A month and a half after Brooklyn's Community Board 2 approved new designs for the conversion of Dumbo's historic Tobacco Warehouse to a theater for St. Ann's Warehouse, Rogers Marvel Architects presented the project again this morning, this time to Landmarks Preservation Commission chairman Robert Tierney and his gang of ten. And while architect Jonathan Marvel found himself subject to further disapproval from a wide range of Brooklyn community groups seeking to leave the structure as-is?including one speaker who implored the LPC to not "ruin a ruin"?the LPC quickly determined the project to be not only free of any modern improprieties, but a "striking example of adaptive re-use" and more likely to preserve the structure than mere preservation itself. While the LPC largely limited its criticisms to the building's rooftop railing and pre-empted any use of aggressive light-bulbage by Brooklyn sign designer Tom Fruin (he of the massive Wythe Hotel "Hotel"), the Commission's unanimous support might not mean much at all if a few Brooklyn community groups manage to prolong their fight against the conversion.
?David Stein
· Tobacco Warehouse coverage [Curbed]
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