114-year-old Nomad building should be saved from wrecking ball, say preservationists

A neighborhood association group is fighting to save a 114-year-old Beaux Arts buildings in Nomad, but the future looks grim, DNAinfo reports. Earlier this month, Cottonwood Management filed plans to replace the building at 316 Fifth Avenue with a 40-story tower. Demolition plans were filed on July 12, and with no designation by the Landmarks Preservation Commission in sight, the building will very likely be demolished.

Built in 1903, the Kaskel & Kaskel building originally served as a high-end men’s clothing store. Local preservationists have been fighting to save this building for nearly a decade now by expanding the Madison Square North Historic District and by getting the building individually designated.

The 29th Street Neighborhood Association was behind expanding the historic district and landmarking the building, but attempts to expand the district were rejected by the Landmarks Commission this year. An individual landmark proposal is currently under review, according to DNAinfo, but once a developer has already secured demolition permits, there’s little the LPC can do. The neighborhood group is not giving up, and hoping that the agency can step in before the building comes down.

The developer declined to say when that would happen, according to DNAinfo. As plans stand right now, the existing building will make way for a 539-foot condo building with just 27 apartments. The apartments will start on the eight floor. Below that will be the amenities and retail. Kohn Pedersen Fox was listed as the applicant of record on the original new building application, but the firm has declined to confirm its involvement so far.

• Landmark Push May Be Too Late to Save Century-Old Fifth Ave. Building [DNAinfo]
• Fifth Avenue poised to sprout another luxury tower [Curbed]