25 Great Jones Street has been a blight on the Noho Historic District Extension since before the extension was designated—construction of the then-hotel stalled in 2007 and has remained a half-built concrete shell towering over its neighbors ever since. But the plan from owners SDS Procida Richport Group LLC and SDS Brooklyn to change course and develop it into condos instead will now be coming to fruition as a design from BKSK Architects won the heart of the Landmarks Commission at a hearing this morning.
While the original building was a tall and skinny 14 stories, the new one will be reduced in height by 31 feet (three stories) with the removed massing going toward a seven-story street wall section, creating a building of a more similar scale to its surrounding. (The developers had originally floated the idea that they were going to add massing without reducing the height, which did not go over so well.) The facade will be made of glass and COR-TEN steel, an alloyed steel that develops a rust-like appearance over time. The Lafayette-facing side will be painted with a huge mural by artist José Parlá. The architects chose Parlá because his work will (relatively) not suffer if it is partially obscured, which it probably will be once a building is developed at the neighboring site (it's only a matter of time). There will also be a single-family townhouse build at the Bond Street side of the site.
The Landmarks Commission found all of this to be highly approvable, save for a few quibbles about the durability of COR-TEN steel. "There is not one thing about this design that I would change," remarked commissioner Michael Devonshire. "I think that it will be a landmark, should the COR-TEN last that long." The design was approved unanimously.
· 25 Great Jones Street coverage [Curbed]
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