NY POST

DOWNTOWN DONALD PLANS LUXURY SOHO CONDO-HOTEL

http://www.nypost.com/photos/bizlede06052006.jpg
SUMPTUOUS IN SOHO: Donald Trump, daughter Ivanka and son Donald Trump Jr. are taking their developing act to SoHo. Above is a rendering of their planned 45-story luxury hotel tower.

By BRADEN KEIL

June 5, 2006 -- Donald Trump is submitting plans to construct a 45-story luxury high-rise condominium hotel on the outskirts of SoHo, The Post has learned.

And barring any glitches in the approval process, groundbreaking on the structure at 246 Spring, between Varick St. and Sixth Avenue, is expected to begin before the end of this year, according to Donald Trump Jr. - who, along with his father and sister Ivanka, is overseeing the project.

It will also be one of the two projects that will be offered to tonight's winner of "The Apprentice."

Included in the plans for the development, whose working name is Trump International Hotel & Tower SoHo, are more than 400 hotel condo rooms and suites, a spa facility and a high-end restaurant. It also calls for 28,000 square feet of retail space.

While the hotel will have the typical Trump glitz, with the public rooms designed by renowned architect David Rockwell, Trump Jr. said the vibe will be a younger "downtown chic" version of Trump International Hotel & Tower at Columbus Circle.

The building, which will rise in a fringe area of SoHo - about three blocks from the Holland Tunnel - will tower above the nondescript neighborhood.

"You're going to get incredible 360-degree views from about the 12th floor up," said Trump Jr. "They're almost like the views in Jersey City of Manhattan, but you're still in New York."

"I'm very excited to hear about it," said developer Steven Witkoff, who has several downtown projects in the works including the condo conversion of the Woolworth Building and Cipriani Club Residences now being marketed at 55 Wall St.

"[Trump's] very creative and he always brings sizzle to an area."

The developers of the building include Tamir Sapir, the former cab driver who made headlines by paying $40 million for the Duke Semans mansion.

Seems like the Trumps have run out of names.
I think it's a good tower, I like the angle and all, and as much as I like diversifying neighborhoods by alternating stone with glass, etc. somehow SoHo doesn't seem like the best place for this tower.
I do hope they at least keep one area of manhattan under height restriction, but let's hope it won't be just Greenwich and expand the area a little bit, and keep some of that old New York feel, whatever that may be... or perhaps they'll leave Brooklyn alone instead.

i agree. the fact that residential skyscrapers of significant height are starting to sprout up in various low-rise dominated neighborhood's sort of disturbing. do that too much, and Manhattan's skyline'll start looking like those from Asian cities.

this tower's decent. looks like it'll feel right at home in the west 42nd st. neighborhood, and if i get a say on where it gets built, i'd replace Calatrava's 80 South st. with it. but i don't think a glass tower like this is meant to stand all by itself in a low-rise neighborhood.

It's not technically in SoHo, even though they will market it as such. It's in a part of town called Hudson Square. There isn't much going on in there except for some large mini storage type buildings and the Holland Tunnel entrances/exits. The site is currently an empty lot. This project will be good for the area.

if it was in soho, then it definitely wouldn't go with the area. The area has a flow and a style to it that this building does not represent. But since its probably not in soho like u said, I guess my statement doesn't matter, lol...

I had never heard of hudson square but I found some information on it......
interesting neigborhood, the below is just from the visitor guide from nyc.com



Hudson Square, like NoLita, is as much the creation of Real Estate branding than the rise of an organic community. Bounded by the Hudson River (on the west), Morton Street (on the north), Canal Street (on the south) and Avenue of the Americas (on the east), Hudson Square is often thought of as western SoHo. However, the area is unique enough to deserve its own moniker. Historically populated by publishers and printers of yesteryear, this area is rapidly giving way to an eclectic mix of ad agencies, architects, video and filmmakers, software developers and new media firms. It also features some of downtown's hipper night clubs.

Hudson Square is unique among neighborhoods in that a great deal of the land and buildings here are owned by one company, Trinity Real Estate, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Trinity Church. Indeed, historic Trinity Church, founded in 1697, has always been one of New York City's largest landlords. The relationship between Trinity Church and Hudson Square dates to the early 18th century, when Queen Anne of England ceded a large tract of land in lower Manhattan to the parish. As the owner, leasing agent and manager of approximately six million square feet in 23 buildings in the Hudson Square area, Trinity has played, and will continue to play, a leading role in developing downtown Manhattan.

