Howard Hughes Corporation plans to make a presentation to Community Board 1 next month of its plans for the redevelopment of the South Street Seaport, according to an article today by Julie Shapiro at DNAinfo.com. The corporation is a spinoff of General Growth Properties and it took control of the property last year.
The new owners of the South Street Seaport expect to announce their development plans within the next month or two, an executive said this week, the article said.
"We haven't confirmed the exact development plan, but we're working closely with the city to define a plan that meets their needs," Grant Herlitz, president of Howard Hughes Corp., told DNAinfo.
Mr. Herlitz said one option is to do a complete overhaul of the area, similar to what former owner General Growth Properties proposed in 2008 the article said, adding that. "Under that scenario, Howard Hughes would raze the Pier 17 mall and replace it with low-rise buildings, move the historic Tin Building to the pier's tip and erect a tower on the site of the New Market building."
The tower would be about 500 feet tall and have a lacy and elegant exoskeleton facade and it was designed by SHoP Architects. A rendering of that design is shown at the right.
Mr. Herlitz said another option would be to keep more of the existing buildings in place, the article said, adding that "under that scenario, Howard Hughes might maintain part of the Pier 17 mall while demolishing the rest of it."
General Growth Properties' plan several years ago hit a roadblock when the Landmarks commission sharply criticized the drastic alterations to the pier. GGP declared bankruptcy shortly afterward, in April 2009, and the redevelopment has been on hold since then, the article said.
But, the article continued, "Howard Hughes has also been investing in the existing Pier 17 mall, recently leasing a second-floor space to Algonquin Theater Productions to build a 200-seat cabaret there" and "while GGP started restricting mall tenants to one-year leases once the company started thinking about redeveloping the pier, Howard Hughes has recently awarded two-to-five-year leases to some mall tenants, business owners said."
After Howard Hughes announces its plans, the project will still have to go through a series of public reviews, including approvals from the Landmarks Preservation Commission, Community Board 1, the City Planning Commission and the City Council.
The new owners of the South Street Seaport expect to announce their development plans within the next month or two, an executive said this week, the article said.
"We haven't confirmed the exact development plan, but we're working closely with the city to define a plan that meets their needs," Grant Herlitz, president of Howard Hughes Corp., told DNAinfo.
Mr. Herlitz said one option is to do a complete overhaul of the area, similar to what former owner General Growth Properties proposed in 2008 the article said, adding that. "Under that scenario, Howard Hughes would raze the Pier 17 mall and replace it with low-rise buildings, move the historic Tin Building to the pier's tip and erect a tower on the site of the New Market building."
The tower would be about 500 feet tall and have a lacy and elegant exoskeleton facade and it was designed by SHoP Architects. A rendering of that design is shown at the right.
Mr. Herlitz said another option would be to keep more of the existing buildings in place, the article said, adding that "under that scenario, Howard Hughes might maintain part of the Pier 17 mall while demolishing the rest of it."
General Growth Properties' plan several years ago hit a roadblock when the Landmarks commission sharply criticized the drastic alterations to the pier. GGP declared bankruptcy shortly afterward, in April 2009, and the redevelopment has been on hold since then, the article said.
But, the article continued, "Howard Hughes has also been investing in the existing Pier 17 mall, recently leasing a second-floor space to Algonquin Theater Productions to build a 200-seat cabaret there" and "while GGP started restricting mall tenants to one-year leases once the company started thinking about redeveloping the pier, Howard Hughes has recently awarded two-to-five-year leases to some mall tenants, business owners said."
After Howard Hughes announces its plans, the project will still have to go through a series of public reviews, including approvals from the Landmarks Preservation Commission, Community Board 1, the City Planning Commission and the City Council.
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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