The sad and tattered shell of 372 Broadway, a circa-1852 Italianate loft rising 5 floors and stretching through to Cortland Alley, is finally getting some TLC. This solid old edifice has survived for over 150 years and now sits across from Tribeca's most hated facelift and the slot where the stalled Five Franklin Place promised to rise. 372 Broadway is within the protected Tribeca East Historic District, but that hasn't done much to protect its legacy. She was bought in 2005 for $9.5 million by Abraham Leser and Partners, who planned to spiff it up with a condo conversion, but the economy crashed and that's all she wrote.
The prior owner ripped out the old floor joists and in more recent disasters, the roof caved in. Last spring the entire building began to tilt, causing major neighbor hullabaloo. 372's master seemed to care little about its fate, but perhaps that's to be expected from an owner who received a Dirty Dozen Award for a toxic site in the Bronx. According to the Department of Finance, Leser and crew now owe nearly $200,000 in property taxes on the building. Maybe that's why this beaten beauty recently hit the market for $11,500,000 and is being touted as 'an ideal redevelopment opportunity.'
The concerned crew of archi-freaks over at Wired New York have been keeping tabs, worried that the building's marble face will end up part and parcel in landfill. Now crews are crawling around inside and work is being done "to reinforce structure of building." Preservation advocates, start your engines!
· Tribeca residents worry decrepit, neglected building is in danger of collapsing [New York Daily News]
· Broadway Reopens After TriBeCa Building Scare [DNA Info]
· 372 Broadway [StreetEasy]
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