It's not technically in SoHo, even though they will market it as such. It's in a part of town called Hudson Square. There isn't much going on in there except for some large mini storage type buildings and the Holland Tunnel entrances/exits. The site is currently an empty lot. This project will be good for the area.
When the article said that it would be on the outskirts of SoHo, they meant that it would be outside the Castiron Dist, which is a designated landmark, since the western end of SoHo is not preserved.

very nice, its probally a fortune to live there, shame...

NIMBYs are trying to fight this one.

NIMBYs are trying to fight this one.

Yup, the opposition begins but Trump is notorious for fighting the NIMBYs:

NY POST

SOHO: NO GO
FACE-OFF OVER TRUMP'S HOTEL PLAN

By ANGELA MONTEFINISE

June 25, 2006 -- Donald Trump's taking on SoHo.

Some angry residents - convinced that the Donald's planned 45-story condo-hotel violates the zoning code - have launched a letter-writing campaign in an effort to block permits for the Trump International Hotel & Tower SoHo on Spring Street.

But the billionaire says he's not worried about his latest band of detractors.

"They're incorrect," he said last week. "They're wasting their time. We absolutely have the right of zoning. All the plans are finalized. It'll be a great building."

Not so, insist preservationists, charging that Trump's latest tower would include units that could be used as full-time residences - which clashes with the area's manufacturing zoning.

The 400 rooms and suites would be purchased by individuals, who could then rent them out as hotel rooms.

"The fiction here is that people are going to buy these units just to rent them out," said Andrew Berman, executive director of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation. "The reality is they most likely will be living there year round. And that's just not allowed."

So far, the city has rejected several permit applications at the site, including for new building, excavation, plumbing and foundation work.

But Berman said his group's letter-writing campaign has the city really paying attention to Trump's Spring Street plans - and the implications they could have for the rest of the city.

"If this gets approved, we're talking about changing the face of real estate in New York," Berman said. "Suddenly, developers could put high-rise residential development in manufacturing districts that aren't equipped for it."

Trump hopes to begin construction by the end of the year and to open the glass tower by 2009. His children, Donald Trump Jr. and Ivanka, will oversee the project with their dad. And "Apprentice" season No. 5 winner Sean Yazbeck will handle construction.

angela.montefinise@nypost.com

http://www.downtownexpress.com/de_188/cityhaltstrump.html
Volume 19 | Issue 33 | December 15 - 21, 2006

City halts Trump project

By Lincoln Anderson

The discovery of human remains at the site of the planned Trump Soho condo-hotel at Spring and Varick Sts. led the Department of Buildings on Tuesday to issue a stop-work order for the project.

Jennifer Givner, a D.O.B. spokesperson, said the remains were removed by the city’s medical examiner for closer inspection. Lisi de Bourbon, Landmarks spokesperson, said Landmarks gave advice to the developers — Trump and Bayrock/Sapir — mainly that they retain their own archaeologist. “Trump’s people have hired an archaeologist and are in the process of figuring out what to do with the remains,” de Bourbon said.

Buildings spokesperson Givner said it was a “unique case.”

Andrew Berman, director of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation — who has been a leading critic of the planned 45-story condo-hotel — found that the site was formerly home to the city’s oldest Presbyterian church, which was razed in the 1960s and became a parking lot. Berman said the remains may have been from a cemetery attached to the church or a burial ground predating the church.

On Wednesday, the developers were quoted in the New York Post as saying that the spot where the remains were found would be an open plaza and not covered by the building.

“Whoever’s bodies they are, they deserve a certain level of respect and care — and I don’t think it should be left to Trump to do that,” said Berman. “He has a vested interest in plowing ahead with his construction.”

Berman and other opponents have been fighting the condo-hotel, charging that people will be living in the condos year-round, in violation of the site’s zoning. The city hasn’t issued a permit for the building yet, but has allowed excavation of the site.

Realtors for Trump were marketing the condos on the Web for use as a “primary residence,” and the city’s tourist agency, NYC & Co., also had a listing that the units were for “year-round” occupancy. Both listings have since been pulled.

