfccrjvw46obd

Help Save the Landmarks Law!!

We received this in an E-mail today. If effects not only the HP, but all NYC landmarks as well. The Real Estate Board of New York is calling for extreme reforms of the Landmarks Law. If successful they could change the way Landmark are designated!

E-BULLETIN OF THE HISTORIC DISTRICTS COUNCIL

June 2012

Public Meeting to Defend the Landmarks Law

Tuesday, June 19th
6pm – 7:30pm
General Society of Mechanics and Tradesmen
20 West 44th Street
Manhattan


As you may be aware, the Real Estate Board of New York is heading up a coalition calling for extreme reforms of the Landmarks Law, reforms which HDC believes would cripple the landmark designation process and damage the regulation of existing protected landmarks. HDC believes that preservation nurtures the city, feeds our commerce and enhances our economy. That these reforms are being proposed now, when investment in New York City real estate is on the upswing, makes their concerns about preservation stifling development particularly peculiar. 

HDC is holding an emergency public meeting to discuss community responses to this Vesuvian eruption. We’ll be discussing the concerns raised, the legislation that have been proposed and what community groups and individuals can do.

Please join the HDC for an informative and important meeting. 

Open to all but RSVP requested to hdc@hdc.org.

http://hdc.org/historic-district-15/help-save-the-landmarks-law

Letter to Elie Hirschfeld

I sent a letter to Elie Hirschfeld (the one responsible for the renovations that covered the buildings original interior) asking to clarify if any of the original lobby is still intact beneath his renovations. If he responds saying that the original lobby is in fact still there, we are going to try to propose a restoration plan to Vornado. Updates to follow.

New Information

After getting some time to review the 4th quarter results of Vornado I came across this paragraph in the document:


DEVELOPMENT AND REDEVELOPMENT PROJECTS
We are evaluating various development and redevelopment opportunities which we estimate could require as much as $1.5 billion
to be expended over the next five years. These opportunities include:
• demolition of a 372,000 square foot office building in Crystal City, to construct a 700,000 square foot office building;
• renovation of the Hotel Pennsylvania;
• construction of a luxury residential condominium at 220 Central Park South, adjacent to Central Park;
• re-tenanting and repositioning of 330 West 34th Street;
• re-tenanting and repositioning of 280 Park Avenue;
• complete renovation of the 1.4 million square foot Springfield Mall; and
• re-tenanting and repositioning a number of our strip shopping centers.
We are also evaluating other development and redevelopment opportunities at certain of our properties in Manhattan, Rosslyn,
Pentagon City and Crystal City, for which plans, budgeted costs and financings have yet to be determined.

What I didn't see was the proposed office town "15 Penn Plaza" but did see the renovation of the Hotel Pennsylvania.  Could this be a sign that Vornado has come to their senses?

Correction in numbers

I inadvertently screwed up the numbers for Vornado's fiscal end, the blog has been corrected to show the proper numbers.  Sorry about that folks.

SUPPLEMENTAL OPERATING AND FINANCIAL DATA For the Quarter and Year Ended December 31, 2011

Vornado published a revised financial earnings report with the SEC today.  According to the document The Hotel Pennsylvania earned  11.753 Million in the 4th quarter of 2011, and a total of 30.135 Million for the year.  This is up 6.372 Million from last years year end results (23.763 Million) and up from the previous quarter earnings of 9.773 Million.  Still not a bad profit for them, with luck they can keep the streak alive.

ARCHITECTURE: HOW TO KILL A CITY

I was watching an older episode of Mad Men, they just happen to be discussing the demolition of the old Penn Station, they referenced an article in the NYTIMES, titled ARCHITECTURE: HOW TO KILL A CITY.  I managed to find a copy online.

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/pdf/arts/madmen.pdf

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday old girl!  93 years young and still going strong!

Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis on the preservation of the Grand Central Terminal

"Is it not cruel to let our city die by degrees, stripped of all her proud monuments, until there will be nothing left of all her history and beauty to inspire our children? If they are not inspired by the past of our city, where will they find the strength to fight for her future? Americans care about their past, but for short term gain they ignore it and tear down everything that matters. Maybe… this is the time to take a stand, to reverse the tide, so that we won't all end up in a uniform world of steel and glass boxes." -- Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis on the preservation of the Grand Central Terminal

Yahoo Answers

This popped into my e-mail today:

What's the deal with the 15 Penn Plaza Building? - Yahoo! Answers

15 hours ago ... I just recently discovered a new building will be built in Midtown Manhattan known as 15 Penn Plaza. I don't know much about this new proposed building. ...
answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid...


I had to put my two cents in.

Archives

I was looking through the archive on the internet, and came across some old posts, back in the day when I started this whole project.  Seems like only yesterday I started this whole thing up.

http://www.observer.com/term/gregory-jones/
http://www.dnainfo.com/20100616/manhattan/city-will-vote-july-14-on-plan-raze-hotel-pennsylvania
http://wirednewyork.com/forum/showthread.php?t=6337&page=94
http://talk.hope.net/viewtopic.php?id=466
http://www.observer.com/2008/fight-hotel-pennsylvania-not-over
http://www.observer.com/2007/lonely-fight-hotel-pennsylvania
http://digg.com/news/story/Upstarts_vie_to_Landmark_the_Hotel_Pennsylvania
http://archpaper.com/news/articles.asp?id=4441
http://www.thecityreview.com/hotelpenn.html
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=162701&page=12
http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/11/02/living-it-up-at-the-hotel-pennsylvania/
http://oldfiles.observermediagroup.com/2008/landmarks-commissions-snubs-hotel-pennsylvania-again

Yep definitely been a long hard road.

