One year ago, Jamestown Properties’ Plans for Chelsea Market hit a Dead End.
By Daniel Edward Rosen March 6, 2012 10:50 am
reprintsIn 1932, the 10th Avenue portion of the Chelsea Market, which was then the New York Biscuit Company, was knocked down by architect Louis Wirsching Jr. to accommodate an “elevated freight railroad viaduct” (now commonly referred to as the High Line).
With the new development, Studio Architectures was not allowed to penetrate the High Line, leaving the last 60 feet closest to 10th Avenue unavailable for expansion, said Mr. Burns.
The first plan involved two structural towers—one on the north side and the other on the south side—that duplicated pre-existing columns and sit on top of a platform, which then cantilevers in both directions to offer support to the whole building.
“It’s not a simple project, in that we have to build a platform above this building,” said Mr. Phillips.
The biggest knock from protesters on the proposed development is its need: Is it truly necessary to introduce new office space into the Chelsea area?
“Would the city really change its own zoning so that new office space can be built in a neighborhood that does not need it, and clearly does not want it?” Jim Jasper, head of the West 15th Street Block Association, asked in a recent DNAInfo.com article.
Mr. Phillips and Jamestown Properties fail to see what harm the project brings, and stress the growing demand for office space in the area.
MLB has expanded by nearly 45,000 square feet inside Chelsea Market to take a total of 116,000 square feet. Google (GOOGL) now has 108,000 square feet in the building, while an emerging tech company has continued to grow into 16,000 square feet inside the Market.
“Many people see Chelsea Market as a retail identity, not as the office building that sits on top of a retail concourse,” said Mr. Phillips. “So the additions, we’ve spent a lot of time trying to educate everyone that the additions actually have very little intervention on the ground floor.”
drosen@observer.com
