From Brownstoner Queens:
This week, a few workers were on site at 42-10 Vernon Boulevard, the 1892 building that served as the office for New York Architectural Terra-Cotta Works and is now an abandoned landmark. The DOB issued permits for general remedial repairs earlier this year, although the historically decrepit building needs more TLC than that.
26 comments:
This building was landmarked because someone in Manhattan wanted it so - dozens of other far more worthy buildings in Queens were torn down whose only crime was being nominated by someone from Queens.
BTW, all the documents inside the building - as is so often the case with the historical fabric in backward places like the 3rd world - and Queens - were removed from the community. That is about 90 % of the value here.
Did I say the rooms are small and most of the details were stripped in the interior. For an area that desperately needs community or art space it is worthless.
But you can be assured that it will divert funding from far more worthy projects - Suna needs it to provide a spark of interest with his waterfront land grab in an otherwise drab area.
Perfect example of a useless building in the middle of nowhere with no real application - and whose only merit is someone from Manhattan thought it was neat.
It does seem odd that this pile of old bricks would attract so much interest---and money----when so many civic worthy projects are ignored. BTW, how many millions are we talking about?
Old news - they have been working on that building off and on for at least 2 years now.
Details: http://ltvsquad.com/2012/04/30/new-york-terra-cotta/
It is a privately funded restoration - no one's tax money is going towards it to the best of my knowledge.
Also I would hardly call this building 'in the middle of nowhere'. That area has changed significantly in the last 10 years.
Sorry, but that's still in the middle of nowhere.
As in "Tear it up, Kotter!"?
No tax money--to your knowledge--Right! Its at least a multimillion dollar project with no return on investment to speak of. I gotta bridge behind it i'd like to sell too.
You DO realize the owners have gone through quite a bit of expense over the years on their own to preserve this building, correct? Unlike the owners of many other landmarked buidings (Republican hall and the 65th pct come to mind).
The owners have spent money on it because they were forced to as part of their zoning change. It's not like it's charity.
Sorry, but a single hotel is not going to bring all that many people over there. (If you read the reviews for the restaurant in that hotel you'll understand how frustrated people become trying to get over there by public transportation.) There are no stores, no buses nearby. The closest subway is at Queensbridge - have fun on the walk. Nothing else of aesthetic value to draw people. It's out of the way if you're trying to do a tour of historic structures of LIC. Oh, and let's not forget to mention that it's a stone's throw from some of the worst projects in the city. It's only being preserved because now as a landmark it has to be.
No sympathy for the owners! You buy it you own it! Good luck!
Its great to hear the comments here on this place - Queens is starting to show a glimmer of maturity on these things.
Received wisdom was that it was landmarked and therefor above reproach.
The reality is sinking in - in the grander view of things this place is all but useless - a bit like landmarking the swimming pool or fire house - great to bulk up numbers but when its all said and done, places that can be altered easily.
When you compare this to far more significant buildings that the people in this borough actually wanted - and that hardly got a glance from the commission or a comment from the preservation community in Manhattan (which would go apeshit if they knew we were speaking such irreverence on this place) - you can see that it represents just about everything that is wrong in preservation.
Sorry, but a single hotel is not going to bring all that many people over there. (If you read the reviews for the restaurant in that hotel you'll understand how frustrated people become trying to get over there by public transportation.)
---------------
That is why we have Transportation Alternatives so they have bike lanes and Riders Alliance so that areas around abandoned factories and railroad yards can have better transit service (sorry you 2 fare zone folks can cool your heals). Even Mystery Mike Gianaris bestirs himself from the august body known as the State Senate, to, among hockey rink and funeral procession legislation, pimp for better service around development projects.
Citibank (once?) owned the property in the 1990's. When they were considering developing the property, people took notice of the architectrural features of the facade and wanted it saved. Same thing going on at the Whole Foods site in Brooklyn
Suna is not doing this from his pocket - they are getting a shitload of tax breaks and this was part of the give back.
A developer does nothing for the community. NO NOT FORGET THIS.
DO NOT BELIEVE IT IF YOU READ IT IN THE PAPERS (r. e. advertising) OR ESPECIALLY IF A POLITICIAN TELLS YOU (yes, you guessed it - campaign donations.)
In the old days when they used to invest long term it made business sense to do so.
And if they didn't the politicians demanded that they did something cause the pol's family lived in the old nabe.
Today, no one gives a shit. It slash and burn and move on, either up the ladder for the pol, or on to a new mountaintop for the developer.
Regardless of the financing, the area has changed, and will continue to do so. It would be short sighted to assume that area will be the same in 5+ years from now. Do you remember that "hotel" a few years back?
Just saying repeatedly that public money was spent on this project without offering one shred of proof is stupid. They got tax breaks? Great - prove it. Do I believe they are fixing it merely out of good will? Not likely, but they can't bulldoze it either so fixing it up is their only route. Again: compared to other decaying 'landmarks' around town they have actually gone through some lengths over the years (yes, years) to maintain it - even if it was left vacant. And now you people are actually shitting on them for renovating it? What the fuck do you want? Do you want it to sit and rot or be repaired?
