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Future of Meatpacking District is Being Shaped by Developers

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Rendering of 70-74 corner of Gansevoort Street (Photo credit: Aurora Capital Associates)

On March 7, Restoration Hardware received approval from the Landmarks Preservation Commission to redevelop 55 Gansevoort Street into a 14-room guesthouse. This new project will be constructed across from another redevelopment that is transforming a full block of buildings that were once owned by the big New York investor William Gottlieb and are still partially controlled by his estate.

The developments are a gigantic change for the area that has been designated as an historic district for a long time, and has recently become a hot spot for luxury residential, retail and hotel development. The area stretching from West 15th Street to Horatio Street and between Washington and Hudson Streets was established in 2003 as the Gansevoort Market Historic District by the landmarks commission. For the last decade and a half, preservationists have been fighting off developers who have set their eyes on the area. 

According to Crain’s News, “The Gansevoort plans have been revised to accommodate legal challenges and Planning Department reviews. The Restoration Hardware project had to drop the height of a rooftop addition and add a fiberglass cornice around the redeveloped building’s top to hide a planned windscreen before the landmarks commission would approve it. Last June the commission signed off on a scaled-back version of the project across Gansevoort. But a state Supreme Court judge in February ordered construction work halted pending the outcome of a lawsuit filed by neighborhood group Save Gansevoort, which contends the plans run afoul of the historic district’s protections.”

The developers expect the case to be resolved within the next 60 days. Along the site excavation work continues. Work is also still progressing on the Gottlieb estate for which last month $55 million in financing was obtained by its co-developer Aurora Capital Associates.

The project is slated to include a Hermès store that will be 10,000-square-feet across three levels as well as a new location for Keith McNally’s Pastis restaurant. Both retail places are scheduled to open during the first quarter of next year.

By Charles Bernstein

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