The landscape architects hired to create a 15,000 square foot public space as part of the Essex Crossing project made their first appearance before Community Board 3’s parks committee last night. The takeaway? A more vigorous effort should be made to consult the broader Lower East Side community.
The session was led by Jamie Maslyn Larson, a principal of West 8. The firm, based in the Netherlands, established a New York City office after winning the competition to design Governors Island Park. She brought along the model you see pictured above, depicting the Broome Street parcel where the park will be built.
185 Broome St.
A crew from the Department of Sanitation is on site at the old Broome Street fire house this morning, clearing garbage and other debris. The 1937 building is being prepared for demolition in the very near future. As you probably know, this lot is site 5 of the big Essex Crossing development project. In recent years, the property was used by a movie props business. In spite of those “no dumping” signs on the fence, it’s pretty much been a free-for-all during the past few months.
Site 5 also includes a public parking facility. As we reported the other day, it will be closing at the end of the year. There are two tenements on the parcel, as well. Community Board 3 was notified recently that all of the residential tenants have either been relocated or they will be in a matter of days. One commercial tenant, a shoe repair store, had agreed to vacate by the end of last month. As you can see, it’s still open for business. Demolition for the first phase of constr
Essex Crossing Site 2; view from the intersection of Delancey and Essex streets. Credit: Handel Architects.
Tonight at University Settlement’s Houston Street Center, developers of Essex Crossing are unveiling their designs for the first four buildings of the large residential and commercial project coming to the former Seward Park urban renewal site.
Thanks to a press briefing held earlier today, we’re able to bring you a condensed version of what members of the public are seeing this evening. Delancey Street Associates, the consortium building the nearly 2-million sq. ft. project, asked us to wait until the meeting of Community Board 3’s land use committee got underway before we published the renderings you see here.
Thanks to Robert Cordero, Grand Street Settlement’s executive director, who sent along this overhead view of Essex Crossing Site 5. Workers this week have been installing trees inside a 15,000 square foot park that’s going to be part of the big development project.
The Broome Street park, designed by West 8, will be publicly accessible, open from 7 a.m.-10 p.m. daily. Here’s the somewhat overwrought description on West 8’s website:
With a few simple moves, the Park at Essex Crossing delivers a calm, verdant, island within the urban fabric. An entirely native palette of trees and groundcovers are located in raised planters around a central open plaza. Picking up on the Lower East Side’s history of beloved urban gardens, the Park design layers canopy and understory trees, swaths of woodland planting, and vine-covered vertical plantings to create a woodland garden in the city. Meandering geometries and an oblong central gathering area gives the illusion and opportunities of
Demolition began this week on the old Broome Street fire house, the latest sign that the Essex Crossing development project is picking up momentum. As you can see from these photos show through the construction fencing, it did not take crews long to demolish portions of the southern wall. The 1937 structure is part of Essex Crossing site 5, which will be the new home of a 15-story residential and commercial building.
Last week, in a briefing before Community Board 3’s land use committee, members of the development team said demolition will take about two weeks. Crews will be working 7 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday-Friday and 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturdays.