Out of last week's "raucous" meeting on the General Theological Seminary's 17-story proposal in Chelsea, we get new art (at right, via City Realty) and a new nickname - "Tower of Babel" - lovingly coined by a resident, who like most in opposition doesn't like the height of the planned replacement for low-rise Sherrill Hall at Ninth Ave. and 21st St. From the Times, we learn that the cash-strapped seminary might consider "constructing several seven-story buildings around the center of the campus instead," should the hissing and booing continue and the Polshek Partnership-designed mixed-use plan (with 80 apartments) fail to get the green-light. Meanwhile, City Realty notes that while this new addition to the campus would require special approval, being in a historic district, "it is the same height as a 1928 apartment tower just across Ninth Avenue" and would be just "a bit higher than the seminary’s church spire."
· Chelsea Residents Resist Seminary's Plan for a Luxury Tower [NYT]
· Seminary presents tower plan to Chelsea community [City Realty, 22-Nov]
· Squabbles over Seminary Plans in Chelsea [Curbed]
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