Vornado considers renovating Hotel Pennsylvania instead of erecting massive skyscraper

I came across two very interesting articles today, that I really hope happen.

 

Vornado considers renovating Hotel Pennsylvania instead of erecting massive skyscraper

December 14, 2011 09:00AM
From left: Vornado Chairman Steven Roth, a rendering of the 15 Penn Plaza skyscraper and Hotel PennsylvaniaVornado Realty Trust has put off constructing a massive skyscraper that would challenge the Empire State Building's height at 15 Penn Plaza, sources told the New York Post, and might even pour millions into renovating the hotel that currently occupies the site.

With market rents still hovering below the rates necessary to make office development profitable and the financial firms that would make sensible anchors cutting operations instead of expanding, Vornado has decided to hold off on the development. Further clouding the project's future is the competition rising just west of 15 Penn Plaza, where both the Related Companies and Brookfield Office Properties are preparing to begin construction on Hudson Yards and Manhattan West, respectively.

As a result, Vornado is mulling a complete renovation of the Hotel Pennsylvania that currently resides on the site, along Seventh Avenue between 32nd and 33rd streets. One real state executive said it could cost $30 million just to renovate the hotel's 1,000 rooms, and millions more to update the lobby and common areas. 

Time-out seen in skyline war

Updated: Wed., Dec. 14, 2011, 3:05 AM

Time-out seen in skyline war

By LOIS WEISS

Last Updated: 3:05 AM, December 14, 2011

Posted: 11:51 PM, December 13, 2011

The Empire State Building just might keep the 34th Street skyline to itself for a few more years.
Sources tell us that Vornado Realty Trust is putting off constructing its taller challenger to the west at 15 Penn Plaza until market rents reach a point where it’s worthwhile to redevelop the site with an office building.
In the meantime, Vornado is mulling plowing millions of dollars into renovating its Hotel Pennsylvania, a dowdy cash cow that now sits on the future development site at Seventh Avenue between West 32nd and 33rd streets, across from Penn Station and Madison Square Garden.
“It could cost $30 million just to renovate the rooms,” said one executive who was not authorized to speak on the record. “It’s 1,000 rooms and everything adds up.”
Vornado would also commit millions of dollars more to update the lobby and common areas.
In December 2007, Vornado was days away from signing a lease that would enable it to develop a new tower and trading floors for Merrill Lynch when the Wall Street firm switched CEOs and gears amid its deepening financial crisis.
Since then, financial firms that would be the natural anchor tenants have found themselves cutting headcount and putting off major moves until the global economy improves.
Vornado is also facing increased competition for anchor tenants as Brookfield readies its $5 billion, four-tower 5.4 million-square-foot Manhattan West site on Ninth Avenue and Related Cos. gets traction on the West Side with Coach becoming the first tenant/owner for the first Hudson Yards tower.
Downtown also continues to be redeveloped with four World Trade Center towers and availabilities in Brookfield’s World Financial Center, along with Edward J. Minskoff’s redevelopment of 101 Ave. of the Americas, as Post colleague Steve Cuozzo reported yesterday, and his spec building at 10 Astor Place. There is also ready-to-go space in 11 Times Square.
*
TJ Maxx is coming to the Fulton Mall in downtown Brooklyn. The fashionista’s favorite retailer will move into about 23,000 square feet on the lower level of the mall at 505 Fulton St. by spring 2013. The former department store is owned by and is being repositioned by the Laboz family of United American Land.
The family also owns the neighboring 497 Fulton where H&M will open next year.
Peter Ripka of Ripco Real Estate represented both sides in the TJ Maxx deal that had an asking rent of a modest $40 a foot — at least by Manhattan standards.
Family head, Albert Laboz, is chairman of the Fulton Mall Improvement Association, and United American Land was recently selected by the city to redevelop the ground floor of the Brooklyn Municipal Building into retail.
*
Renzo Gracie Academy has just leased an industrial building at 100 Bayard St. in Williamsburg, where it will create a 14,000-square-foot all-encompassing gym and training facility.
“This is a nice modern warehouse, and they will put some money in it and it will become a training center,” said Josh Segal of Sholom & Zuckerbrot, who represented the building along with colleague, Larry Smith.
Joseph Katz, a partner in the venture, says the facility will include all kinds of athletic training. Along with Brazilian-style martial arts, there will be areas for “regular” gym equipment, boxing and other athletic training. “You won’t have to join separate gyms,” Katz said.
The former garment factory had an asking rent of about $22 a foot, with the tenant paying the real estate taxes directly to the city.
“I had a lot of activity on the building and most of the prospective tenants were gym or health club or yoga related,” added Segal.
*
HFP Capital Markets, a division of Hudson Financial Partners, will be moving in two stages to the entire eighth floor of 13,100 square feet at 386 Park Avenue South. The company is currently in 12,000 square feet at 685 Fifth Ave.
The first move early next year will be to an 8,600-square-foot pre-built suite that was designed by the Spector Group. The office has eight-foot wooden doors, oversized energy-efficient windows, a new reception area and a glass-front conference room. Later, when construction is completed, the company will expand to the entire floor, which already has a new elevator corridor.
HFP was represented by John P. Moran III, Hope Brodsky and Neil Goldmacher of Newmark Knight Frank. Jordan Berger represented the Savanna and Monday Properties ownership.
*
An entity controlled by Howard Lorber has sold the operating lease for the Renoir House, a 15-story apartment building with 150 units, at 225 E. 63rd St. for $44.5 million to San Francisco-based Carmel partners. Neither company returned calls.
According to city documents, the original 55-page 1966 ground lease with Sol Goldman provides for a series of 21-year options, with the last lease ending April 14, 2189 and annual rent of $142,200 per year.
*
The owners of the Keg Room, an Irish pub that has already surrounded Manhattan with several locations, have signed a 20-year lease at 53 W. 36th St. The asking rent for the 8,400 square foot spread was $70 a foot.
Edward Reilly of Reilly Real Estate brought the tenants to the changing neighborhood while Steven Hidary of Hidrock Realty represented the ownership in-house.
The space was previously occupied by three “underperforming” retailers and is now being completely reconfigured by Hidrock along with the restaurant owners, Joe and Mary Carty.
*
The former Chung King rap studio will get Relevent instead. The experiential ad agency and viral event marketing firm Relevent Group, is moving to the 10,095 square feet on the top, 12th floor of 10 Hudson Square. The asking rent was in the $40s per foot.
David Horowitz of Studley represented the tenant, which is a division of MDC Partners. MDC has four other companies in the building: Attention; Kwittken; Vitro; and Kirschenbaum Bond Senecal + Partners, the largest tenant, with 111,288 square feet of the 350,000-square-foot building.
The building owner, Trinity, had an asking rent of $40 a foot and was represented in-house by Tom Lynch.
Relevent will move next year from space a third of the size at 27 W. 24th St. in the Flatiron District.
lois@betweenthebricks.com

