[The site at 523 Greenwich Street (left) and Philip Johnson's unbuilt tower]
It's every New Yorker's dream home: A broad expanse of glass looking out over the waters of the Hudson River. That is the promise at 523 Greenwich Street, just north of Spring Street on the western edge of Hudson Square. The Real Deal reported last month that an 18-story, 22 unit residential condo project is set to rise there just up the block from Phil's Glass House. So what could be the problem? It seems there might be more than one.
Just across the way is the proposed site for that new Department of Sanitation Garage and Fueling Depot, slated to rise to a height of 150 or so feet. Since this 523 Greenwich condo project is planned for a height of about 180 feet, just about everyone considering living there might as well kiss their views goodbye.
Then there's the dreaded zoning problem. Not to mention the historical antipathy to height in this neck of the woods. A few short years before Philip Johnson went off to the Great Glass Box in the Sky, he proposed a 26-story tower for the spot where his comparatively meager 12-story Urban Glass House now stands. But locals shot down Phil's big tower. If the neighborhood residents can take a giant like Mr. Johnson and cut him down to size, imagine what they'll do to some relative newbies to the condo game. Come to think of it, that new garbage depot might come in very handy.
· New Residential Developments - Financing [The Real Deal]
· Blocking in Phil's Glass House? [Curbed]
· West Soho Paradise Threatened by Sanitation [Curbed]