Asked if this would affect Buildings’ decision, Givner said they were just “marketing” and that Buildings will make its decision based on the application. But she said D.O.B. won’t approve any residential use at the site. “We’re not ignoring these advertisements. We see them,” Givner said. “That’s not the permitted use for this type of neighborhood and the department’s not going to approve plans for long-term residence.”

Berman said he was “appalled” to hear that D.O.B. hasn’t been more alarmed by the Web listings.

“What more evidence do they need to be presented with? Everyone except the city and D.O.B. gets it that this is going to be used as residences,” he said. “Trump’s realtors get it. Trump gets it.”

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/local/story/502735p-424058c.html
Donald's tower bad fit for SoHo, activists rail

Donald Trump's latest project is a "45-story square peg in a round hole" that violates zoning laws and doesn't belong in low-rise SoHo, protesters charged yesterday.

About 50 picketers gathered next to the planned site of Trump SoHo condominium-hotel at the corner of Spring and Varick Sts. to urge the city not to issue The Donald a building permit.

The area is zoned as a manufacturing district, but allows for traditional hotels. Preservationists charged the Trump building will be purely residential and could set a bad precedent for development around the city.

Jimmy Vielkind

Originally published on March 5, 2007

http://www.downtownexpress.com/de_200/donttrumpsoho.html
Volume 19 Issue 42 | March 2 - 8, 2007

Don’t Trump Soho, condo-hotel protesters beg city

By Lincoln Anderson

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Downtown Express photo by Jefferson Siegel

Residents make their feelings known at Sunday’s protest.

Chanting “Trump’s gotta go!” 150 hearty Soho and Hudson Square residents braved the cold and wind last Sunday to raise their voices against Donald Trump’s Soho Condo-Hotel.

They sang “Stop the Trump” to the tune of taps. They blew “Trump whistles.”

And they only hoped that City Hall heard them.

They gathered at the corner of Spring and Varick Sts., where Trump and his development partners, Bayrock and Sapir, are trying to build a 45-story condominium hotel the opponents say would flagrantly violate zoning. Yet, so far, the city hasn’t indicated it will deny the project a building permit.

“No skyscrapers in Soho” read one sign held aloft.

“A 45-story target? Hell no!” read another sign a woman had taped to a broom’s bristles and hoisted overhead, obviously reflecting the feeling that a glittering luxury edifice by America’s most famous developer would be a virtual magnet for a terrorist attack.

The project is in a manufacturing-zoned district — yet ads for it keep saying the units are for residential use. After the developers called earlier ads a mistake that they wouldn’t repeat, just two weeks ago an ad for the condo-hotel in New York magazine pitched it as a great residential opportunity.

“This is a knife into the heart of this area,” Assemblymember Deborah Glick told the crowd. “It’s illegal, inappropriate development and cannot be allowed. This is a trial balloon,” she warned. “Other places will be destroyed if Trump succeeds here.”

While hotels are allowed in manufacturing-zoned districts, the project’s critics say it will function essentially as a residential building, setting a precedent for similar projects elsewhere, leading to the weakening of the city’s other manufacturing districts.

“What Donald Trump and his partners want to do here violates the law,” said Queens Councilmember Tony Avella, chairperson of the City Council’s Zoning Committee. “But the city is playing along with it and saying, ‘Maybe we’ll work out a restrictive declaration.’

“If you allow this to happen,” Avella said, “you will give carte blanche to every developer in this city to ruin the manufacturing districts.” Avella’s northeast Queens neighborhood includes manufacturing zones he says would be threatened if condo-hotels could make inroads there.

David Reck, president of the Friends of Hudson Square, said that the community finally was able to get an appropriate rezoning of Hudson Square a few years ago, but that Trump’s project “has totally stood zoning on its ear.”

“He cannot build under the existing zoning,” stressed Andrew Berman, director of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation. “How many chances are they going to get?” Berman asked of the ads. “Trump’s been advertising it from the start as residences.”

“Jail him!” someone in the crowd shouted.

“Get Rosie O’Donnell out there!” somebody else chimed in.

Speakers said local manufacturing and commercial uses ringing the site, like 1-800-Postcards, other printing and Internet companies, a furniture-manufacturing company and Manhattan Mini Storage, all would be threatened by the 45-story condo-hotel.

Speaking afterwards, Glick said, “If you eliminate the floor plates, the new media will have no place to go. The emerging media of photovoltaic and various types of digital production — that’s what would fit into these manufacturing zones.”

