Hungry for some landmark slapdown? Starts and Fits blogger Aaron Donovan calls bullshit on the protesters fighting to landmark the Tunnel Garage at the corner of Broome and Thompson in the West Soho/Hudson Square neighborhood:
For a garage, I guess it's not horrible. But that doesn't say much. The city's historic preservation process has resulted in a number of wonderful buildings being saved from demolition or alteration... Somehow, this auto-oriented building doesn't seem to rise to the level of these treasures. Hmm, maybe there's something else going on here. An article points to what is perhaps the real issue: "Andrew Berman, G.V.S.H.P. director, said the garage is not only historically deserving of landmarking, but also important because the area has lost so much parking in recent years." A-HA! So perhaps this dispute isn't so much about the architectural merits of the structure, but about the desire for area residents to park their cars cheaply. If parking is worth that much to the neighborhood residents, they could pay the building's owner as much as he would make from the proposed apartment and retail building (which unfortunately would have 117 parking spaces of its own). That would be enormously expensive though, so one can see why they've suddenly become nostalgic for this mediocre building.
· 'Landmark' Status Sought, For This? [Starts and Fits]
· Preservationists Dig In For Fight on Tunnel Garage [The Villager]
· Save the Tunnel Garage! [Gothamist, photo above by Jake Dobkin]
· It's Time to Park Your Motorcoach Elsewhere [Curbed]