Items Tagged ‘New York’
$25.5M Brooklyn Navy Yard Museum Underway
Publication Date:
August 9, 2010Written By:
Crain's New York BusinessSource:
McGraw-Hill ConstructionRead more...
Synopsis:
The redevelopment of the old Brooklyn Navy Yard will also include a new $25.5M museum. With funding coming from city, state, federal and private sources, the visitors center is currently under construction. The developers will be utilizing a 9,300-square-foot historic building on the site and adding on a 24,000-square-foot addition. Along with a an exhibition space that will detail the site’s role in America’s history and its future in advancing green manufacturing, the adapted and expanded structure will also house a job training and placement facility.
Jefferson Market Library
Synopsis:
History
Designed by architects Frederick Clark Withers and Calvert Vaux, the Jefferson Market Courthouse was built in the Victorian Gothic style over the years 1875 to 1877. In the 1880s, the building was chosen as the fourth most beautiful building in America. In 1945, the courthouse was shut down due to redistricting. It was then used by a number of agencies including the Police Academy. The building was empty and vacated by 1958.
(Re)Developer
Community members rallied together to convince New York City to preserve the building rather than follow through with its plans to demolish it and replace it with an apartment building. Margot Gayle (preservationist), Philip Wittenberg (lawyer), Lewis Mumford (historian), E.E. Cummings (poet/playwright), and Maurice Evans (actor) succeeded when Mayor Robert F. Wagner announced in 1961 that the city would convert the building into a public library.
Outcome
The adaptive reuse project of the courthouse began in 1965 and was completed in 1967.[1] The police court became the Children’s Reading Room, the Civil Court the Adult Reading Room. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972 and was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1977, both under its name as “Third Judicial District Courthouse”.[2]
The old fire bell in the tower began it ring again in 1996 after over 100 years of being silent. That bell, along with the library, has reconnected this community and reinvigorated the idea of “village” for Greenwich Village.[3] What once upheld the laws of the land now provides knowledge and community space for the neighborhood.
Lower Manhattan Cultural Council Arts Center
Synopsis:
History
The U.S. Army originally constructed Building 110 on Governors Island in 1870 to hold munitions at this strategic location off the southern end of Manhattan Island. During it’s time as an Army facility, Building 110 was eventually converted to house Army offices. The consolidation of the U.S. Military in 1966 saw the transfer of the base and Building 110 to the U.S. Coast Guard, who continued to use the building for office space. The base was shut down in 1995 and with it Building 110 was vacated.[1]
(Re)Developer
The Governors Island Preservation and Education Corporation (GIPEC) was created in 2003 when the United States sold Governors Island and its structures to the people of New York.[2] GIPEC is responsible for the planning, redevelopment, and operations of Governors Island which includes establishing the island as a location with great public open space, educational opportunities, and not-for-profit and commercial facilities.[3]
Founded in 1973, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council (LMCC) is the nonprofit dedicated to presenting, advocating, and providing for artists and the arts throughout Manhattan.[4]
Outcome
As part of its mission to open Governors Island to the public, GIPEC has partnered LMCC to convert Building 110 into an arts center. Opened in March 2010, 14,000 square feet of the building has been repurposed into large, divided studio spaces. LMCC manages the arts program which provides four-month residencies in the space. Artists take the morning ferry from Manhattan to Governors Island and take the last ferry (5pm) back home to the city. Building 110 is situated at the docks making it easily accessible to the artists as well as the visiting general public.
The arts center provides space to artists who have struggled to find adequate and cheap locations. The artists find Building 110 and its location perfect as they are able to get away from the busy city to concentrate on their work. The general public can observe their artwork as well as view them as they work during three weekends over the course of the summer. The adaptation of the building has also fostered a community for the artists who work the same “shifts” and share the large but partitioned space.[5] The building will continue to evolve as new groups of artists cycle through with changing residencies, adding a new outlook and sense of opportunity to Building 110.
State of the County (Erie County)
Publication Date:
March 11, 2010Written By:
Erie County Executive Chris CollinsSource:
WIVBRead more...
Synopsis:
Erie County’s Executive Chris Collins gave the “State of the County” on Thursday, March 11, 2010. In his statement, Collins outlined the struggles facing the economy and municipalities of the United States. Erie County stands out however as the county will end its 2009 budget year with a $44 million surplus. He attributed this success to the “hard work and dedication of our roughly 5,000 county employees, including my 25 commissioners and directors, who focus on best practices and the efficient delivery of services to county taxpayers.”
Among the many achievements the county has achieved over the year, Collins called out the adoption of the Adaptive Reuse Policy by the Erie County Industrial Development Agency (ECIDA). He noted that this policy is helping to transform Buffalo by providing tax incentives to developers willing to reuse old building stock for commercial and residential use. The policy has brought about nearly $40 million of private investment.