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15 Penn Plaza to be complete in 2014

Business Insider, published an article yesterday concerning the 15 Penn Plaza.  You can read it here, but the long and short of it, the project is scheduled for completion in 2014.

3rd Quarter Results for Vornado.

3Q numbers for Vornado are out.  The old girl was able to squeak by with a modest profit of $9,773,000 up from $8,080,000 last year at this time.  Impressive numbers, but as always it just means more money in Vornado's pocket an not a dime of it going to help improve the poor girl.

http://www.snl.com/irweblinkx/ShowFile.aspx?Output=HTML&KeyFile=12023939&Format=HTML

Live and learn

Where is my closest landmark?

Want to find out what is and what isn't a landmark in your area of NYC?  Use this interactive map.  You will be surprised at some of the results.

http://gis.nyc.gov/doitt/nycitymap/

135 Bowery

We received this letter from the HDC on the 15th.  It shows you the lack of interest in preservation by the NYC Govt.

This afternoon,  the City Council Subcommittee on Landmarks, Public Siting & Maritime Usage voted 4 (Halloran, Lander, Sanders, Williams) to 1 (Mendes) to deny the Landmark designation of the Hardenbrook Somarindyck House at 135 Bowery. The designation was opposed by the building’s owner, First American International Bank, who found a strong advocate in local Council member Margaret Chin. CM Chin, who has a good record on preservation issues and has worked closely with community preservationists, changed her initial support of preserving the building after learning more about the building’s condition from the owners  and their plans to develop below-market-rate commercial rental space on the site. “"I just hope that the advocates will see my point of view on this," Chin said at the hearing (as reported by WNYC). "And that we will have opportunity to continue to work to preserve the historic character of Bowery. But on this building we will have to differ." It is almost inevitable that the full City Council will vote to deny this landmark designation next Wednesday.

HDC was the first to testify in favor of the designation at the hearing and our testimony is below. As part of our testimony, we submitted 49 letters we received as emails from you – our friends and readers – in response to our alert earlier this week. At the hearing, we were joined by over 25 Bowery residents and enthusiasts who gave incredibly  intelligent, passionate, articulate and heart-felt testimony. We are incredibly proud to be part of such as strong community.

 It was mentioned more than once by council members that their action was reflective of a broader view of the community and it was their responsibility to take the bigger picture into account. What was not evident from the hearing was any indication that the decision to be made was any more than helping a bank with a development rather than supporting a popular governmental decision. HDC is very disappointed in this decision.


Simeon Bankoff
Executive Director
Historic Districts Council
232 East 11th Street
New York, NY 10003
www.hdc.org

Hotel Pennsylvania 2nd Q reports

Second quarter reports are out for Vornado, looks like the Hotel Pennsylvania made $8.677 M for the past 3 months.  Up from last year at this time from $6.616 M.  These are great improvements, and shows the the Hotel is on its was back to being profitable for Vornado.  The whole report can be seen here.

Message to the Chair, Landmarks Preservation Commission

If you would like to send Mr. Robert Tierney a message about the LPC decision of the Hotel Pennsylvania, and the Cafe Rouge, now is your chance!  Be sure to let him know how you feel.


http://www.nyc.gov/html/mail/html/maillpc.html

LPC response letters for the Cafe Rouge

We finally got a copy of the LPC response letters regarding the Cafe Rouge proposed landmark status.   Thanks to Steven Lepore for getting this for us and being brave enough to submit the applications.