The Department of Buildings is negotiating a restrictive declaration with Trump and his partners, under which individuals’ stays at the hotel would be limited to a certain number of days per year. Under this agreement, Trump would contract with a group to monitor that the rules are followed. D.O.B. is waiting to finalize the agreement before it decides whether to issue a building permit. The project currently only has a permit to build the foundation.

Asked about the possibility of a lawsuit, Berman said that would happen if and when the permit is issued.

City Councilmember Chris Quinn, who represents Hudson Square, did not attend the protest because she was in Queens at the gay-inclusive St. Patrick’s Day Parade. Avella said he’d been to it many times but felt the anti-condo-hotel rally was more important. Glick said she never goes to the Queens parade, feeling it’s just a way to “get off the hook” for the larger parade’s not allowing gays to march under a banner.

Anthony Hogrebe, a Quinn spokesperson, said they are continuing to give input on the restrictive declaration and have a meeting scheduled with the developers this week to discuss the repeated problems with the ads that pitch the condo-hotel as residential.

“A 45-story target? Hell no!” read another sign a woman had taped to a broom’s bristles and hoisted overhead, obviously reflecting the feeling that a glittering luxury edifice by America’s most famous developer would be a virtual magnet for a terrorist attack."

LoL, some people. Bogeyman is still around....

is this a go or not?

no go please

http://www.downtownexpress.com/de_209/neighborstrumped.html
Volume 19 Issue 52 | May 11 -17, 2007

Neighbors Trumped! City says yes to Donald’s tower

By Albert Amateau

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The Department of Buildings on Tuesday approved the plans and the application for a building permit for Donald Trump’s proposed 42-story condo-hotel on Spring St. in a manufacturing district in Hudson Square, a project that has roused intense opposition from preservation advocates.


The city approved the application for 242 Spring St. at Varick St. but has not yet issued the final permit to continue construction on the site, where the foundation is nearly completed, according to a D.O.B. statement.


The developer, actually Bayrock/Sapir Organization, with the participation of Trump, still has to submit nearly 20 technical documents before a permit could be issued, according to the statement.


However, the outstanding documents were being submitted on Tuesday afternoon, according to Julius Schwarz, president of the Bayrock Group, who said he was confident he would have the permit in a day or two. Schwarz said he expects the hotel would be ready for occupancy in two years.


Nevertheless, opponents of the project, led by the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, are considering going to court to overturn the application approval.


“Unfortunately, the city has decided that the interests of billionaire developers trump zoning, protection for our neighborhoods,” said Andrew Berman, executive director of G.V.S.H.P., in a prepared statement issued on April 8.


The project is located in an M1-6 manufacturing zone where hotels are permitted but permanent residential uses are banned. The Trump project, however, is for a condo-hotel with the units owned by individuals who rent them to guests and may not themselves live in them permanently.


While condo-hotels exist elsewhere in the city, the Trump project is the first in a manufacturing zone. Berman and other opponents contend that the hotel designation is just a ruse to avoid the ban on permanent residence. Over the last year, opponents have discovered several advertisements that referred to the project as a residence. But Bayrock insisted that the ads were a mistake and not authorized by the developer.


Bayrock last week signed a voluntary restrictive declaration with the city restricting condo owners or guests from living in their units for more than four months per year. Specifically, the declaration says that occupants may not live in their units for more that 29 days in a 36-day period and for not more than 120 days in a calendar year.


The restrictive declaration also calls for the hotel management to monitor the occupancy of each unit to ensure that the building is really a hotel and not a permanent residence. Computer software must be able to identify when each occupant is about to exceed the limit. The condo-hotel will impose a double daily rate for each day the occupancy is exceeded and one half the amount will be deemed a violation and paid to the city. For repeated violations, the city may require the condo-hotel to hire an independent inspector to conduct an audit and make recommendations that the condo-hotel must follow.


The declaration says the hotel management must make annual occupancy reports, certified by a Certified Public Accountant, showing whether a unit has exceed the occupancy limit. It is not clear if the city will try and monitor how closely the developers are keeping track of the condo owners. Kate Lindquist, Buildings’ spokesperson, did not respond directly to that question.


“The annual occupancy reports will be telling,” she said. “The city will pursue all enforcement opportunities available.”