It is absolutely not a million dollar project. If you want to make that claim show me where they received tax dollars or a tax break, and for how much. I'm all ears. I know for a fact that the actual renovation cost is nowhere near a million.
The claim that Queensbridge is the worst housing project in the city is absolutely laughable. Ever hear of Redfern? Maybe do a little research before you open your yapper. Queensbridge isn't what it was, and even when it was bad it was nowhere near as bad as many others.
That hotel was an hourly dive. Now, you can't afford to stay there. Around the corner is an event venue called the Foundry that is consistently voted in the top 10 of wedding/event venues in the US. Lack of public transit clearly isn't keeping people from heading to this area. Z Hotel a few blocks away operates a shuttle bus for their tourists to get to the trains. Not entirely unlike Shore Tower in astoria. When they built that one 25 years ago no one thought anyone would want to live so far from public transit right next to the projects.
Someone sounds really lazy. A simple Google search reveals this:
Silvercup looks golden after tax break deal
BY FRANK LOMBARDI
December 20, 2006
City lawmakers agreed yesterday on a plan to revamp a program that gives tax breaks to housing developers, and the biggest winner may be Silvercup Studios, the production home of "The Sopranos" and "Sex and the City."
A deal on a bill overhauling the 421a program was struck by Council Speaker Christine Quinn and Mayor Bloomberg with a group of Council dissenters after extensive back room negotiations.
The measure was quickly approved by a 9-to-2 vote in the Council's Housing Committee, and the full Council is set to give its green light today.
Silvercup, which has also turned out such films as "The Devil Wears Prada" and "Gangs of New York," has city approval to build Silvercup West, a $1.2 billion development project in Long Island City. That project will include more studio facilities and 1,000 units of market-rate housing.
Under the new bill, Silvercup West will be exempt from having to include 150 units of affordable housing on the same site. Instead it will be allowed to build those units elsewhere in Long Island City.
That provision could end up saving Silvercup up to $100 million in property taxes over the next three decades, according to a participant in the Council negotiations who asked not to be identified.
We're losing out on $100M in property taxes to fund things like cops and schools. But hey! we're getting a decrepit landmark that next to no one will visit fixed up.
"The claim that Queensbridge is the worst housing project in the city is absolutely laughable. Ever hear of Redfern? Maybe do a little research before you open your yapper."
Hey moron, I think you need to sharpen your reading comprehension skills, because I wrote, "some of the worst projects in the city" not THE worst in the city.
Now go play in traffic.
What, are we gonna have contest between which is the worst NYC housing project? I'll invite one of you yuppies or what ever you now call yourselves to ride your $3,000 graphite bike through Queensbridge Houses in your evening ride to the new terra cotta restaurant! Let me know how the walk back is, if your able!
I see dozens of people jogging and riding expensive bikes past those PJs every day. No one would if it was unsafe. Or are you just that afraid of black people?
Did silvercup get that tax break? If so, where is that big residential tower they were suppose to build?
Oh that's right, it didn't happen.
They will get the tax break when they start building. The recession put the project on hold. The fact that they are working on this (which I am sure they got government grants for since it's both a landmark and on the nation register) makes me think they will start building their condos soon.
I'm against anyone getting a huge tax break but everyone complains how landmarked buildings aren't maintained. I guess this one doesn't count and shouldn't be repaired because 'it's near the projects' and 'in the middle of nowhere' - as if it's in the middle of the sahara desert. I guess it has zero historic significance to Queens and should be left to rot. That's what the above comments say between the lines.
Any government grants for it will appear in a government budget somewhere. Until someone can show me that line item it's 100% rumor based on assumption.
Heaven forbid someone repairs something and we have one less god damned thing to complain about.
Do the research yourself and get back to us. I already did half the work for you after you claimed tax breaks weren't involved.
And the original point was that no one in Queens begged for this building to be landmarked in the first place.
The entire waterfront is polluted with God knows what in the soil. What was used to fire those furnaces at Terra Cotta? What has drifted up and down the East River for generations leaching into the soil?
The fact is the the 19th century, which pretty much treated working New Yorkers like trash did not think this area suitable for housing gives you some idea what the future tenants are in for.
Yes, that hot sheet hotel now is a nice place. But you must remember that this area will be flooded more and more as time goes on - and all new construction is tossed together so after a few decades everything now being built on the waterfront will be tired and looking like a 3rd world slum - the kind of high rises you see in Capetown or Cairo.
Check out those cities and their like on Google Earth.
I would not buy any of those buildings nor would I raise a dog - let alone my kids there.
As this is how my tax dollars at work you can understand why this country is in this mess.
End of story.
Didn't this discussion start with the assertion that no tax money was involved with rehab of the building. Now we find that's not true and you try to defend your position by saying its ok! If this property is sooo great and the neighborhood soooo safe then why worry about reaching out for public funds or tax breaks! You don't need 'em!
It was landmarked because of what it belonged to many years ago! Far more deserving? That would be a matter of opinion. In the Architectural Ceramics world, it in fact is a Holy Site! Any updates?
Post a Comment