The Dermot Company's plan to top the Battery Maritime Building in Lower Manhattan with a glassy restaurant and hotel has taken on several controversial forms, but the future of the inside of the Battery Park landmark has been nearly as dissected as the outside. An earlier proposal to add a gourmet food market is now dead, and the developer has announced its intention to turn the building's Great Hall into a private events space. Money is still an issue, but Dermot is pushing ahead with the review process and the Downtown Express reports that the developer has agreed to some concessions over the second-floor space to get leaders on board.
The columned and sky-lit Great Hall will be open to the public weekdays from 9-5, several evenings a month and on alternating weekends. It will house art exhibits and cultural stuffs during those hours when invited guests aren't drinking champagne and twirling, twirling, TWIRLING! A Community Board 1 rep told the paper, "I think we'd all prefer to have it be a completely public space full-time, but we’re realistic about it — it has to be self-supporting financially."
· Maritime Building’s hall would be open to the public [Downtown Express]
· Return of the Battery Maritime Building: Hotel Idea Has Fans [Curbed]
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