In Lower Manhattan, 140 Broadway’s public plaza is safe, for now

The proposed changes to the open space outside Lower Manhattan’s iconic 140 Broadway have been tabled, at least for now. The Cultural Landscape Foundation, an education and advocacy organization, learned on Friday that the proposed changes would no longer be discussed at the Landmarks Preservation Commission’s public meeting on February 6.

When news of the proposed changes emerged earlier this week, they were to be heard by the Landmarks Commission on February 6. The item has now been “laid over” which means it’s not yet clear when the proposal will come up for another hearing before the LPC. Curbed has reached out to the Commission for a comment.

Earlier this week, the owners of 140 Broadway announced their intention to make changes to the open space outside the landmarked 140 Broadway, which most notably includes Isamu Noguchi’s Cube. The owners want to add planters and benches, and potentially discourage street vendors from setting up shop outside 140 Broadway.

Preservationists and advocacy groups have denounced the move; In a letter to the LPC’s chair Meenakshi Srinivasan, the founder of the Cultural Landscape Foundation, Charles Birnbaum said the changes would “not only adversely affect the experience of Noguchi’s sculpture, but of the building and the plaza as well, for all three elements are compositionally intertwined.”

• Lower Manhattan’s celebrated 140 Broadway may get unwelcome ornament [Curbed]