Follow the money from Vornado to Washington.

All I can say is this is nothing new.

Do you think 15 Penn Plaza will do good or bad things to New York?

Yahoo Answers wants to know.  Let us know your opinion.

Hotel Pennsylvania 1st Q reports

Vornado announced their first quarter reports today, for the period ending March 31, 2011. Although the Hotel Pennsylvania showed an improvement from last year at this time, they are still down. The Hotel lost $68,000 this quarter, which is an improvement from last year at this times, loss of $447,000.

Vornado the parent company and current owner of the Hotel Pennsylvania, did not invest any money this past quarter in improvements to the building.

Currently the hotel property size is 1,400,000 SqF with a retail portion of 188,000 SqF.

The full report can be read off of the SCC website here.

Land's End - Gatsby Mansion Torn Down

Yet another historic building gone for good. When will people learn that history must be saved not destroyed?

2012 HOPE Conference

2600 has announced that they will be holding the HOPE conference in 2012 at the Hotel Pennsylvania, we can only assume that this is a good thing. We will continue to keep you posted on the status of the 2012 HOPE Conference.

Follow us on Foursquare!

Gimbels Passageway

A recent NY Times article about the current Vornado situation with 15 Penn Plaza, (a.k.a. Hotel Pennsylvania) state, that before construction can begin on the 15 Penn Plaza office, "transit improvements must be designed and agreed upon before the city will grant Vornado building permits."  Check out the link for more information.

Gimbels Passageway Simulator

A clockwork disc simulator for designing movements to appear in the hall of Gimbels Passageway in New York City.

Ear Studio was commissioned by Vornado Realty Trust to design a public art element for the Gimbels Passageway renovation; the underground pedestrian tunnel connecting Penn Station to Herald Square closed in the 1970s.

This simulator, built with Processing and OpenGL, allows Ear Studio to experiment with the choreography of approximately 900 rotating discs and the invisible gearing system that couples them. The simulator exports this choreographic data for use by the team's 3D fly-through mockup designers and will also inform the data driving the final piece.  The video can be found here.

Happy 92nd Birthday!

Today Hotel Pennsylvania Celebrates it's 92nd Birthday. 92 years of history forever embedded in those walls. If walls could talk what would they say? Well, today they'd say "Congratulations Ol' Girl!" Here's to 92 more years!

Getting a Lawyer

Does anyone have any lawyers they know that could assist us in pressing charges against Vornado or is anyone interested in helping?

Merry Christmas Hotel Penn

Merry Christmas Hotel Pennsylvania. This may be your last so we hope it is your bet one yet!

New York Times Ad

I finally managed to get a copy of the NY Times, full page ad from The Empire State Building.  This ad appeared on the same day as the hearings, (Monday August 23, 2010), and is actually a letter to the following council members.

Speaker Christine Quinn,

Deputy Majority Leader Comrie (Consumer Affairs;  Cultural Affairs, Libraries & International Intergroup relations; Finance; Land Use, Chair (Zoning & Franchises); Rules, Privileges & Elections)

Mark S. Weprin, (Land Use, Zoning & Franchises, Chair). 

The ad can be found here.

Final letter from the LPC

I just got a letter back from the LPC regarding regarding the Cafe Rouge landmarking Status. It was denied. They claim the Cafe "has been too significantly altered". This is a bunch of bull. I don't get why they couldn't just say the truth that the buildings demolition was already approved. Highly unprofessional if you ask me. I will post the full letter later.

FM/TV signals could be in trouble because of 15 Penn Plaza Tower.

A recent article was published stating the obvious fact that the new 15 Penn Plaza building will more than likely disrupt FM and or TV signals from the Empire State Building.  Jim Stagnitto, director of engineering for New York Public Radio, is concerned about both of his FMs at Empire, WNYC(FM) and WQXR(FM). “WQXR is a low-power Class B and will be especially susceptible to multipath in New Jersey. I’m very concerned. And without a predictive study to examine, we really don’t know how bad it could be,” Stagnitto said. 

The question is what are they going to do about it?  Can the FCC put a stop the the project because of this or until the find a way to relocate the antennas to a new higher location?

Testimony of Wally Rubin for Community Board Five at the New York City Council Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises, Monday, August 23rd, 2010

TESTIMONY OF WALLY RUBIN FOR COMMUNITY BOARD FIVE AT THE NEW YORK CITY COUNCIL SUBCOMMITTEE ON ZONING AND FRANCHISES, MONDAY, AUGUST 23rd, 2010

