New York is full of second acts and eye-catching transformations, and perhaps no area better encapsulates that than Tribeca. Industrial buildings get converted into highly coveted residences - e.g., 11 Beach and the American Thread Building - if not incorporated into new development, as happened at One York Street, where starchitect Enrique Norten built upon a nineteenth-century brick building to create a new condominium with loft-like units.
Google street view
Directly across the way, 15 Laight Street shows that the phenomenon is not limited to residential. In 1850, the double-wide mansion on the site was converted to a “water cure” institute and later combined with the abutting house into the Hydropathic and Hygienic Institute. Shortly after a nearby fire in 1888, the old buildings were razed to make way for a six-story brick warehouse.
In the early days of the Tribeca Film Festival over 100 years later, founder Robert de Niro turned the building’s retail space into the Tribeca Theater, a movie theater that became a regular part of the festival. Most recently, a leasing website has been revealed for the commercial development rising on the site, which, interestingly enough, is up the street from AIRE Ancient Baths.
Rendering
Facade detail
VanBarton Group is at the helm of the conversion, and renderings from Gensler Architects show an eight-story building with a steel superstructure, concrete shear walls, and retail at the base with 19-21’ ceilings. Upstairs, the office spaces feature soaring ceilings, floor-to-ceiling glass, and column-free floors that have become de rigeur in new commercial and residential buildings alike. However, the pocket terraces on floors 2-5 and 7-8, along with the expansive sixth-floor and roof terraces, set it apart and help it in its quest for both LEED Silver certification and WELL certification for supporting and enhancing human health and wellness.
Neighborhood views
Interiors
Office details
Terrace
Marketing materials crow that 15 Laight Street is “the first building you see as you exit the Holland Tunnel and enter Manhattan,” and it does indeed benefit from its address on the cusp of Tribeca, Soho, and Hudson Square, the latter of which is gearing up to welcome new headquarters for Google and Disney. Employees and visitors will also appreciate its proximity to popular local restaurants, shopping, and nightlife, not to mention easy access to a dozen different subway lines and the PATH. Additionally, images show a ground-floor food hall with seating along a pedestrianized St. John's Lane may be in the works. The narrow Belgian-blocked street separates 15 Laight Street from One York Street.
15 Laight Street and a pedestrianized St. John's Lane (Vanbarton Group / Newmark Knight Frank)
Alley and retail space
Potential food hall rendering (Vanbarton Group / Newmark Knight Frank)
Nevertheless, the transformation of a local cinema into a glassy office is depressingly reminiscent of 141 East Houston Street, where a glass and metal-framed commercial building is rising on the former site of the Sunshine Cinema. Will Netflix save the historic but recently shuttered Paris Theatre from a similar fate?
Construction circa November 2019 (One York Street in background) via CityRealty
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