NYC Commission Approves Seaport District Plan

The NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission has approved a plan to replace a 50-year-old parking lot between Water and Pearl streets in downtown Manhattan with a brick-and-stone tower, pushing forward a controversial design that would bring an influx of residential units to the South Street Seaport Historic District, NY1 reported on May 4. The proposed tower, from the Howard Hughes Corp., would bring in hundreds of residential units, including 70 designated as “affordable.” The Landmarks Preservation Committee voted 6-2 to approve the project a month after committee members told the developers to alter their designs to bring the building more in line with the character of surrounding buildings, which top out at around five stories. The new designs, by Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, reduced the overall height of the building’s residential tower, which rises over Water Street, from 345 to 324 ft, and adjusted the faҫade and height of the base of the building running along cobblestoned Beekman Street on the Seaport side. No construction timeline has been reported.