Noho's 43-bed mental health center for homeless women is on the road to becoming a downtown retail destination, but plans to convert 11 Bond Street hit a roadblock in front of the Landmarks Preservation Commission on Tuesday (h/t YIMBY). The LPC rejected the proposal from the firm of Annabelle Selldorf, which has been enlisted by luxury residential developer and brooding city landlord Aby Rosen to remake the shelter into "an ideal space for the headquarters of a retail fashion house or a single high-end tenant." Selldorf's plans for the 1913 structure included extending a rooftop addition added to the structure in 1924, 11 years after the building was constructed, and changing the window pattern across the building including adding retail storefronts.
The building on the corner of Bond and Lafayette streets falls within the Noho Historic District, meaning the LPC has to approve any exterior changes to the structure. According to YIMBY, the commissioners largely think the renovation is a "good" and "great" project, but they think the renovation should be more respectful of the building's past as an animal hospital and horse stables. Similarly, Community Board 2 mostly approved the changes to the building but took issue with Selldorf's use of aluminum windows and removal of stable relics.
Unsurprisingly, the Greenwich Village Society For Historic Preservation rejected the proposal. "In short, the design needs to be re-thought. This is a quirky, charming building which contributes to the story of NoHo, and the changes would too fundamentally change what the building is. There are ways of fixing this up and making it a retail space without losing all these key features," a rep for GVSHP testified.
The commissioners asked the architect to rethink the building's new window pattern, storefronts, and rooftop addition.
· Landmarks Rejects Renovation Of 348 Lafayette Street, NoHo [YIMBY]
· Aby Rosen Files Plans to Convert Women's Shelter Into Retail [Curbed]
· Aby Rosen To Convert Noho Homeless Shelter Into Retail [Curbed]
Loading comments...