10 Questions For . . . Ben Walsh, Syracuse’s Economic Development Chief
Synopsis:
Ben Walsh was interviewed to discuss his new position as Syracuse’s Economic Development Chief and his goals for the New York city. Walsh outlines the number of ways Syracuse and the county are working to make doing business in the city easier. Along with new projects and staff locations, Walsh feels the city’s building stock has offered and will continue to offer many opportunities. He noted that a number of the historic buildings have been adapted for new uses which have driven the renaissance of the city center. A way to encourage this is through the federal and state historic rehabilitation tax credit programs.
Does this mean that Walsh will help to connect developers with these (and other) funding sources to further encourage adaptive reuse downtown?
Brighton Appoints Committee To Explore Options Regarding VIC, Camp Gabriels
Publication Date:
February 20, 2010Written By:
Nathan BrownSource:
Adirondack Daily EnterpriseRead more...
Synopsis:
With the recent decommissioning of Camp Gabriels and now the impending closure of the Visitor Interpretive Center by the State of New York, the town of Brighton is taking action. The community has decided that rather than complaining to the State about the closures, they have instead created a Town Redevelopment Citizens’ Committee. This committee has the duty of exploring potential reuse options for both locations. The discussions are centered around adaptive reuse of both properties. New York released an adaptive reuse plan for Camp Gabriels in the fall of 2009, but nothing came of it. While the State is now thinking of demolishing the buildings, the community hopes to find better alternatives. The idea is to ensure the benefit of Brighton and the region.
Smart Growth Planning Grants Announced
Synopsis:
The State of New York’s Environmental Protection Fund Smart Growth Grant Program has announced recipients of a total of $500,000 in funding. The funds will go toward a number of smart growth planning projects in the Hudson Valley. One such project is the development of an adaptive reuse plan/policy. Orange County has been awarded $50,000 to conduct an inventory of vacant buildings in the county. An adaptive reuse plan will then be created to direct growth to existing developed centers to utilize their infrastructure and limit sprawl. These funds and the new policy will benefit the City of Newburgh and the Villages of Maybrook, Montgomery and Walden.
Nozkowski and Robins Residence
Synopsis:
History
This synagogue on Hester Street in New York City has seen many uses over its lifetime. Aside from its original use as a place of worship, the building has also served as an underwear factory, shower-curtain factory, the neighborhood still, a Chinese laundry, and a fabric store.
(Re)Developer
Thomas Nozkowski and Joyce Robins married in 1967 after they finished art school. Nozkowski is a painter while his wife Robins is a sculptor.
Outcome
The couple purchased the building in 1969 and undertook the adaptive reuse project with only $3,000. They had to install the electrical and water lines. The building’s simple, open plan was consistent with their work and living philosophies. Through their studies with Abstract Impressionists, they solidified their belief that it is morally important to live and work in the same place. The synagogue-turned-studio where they worked on their art (and raised their son, Casimir) is unchanged since those renovations.
Items in the photos:
- The skylight and windows
- The balcony where women sat to be separate from men during services
- Robin’s workspace with some of her sculptures
- Refinished wood floors
- Large geometric wood-frame couch build by Nozkowski’s father
- Stained-glass window
- Rear wall used to project movies for gatherings
- Open studio space[1]
Chelsea Market
Synopsis:
History
Opening in 1913, the 11-story full-block structure from 10th to 11th Avenue and 15th to 16th Street in the Chelsea district of New York City became the most prominent part of the National Biscuit Company Complex. Designed by Albert G. Zimmerman, the complex was built on landfill. By 1958, Nabisco (National Biscuit) was had moved its operations to New Jersey. The buildings were sold in 1959 and had spotty use for the next few decades.
(Re)Developer
Irwin B. Cohen organized a syndicate to purchase the complex. The purchase was successfully done in the 1990s and the conversion began.
Outcome
The adaptive reuse of the complex began by converting the upper floors for office tenants. The building has become a hub for technology companies. The ground floor was reconfigured and a long interior arcade was created as home for food stores. “To walk through the Chelsea Market is to stroll through a sort of postindustrial theme park, carefully festooned with the detritus of a lost industrial culture, interspersed with food stores and restaurants.”[1] The rebirth of the Nabisco building ushered in a new beginning for the Chelsea neighborhood as new ventures and residences have made their own home in surrounding old factories.
Renovated Sugar Refinery to Provide Sweet New Homes in Brooklyn
Synopsis:
The plans to adapt the Domino Sugar Refinery on the East River are now under public review process for Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP). The project is a joint venture between The Refinery, LLC, the CPC Resources (for-profit subsidiary of the Community Preservation Corporation) and Rafael Vinoly Architects (RVA) PC. The old sugar refinery in Brooklyn is on the verge of becoming a green mixed-use model for sustainable development. RVA’s scope includes 2,200 apartments (at least 30% for lower-income families), green roofs, a variety of open spaces that allow public access to the East River, and various LEED certifications.