The landmarks committee of Community Board 1 voted 6 to 1 with 1 recusal last night to recommend approval of plans to erect a 13-story mosque and community center at 45 Park Place near Ground Zero.
The proposed building would replace a 152-year-old, 5-story building that until recently housed the Burlington Coat Factory and is the subject of a hearing next Tuesday at the Landmarks Preservation Commission on its possible designation as an individual city landmark.
The new building has been proposed by the Cordoba Initiative, a Muslim group, and one recently published rendering indicated its facade will be an abstract geometric design.
According to an article by Julie Shapiro today at DNAinfo.com the board's landmarks committee voted that the existing building should not be designated a landmark.
"The five-story Italianate Renaissance-style warehouse first caught local preservationists' attention in the 1980s," the article continued, "and they fought for it to be included in a TriBeCa historic district. But while the city held a hearing on the building in 1989, the Landmarks Commission never took any action, so the building has been in limbo since then. Roger Byrom, chairman of the Landmarks Committee, said that while he would have liked to see the building included in a historic district, it does not have enough distinctive historical features to 'rise to the level of an individual New York City landmark.'"
The Cordoba Initiative, an Islamic group, announced plans in May to tear down the 152-year-old building on the site that has been mostly vacant since it was damaged in the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center when the landing gear of one of the hijacked airliners tore into its roof. Muslim prayer services are held in the building on Fridays.
Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf and Daisy Khan co-founded the Cordoba Initiative and bought the building last year and have said the planned new building would cost about $100 million and would have a 500-seat performing arts theater, fitness center, swimming pool, and library, as well as public conference rooms, basketball courts and restaurants. The Khans have said that the new building is "going to be a place not only for Muslim activity, but interfaith activity of the highest order."
Because of the sensitivity of the project, which has drawn strong objections from some 9/11 family members, the leaders of CB1's Landmarks Committee spent more time researching this building than they ever have for any other application, said Bruce Ehrmann, co-chairman of the committee, the article noted.
The Landmarks Preservation Commission hearing about the building will be held at 904 Lexington Ave. on July 13 at 2 P.M.
The proposed building would replace a 152-year-old, 5-story building that until recently housed the Burlington Coat Factory and is the subject of a hearing next Tuesday at the Landmarks Preservation Commission on its possible designation as an individual city landmark.
The new building has been proposed by the Cordoba Initiative, a Muslim group, and one recently published rendering indicated its facade will be an abstract geometric design.
According to an article by Julie Shapiro today at DNAinfo.com the board's landmarks committee voted that the existing building should not be designated a landmark.
"The five-story Italianate Renaissance-style warehouse first caught local preservationists' attention in the 1980s," the article continued, "and they fought for it to be included in a TriBeCa historic district. But while the city held a hearing on the building in 1989, the Landmarks Commission never took any action, so the building has been in limbo since then. Roger Byrom, chairman of the Landmarks Committee, said that while he would have liked to see the building included in a historic district, it does not have enough distinctive historical features to 'rise to the level of an individual New York City landmark.'"
The Cordoba Initiative, an Islamic group, announced plans in May to tear down the 152-year-old building on the site that has been mostly vacant since it was damaged in the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center when the landing gear of one of the hijacked airliners tore into its roof. Muslim prayer services are held in the building on Fridays.
Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf and Daisy Khan co-founded the Cordoba Initiative and bought the building last year and have said the planned new building would cost about $100 million and would have a 500-seat performing arts theater, fitness center, swimming pool, and library, as well as public conference rooms, basketball courts and restaurants. The Khans have said that the new building is "going to be a place not only for Muslim activity, but interfaith activity of the highest order."
Because of the sensitivity of the project, which has drawn strong objections from some 9/11 family members, the leaders of CB1's Landmarks Committee spent more time researching this building than they ever have for any other application, said Bruce Ehrmann, co-chairman of the committee, the article noted.
The Landmarks Preservation Commission hearing about the building will be held at 904 Lexington Ave. on July 13 at 2 P.M.
Architecture Critic
Carter Horsley
Since 1997, Carter B. Horsley has been the editorial director of CityRealty. He began his journalistic career at The New York Times in 1961 where he spent 26 years as a reporter specializing in real estate & architectural news. In 1987, he became the architecture critic and real estate editor of The New York Post.
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