Good morning. My name is Wally Rubin and I am the District Manager for Community Board Five. Thank you for the privilege of addressing you today on the topic of 15 Penn Plaza, one of the most important development projects our Board has faced in years.
Community Board Five and its Land Use & Zoning Committee spent considerable time meeting with the applicant and reviewing every available document before we voted 36 to 1 to deny this application.
Obviously, our Board felt very strongly about this application and here are the reasons why:
First, we think that the transportation improvements Vornado has proposed are inadequate. Many of the improvements are ultimately either self-serving or mandated and wholly insufficient for the 474,000 square feet Vornado will receive in exchange. Indeed, as one of our Board members put it, they are akin to Vornado cleaning up its own basement.
Second, Community Board Five is deeply troubled by this applicant's request for a midblock up-zoning, adding yet another 266,000 square feet to a tower that is utterly lacking confirmed details, including building size, height, tenancy, construction timetable or financing plan. The applicant conceded to us that it could be many years – years - before any development scenario might move forward, which entirely demolishes the argument that we should approve this project now as a salve for our current economic troubles.
If the up-zoning were to be granted now, it would remain with the zoning lot permanently, regardless of future development plans or even if the lot is eventually sold. It is ill-advised from a proper planning perspective to approve such an up-zoning without a clear rationale for its request. This up-zoning, just blocks from the Empire State Building, will allow Vornado, or whoever might eventually own this site, to build a building that will change the iconic skyline of New York City forevermore. Such a change must be deeply considered and well thought out, both in terms of its design and, more broadly, its impact on future land use decisions in the immediate area.
Community Board Five is not opposed to development and we recognize that this site is appropriate for a large commercial building. We value the job creation that will result not only during construction but also after the proposed building is complete. But we are also acutely aware of how the area
surrounding Penn Station is poised to undergo enormous development, growth, and change in the coming decade. This means that each individual land use decision will cumulatively contribute to its transformation.
Therefore, we hope that the ladies and gentlemen on this committee and the Council as a whole will join us in asking Vornado to return to the table with their request for a permanent up-zoning when they have a rationale and a final, financed plan in place. Until such time, we urge the Council to join with City Planning, the Moynihan Station Community Advisory Committee and Community Boards Four and Five to begin to outline a Moynihan Station subdistrict zoning plan and a future for this area that is both well-considered and comprehensive.
Thank you for your time.

The PDF version of this can be found here.

NYC Council

This past weekend I was lucky enough to capture a recording of the NYC Council on Zoning meeting for 15 Penn Plaza on the NYC Gov TV Channel. Over the next few days I will be attempting to make an audio transcript of the meeting (minus the commercials). Please be patient with me as I do this. We have also reached out to CB5 for a copy of the speech that Mr. Wally Rubin gave that day, if we get it from CB5 will will gladly post it here.

A letter to Mr. Roth and Mr. Greenbaum

I opened up my mailbox today and found this wonderful letter from Mr. Marco Zanaletti, who just happens to live in Italy.  the letter is listed below and reads:

Da: Marco <marcoz88@alice.it>

Data: 18 settembre 2010 16.26.07 GMT+02.00

A: dgreenbaum@vno.com

Cc: sroth@vno.com

Oggetto: Pennsylvania Hotel

Dear Sirs, 

From what it was once a beautiful and unique Country - Italy - I am begging you not to demolish the Pennsylvania Hotel. An awfully lot of money can be made more easily and smartly out of history than out of cheap consumerism. If we had preserved our country and our landscape, we would today be much richer, not only in our pockets, but in our hearts too. New York has lost already many landmarks, last but not least due to terrorism. 

So please, let the Penn hotel survive, as a piece of the America which changed the world for the better and that we learned to love and respect.

Yours truly, 

Marco Zanaletti

Via Ticino 88

20081 Abbiategrasso (Milano) 

Italy

Thank you Marco, let us hope your letter does not fall on deaf ears.

Atlantic Yards Report: "Stealing the common from the goose": Henry Stern's compelling case against 15 Penn Plaza (and the glaring Atlantic Yards blind spot)

An interesting blog that I came across. He makes a valid point, and just for those who are wondering, it's not over, yet.

Atlantic Yards Report: "Stealing the common from the goose": Henry Stern's compelling case against 15 Penn Plaza (and the glaring Atlantic Yards blind spot)

Letters from CB5 to the CPC and City Council

A few posts ago I wrote about a letter that was sent from CB5 to the CPC admonishing them about their decision to approve the 15 Penn Plaza Project. And to my surprise CB5 also sent a letter to the City Council telling them how they felt.  Is it me or is the community the only sane people left in NY?

Below are a copy of those letters:


"The Board does not oppose this project per se. However, we have serious concerns about the building's proposed size, possible only through the granting of special permits, in an application that offers few public benefits in exchange.


First, in exchange for a 20% transit bonus, the applicant's proposal includes the restoration and reopening of the Gimbel's Passageway plus various other access and egress improvements, all of which we applaud. But as we note in our resolution, some of these improvements are either self-serving or mandated, and thus not sufficient for the 474,000 square feet received in exchange.

Second, Community Board Five is deeply troubled by this application's request for midblock up-zoning (from a C6-4.5 to a C6-6) adding another 266,000 square feet to an application that lacks many confirmed details, including building size, height, tenancy, construction timetable or financing plans. The applicant conceded to us that it could be many years before any development scenario might move forward. Yet if granted, the upzoining would be permanent and remain with the zoning lot regardless of future development plans or even if the lot were to be sold.

Third, we ask that the Commission evaluate this application from the perspective of consistency. The Commission recently considered the Jean Nouvel/MoMA building, and despite noting the proposed building's exemplary design and the lasting benefits that this project would generate for landmarks and cultural institutions, it voted to reduce its size due to its impacts on the city skyline and the surrounding neighborhood.

In comparison, the 15 Penn Plaza application wholly lacks the MoMA project's distinguished architectural features, produces no benefits for landmark preservation or cultural access, would have similarly detrimental impacts on neighborhood density and traffic, and would notably diminish, not enhance, the skyline position of its iconic neighbor, the Empire State Building.

Indeed, the proposed buildings would directly obstruct the view of the Empire State Building from the west, thereby fundamentally altering and diminishing New York City's skyline in a way few projects have in decades. Should 15 Penn Plaza not be held to the same standards and criteria as Nouvel/MoMA? "

__________________________________________________________

Letter sent by CB5's Chair Vikki Barbero:

"The ULURP process has ended and the Council has made its final determination. We remain distressed and dismayed, however, by the level of discussion and debate both in the media and at the Council.

The issue before the Council was not principally about women and minority employment, as important as this issue continues to be in all job areas. Yet, if you were present for the Council debate you would have thought it was at the heart of the matter being voted on. The issue before the Council was not about a battle between two major real estate developers, as many press reports made it out.
The issue before the Council was not about the need to foster jobs during this bad economic climate, for even the developer admits they won't be building for years to come. Yet, a number of our political leaders used that bogus argument as an excuse to support the project.
And the issue before the Council was certainly not about sticking it to the Empire State Building because it failed to light up for Mother Teresa.
The issue before the City and the Council was, in fact, about far more than just one project on one block of midtown Manhattan. It was about giving strategic and prudent oversight to a section of our city - the area around Penn Station - that is about to undergo significant change.
The City has created the Moynihan Station sub-district precisely because this area of midtown is poised for major development -- and the City has a responsibility to prepare for it, to be thoughtful about it, and to set the parameters for it.
One development should not be permitted to set a bad precedent for the next, as we believe this one does by upzoning an entire block without a rationale and with limited resultant public benefit. A city as dense as ours, with so many competing interests, needs to thoughtfully and inclusively plan for its future and not let one wealthy and powerful developer override that process.
That was the debate that was entirely missing this week both in most of the media and, even worse, at the City Council. We were disheartened and discouraged by its absence."


Credit to Huffington Post for publishing these letters.

Another letter to Christine Quinn

Congratulations!  Thanks to you and the other members of the NYC Council, you have caused nearly 1000 people in Manhattan lose their jobs.  And to what benefit? The demolition of a building you know was landmark worthy?  The destruction of the NYC skyline?  Was it the "donation" from Vornado?  It always comes down to selfishness and money.  The demolition of Penn Station was a huge mistake, and I bet you agree!  Thank you for making the same mistake again with Hotel Pennsylvania.  Congratulations Ms. Quinn.  A job well done.  We will remember this when you are up for re-election.  Thank you for your contribution to the history of New York.  You have failed.

With Love,
Steven Lepore

A letter to Christine Quinn

Ms. Quinn:

I would personally like to thank you on behalf of the all the employee's of the Hotel Pennsylvania. Because of your vote, and the votes of other members of the NYC Council you have effectively put them out of work, and increased the unemployment of NYC. All for a few campaign contributions from Vornado. Fantastic job Ms. Quinn, we will be sure to remember this next time we go to the polls on election day to vote for you.



Gregory Jones
Save The Hotel Pennsylvania Foundation

Response from Vornado regarding obtaining pieces of the Hotel

This is the quite comical response I got from Barry Langer of Vornado:

Steven,
We have noted your request and when the hotel is eventually demolished we will get back to you.
 
Barry Langer | Vornado Realty Trust
888 Seventh Avenue, 44th Floor, New York, New York 10019 
212.894.7911  |  212.894.7949 F

Email them

If you wish to express your feeling to Vornado personally, and tell them how you feel about the "15 Penn Plaza" office tower (that no one wants).  Feel free to email the President of the New York Office.

David R. Greenbaum (dgreenbaum@vno.com), or if you prefer to go straight to the top and ask the boss himself, contact Steve Roth (sroth@vno.com).

If you would like to send him a letter via snail mail, or perhaps some other gift you can do so by sending it to this address:


Vornado Realty Trust
888 7th Avenue
New York, NY 10106-4498

Be sure to put it to the attention of whomever you are sending it too so we make sure the parcels get to the correct location.

Last ditch effort

Despite meeting with Christine Quinn's office (and getting outnumbered 7 to 1), and meeting with Jessica Lapin's office (and her not even bothering to show up for the final land use and council meeting), despite getting support from Assemblyman Gottfried, and having him make a plea to the NYS assembly.   Despite all of that, we still lost the battle.  But the war is not over, yet.  We still have one last tactic that we can deploy that unfortunately I cannot get into the details of the plan, but I guarantee it will cause enough media attention to get recognized, and with luck get the legal support that we so desperately need.

This project when the time comes will require the support of everyone involved.  More details will follow later but for now, we will be keeping an eye on Vornado and making sure they stick to the rules, and follow through to the promises that they made.

Its over and we lost. :-(

The city council voted this morning, 8 in favor, 2 abstained, 1 absent in favor of the destruction of the hotel.  Vornado has won, we lost.  Read the decision here.  http://bit.ly/aowiRi and here http://bit.ly/aB2WX4

More Tower Blues

Anthony Malkin, the owner of the Empire State building took out a full page add in the New York Times on Monday, about the proposed tower replacing Hotel Pennsylvania. Marklin's ad asked the City Council to amend or reject the 15 Penn Plaza tower proposal. The height of the tower is certainly causing an uproar due to the fact of it "destroying" the Manhattan skyline.

City Council Vote

The City Council meeting is over.  Among some of the speakers were Empire State Building's Anthony Malkin, and Vornado's David Greenbaum.  The vote won't be posted until the council finishes it's deliberations.  As soon as we have more info we will post it.

We have learned the the Council will make its vote on Wednesday, August 25th, 2010.  

Public Meeting for Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchise

I contacted the Land Use Committee and inquired how you can go about speaking at this meeting.  Have your speech ready and sign in to speak when you show up, your name will be called and you will be allowed a finite amount of minutes to talk.  You may speak on behalf of those who cannot show up, but be sure to sign that person’s name when you register as well.  Remember this is the absolute last shot at saving the hotel.  If you want to be heard make sure you or someone representing you shows up on time, and in the right place.


The meeting will be held at:

250 Broadway - Hearing Room, 16th Fl.
New York, NY 10007
Monday August 23, 2010 @ 9:30AM

Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchise

The Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchise has posted the agenda for the meeting on August 23rd.  the link to it can be found at their website listed below:    Remember this may be our only chance to speak out against this.

http://legistar.council.nyc.gov

MBPO accepts donations from Vornado and other REIT's.

The NY Observer reported that Scott Stringer (currently Manhattan Borough President) in his bid for the Mayor’s office has amassed a sum of $655,163 in campaign contributions.  From that, $195,000 came from Vornado, and other Real Estate Companies Executives, their families, and related organizations.  As you know, Vornado currently has a ULURP application, on file with (now) the City Council.

"To name a few donors who maxed out: CB Richard Ellis top broker Steve Siegel; RFR Holdings' Aby Rosen and Michael Fuchs; and Sherwood Equities' Jeff Katz." reports Elliot Brown of the NY Observer.


There is a law that dictates the campaign limits by which numerous developers that have projects on file with the city, cannot give more than the limited amount to candidates of $400.  Vornado's Steve Roth, who is in the process of a rezoning of the Hotel Penn, (who also received approval from the MBPO), gave $1,000 to Mr. Stringer on July 2 of this year.  Mr. Roth was able to do this due to a provision in the law that does not require subsidiary LLCs to list the owners of their parent companies.  Because the Hotel Penn is listed as "401 Hotel REIT, LLC", Mr. Roth was able to use this provision to his favor to "donate" more than the allowed amount by normal regulations.  A Vornado spokesman said the donation was a "mistake", and Mr. Stringer's campaign claimed the contribution had been "refunded".

It’s amazing how the politicians of NYC, can be bought so inexpensively.

http://www.observer.com/2010/real-estate/stringer-eye-2013-big-real-estate-money

City Council Meetings

We need to be careful in the next month.  With all of the City's rules and regulations that Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchise are going to pass on the meeting for the Hotel to the Land Use Committee.  The following are the meeting schedules for the Hotel.  As things change I will keep everyone posted.

8/24/2010 10:00 AM 250 Broadway - Hearing Room, 16th Fl.
8/23/2010 9:30  AM 250 Broadway - Hearing Room, 16th Fl.

City Council Public Meeting

The City council subcommittee on zoning and franchise will hold a meeting on (or about) Aug 23rd at 9:30am @ 250 Broadway 16th floor.  I will keep you up to date as the day grows closer.  Now that we know for sure what subcommittee will be reviewing it, we can keep an eye on their calendar.

DCP decisions.

The following are a list of the decisions handed down by the DCP for the various ULURP filed for 15 Penn Plaza.  A copy of each has been sent to MBPO and Christine Quinn.

http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/pdf/cpc/100237.pdf

http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/pdf/cpc/100050.pdf

http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/pdf/cpc/100048.pdf

http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/pdf/cpc/100047.pdf

http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/pdf/cpc/100049.pdf

CB5 admonishes MBPO and DCP

Sources tell us that CB5 is very unhappy with the decision handed down by the MBPO and DCP and told them so. CB5 states "No such letter was sent. At least not from Community Board Five."


However, CB5 made no secret to their unhappiness during the start of the public hearings of this ULURP project. with a nearly unanimous vote declining the project.

WPIX-TV

We sent a letter to WPIX-TV (Ch 11 in NY) to ask them to do a story on the preservation efforts. We hope to hear back from them soon. In the mean time if you are attending "the next hope" please ask to sign the petition to help us save the Hotel Pennsylvania!

Petition

If you are attending HOPE at the Hotel Penn this weekend, please be sure to sign the Petition to help save the Hotel from being demolished!

DCP votes "Yes" to demolition

The DCP has voted unanimously to approve the 15 Penn Plaza project. We will post more information when it becomes available.

DCP Public Hearing Closed!

Apparently the DCP pulled a fast one on us and already held the public hearing on the Hotel Penn back in May!

http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/pdf/luproc/rs_dispo/2010-05-24rs.pdf
http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/pdf/luproc/dispo/2010-05-26cal.pdf

A quote from Steve Roth

 Back in March Steve Roth gave speech at Columbia's Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation.  The Observer quoted the following:


Mr. Roth, who bought Alexander's in large part for its real estate holdings, offered his take on his reticence to build, and why he let the site sit empty for so long:
The New York newspapers, he complained, said "I couldn't make a decision; I didn't know what I wanted to do.
"Bullshit. I knew exactly what I wanted to do. I wanted the price to go up. A lot. And I was willing to wait because I had almost no basis in the land."
There was another plus to waiting, he noted, offering a refreshingly candid developer's take on one way to pursue government subsidies:
"My mother called me and said [of the site], 'It's dirty. There are bums sleeping in the sidewalks of this now closed, decrepit building. They're urinating in the corners. It's terrible. You have to fix it.'
"And what did I do? Nothing.
"Why did I do nothing? Because I was thinking in my own awkward way, that the more the building was a blight, the more the governments would want this to be redeveloped; the more help they would give us when the time came.
"And they did."


The city is obviously being played for a fool, and yet they still play into his hands.

Pennsylvania Station 100th Anniversary Lighting Facebook

Please join our Facebook group supporting the Empire State Building's potential lighting of Pennsylvania Station for it's 100th Anniversary.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Light-the-Empire-State-Building-for-NYCs-Penn-Stations-100th-Anniversary/121121067930931?ref=ts

L Magazine Article

In an article posted on L magazines website Henry Stewart quotes Colum McCann as saying "It was a city uninterested in history. Strange things occurred precisely because there was no necessary regard for the past. The city lived in a sort of everyday present. It had no need to believe in itself as London, or an Athens, or even a signifier of the New World, like a Sydney, or a Los Angeles. No, the city couldn't care less about where it stood. He had seen a T-shirt once that said: NEW YORK FUCKIN' CITY. As if it were the only place that ever existed and the only one that ever would.
New York kept going forward precisely because it didn't give a good goddamn about what it had left behind. It was like the city that Lot left, and it would dissolve if it ever began looking backward over its own shoulder...He had said to his wife many times that the past disappeared in the city. It was why there weren't many monuments around."

To Mr Stewart I say "Thank you!"  You have said what we have been trying to tell people for years! 

Manhattan Borough President Scott M. Stringer Announces Conditional Approval For Proposed Redevelopment Of 15 Penn Plaza

The full approval document of President Stringers office can be found here:


http://archive.citylaw.org/bpm/2010/May/15pennFINALpdf.pdf

City Council Meeting Final

We had our meeting with the City Council Member Jessica Lapin's Chief of Staff, Jane Swanson.  The meeting was informative.  We learned that Ms Lapin, no longer with the subcommittee on landmark but is still on the Land use committee  They seemed surprisingly unaware of the current plight of the Hotel, (but we fixed that.) 

We didn't take away much from this except that the only public hearing there will be on this will be held by the subcommittee on land use and zoning.  After that no more public hearings will be held.

Special thanks to those of you that showed up to join us.

City Planning Commission Review

The City Planning Commission final review has been pushed to July 19th 2010.  Apparently the commissioner has recused the proposal.


http://bit.ly/aGYxu1

Jessica Lapin meeting update

Our meeting with Jessica Lapin's Chief of Staff Jane Swanson @ 1pm on Monday has been moved to 250 Broadway, 17th Floor.  If you plan on attending please be sure to bring valid photo ID.

NYC Council pt 2

We have a meeting with Jessica Lapin's chief of staff Jane Swanson @ 1pm on Monday @
330 E 63rd st.  Suite 1K

Meeting with NYC Council Pt 2

We successfully made contact with NYC Council member Lappin's office, we have a meeting set for Mid July.

Meeting with NYC Council

We have requested a meeting with NYC Council member Jessica Lappin.  She currently heads up the Landmark Committee as well as being a council member of Manhattan Borough.  

Protest!!

We are planning to protest the city council 6/30/2010 @ 1:30 PM in front of city hall!

We hope to get as much media as possible, spread the word.   Lets show the city council we mean business and refuse to let them tear down this Hotel!

CPC hearing on 15 Penn Plaza

The final review hearing on the 15 Penn Plaza Project is set for July 14th at 1PM.  See the link below for more information:

http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/pdf/env_review/15_penn/notice_completion_feis.pdf

CPC deadline looms closer

Reminder that you only have until Monday June 7th to cast your vote against the building of the !5 Penn Plaza Tower, with the CPC office.

Contact the CPC @
CITY PLANNING COMMISSION Calendar Information Office -
Room 2E 22 Reade Street, New York, N.Y. 10007
Or fax to: (212)720-3219
Please include the following pieces of information:
• Your name
• Your address
• The organization which you represent, and your position, if any
• Subject and ULURP or CEQR Application #
• Borough. Comments will be reviewed until June 7th, 2010 Full details on the EIS is available from:
 http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/html/env_review/15_penn_plaza.shtml

15 Penn Plaza Tower

Bad news on the hotel front, looks like the tide is turning in favor of Vornado.  According to the recent study the occupancy rate of offices has risen dramatically.    Reuters reports, "Manhattan office tenants leased 2.6 million square feet in May, the largest since 2006."  This gives Vornado the leverage they need to build the tower at the site of the Hotel Penn.  The article can be found below.

http://www.reuters.com

Twitter

Apparently 2600 Magazine has started their own twitter account, for saving the Hotel Pennsylvania, we tried to reach them to inform them, that the official one already exists at http://twitter.com/savethehotel but we got no responce from them.

A few weeks ago they were contacted to have a representative sit down with us to speak with Christine Quinn's office, but pulled a no show instead.  

We will continue our efforts to save the hotel, and keep everyone informed.