Berman, however, said the declaration is almost entirely self-monitored. “If and only if the condo-hotel’s own records consistently show people are breaking the law do they then start to get independently audited,” he said.


Berman also said he had been told that the Mayor’s Office of Special Enforcement would be in charge of enforcing the declaration. But he noted that only the Buildings Department is specified in the declaration; “We all know the department is understaffed and unreliable,” he added.


Nevertheless, Schwarz said he intends to follow the letter and the spirit of the declaration. “It took a long time to negotiate that agreement and the city was very diligent despite our frustration,” said Schwarz.


He added that Trump and his grown children, Donald, Ivanka and Eric, have been active in all aspects of the project. Schwarz said the condo-hotel is an as-of-right use in the location and he intends to complete the foundation and bring cranes to the site immediately.


Berman, however, said, “If you own a condo and are living in it four months of the year, that’s a second home, not a transient hotel. The reality is that many owners will live there, not just for four months, but year-round.” Berman also claimed that previous city rulings have said such units could not be made subject to lease, sale or other arrangement, to which the Trump condo units would be subject.


The project, whose height is equivalent to a 45-story building, is in an area of low-rise lofts and 15-story warehouses and would be the tallest building between Midtown and the Financial District, Berman said.


Berman said he is considering legal action “to force the city to enforce the law and stop the project.”

Albert@DowntownExpress.com

feet????

leave it to Trump to destroy the character of New York.This building will stick out like a soar thumb.Ive hated this project ever since it was shown on the appretice actually I stopped watching the show after it was unveiled.

Trump's Condo-Hotel Gambit Works; City Approves Soho Tower

http://nymag.com/daily/intel/20061117trump.jpg

5/8/07
By:Alec Appelbaum
nymag.com (http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2007/05/trumps_condohotel_gambit_works.html)

That sound you just heard is the last huff of Soho's industrial grit. With unceremonious filings last night, the city cleared the Trump Organization to build a 41-story tower on one of Soho's last scraps of industrial land. The Trump Soho project calls itself a "condo-hotel," a taxonomy that lets its developer build what some might call a residential tower in a manufacturing zone without special permits. The Greenwich Village Society for Historical Preservation calls it a precedent for sneaking other condos into other manufacturing zones around town, distorting property values and sundering urban character. For months, GVSHP has urged city agencies to drag the project through a public zoning review to air its potential neighborliness. But on April 26, the development team promised to let shareholders use the units for a maximum of 120 days a year (and for only 29 of every 36 days). Now, GVSHP chief Andrew Berman tells us: "This is a case of the city not enforcing its own laws, and that makes them vulnerable to a lawsuit." Does that mean he's threatening one?

http://www.nypost.com/seven/09102007/news/regionalnews/trump_triumphs.htm
TRUMP TRIUMPHS

CITY BACKS DONALD IN SOHO FIGHT

By BRADEN KEIL

September 10, 2007 -- Donald Trump's controversial, 46-story condo-hotel Trump SoHo will continue to rise, thanks to a big legal boost from the city's Department of Buildings.

Mona Sehgal, general counsel for the department, shot down a lengthy letter of protest by SoHo Alliance lawyer - and former top department legal eagle - Stuart Klein, ripping two of his four issues as "irrelevant" and "without merit."

Klein had maintained that Trump's project - which critics say would alter the aesthetic of the artsy neighborhood - should have its building permit revoked and that the department "was conspiring to violate the zoning resolution," according to an interview he gave with The Villager community newspaper.

He argued that the sale of hotel units violated zoning laws and that the condo plan should be reviewed by the Securities and Exchange Commission because some of the rules governing the units - touted as investment opportunities - are overly restrictive to owners.

"It was an uphill battle, because everyone was saying that this was Trump's Trojan horse, that it was a residence," said Trump lawyer Julius Schwarz. "We finally convinced people and signed a restrictive declaration with the city that says it's a hotel and that people can only use it for a certain number of days in the year."

Owners, according to the agreement, are restricted to no more than 120 days per year and no more than 29 days in a 36-day period.

"Now, [Klein] says that because it's too restrictive, it could be an SEC violation," chuckled Schwarz.

Klein could not be reached for comment.

Trump, obviously pleased with the latest news, said his project, which has already risen 11 floors, will be an epicenter for growth in the area.

"When completed, it will be one of the finest buildings of its kind anywhere in the world," said Trump.

He added that buyers from all over the world have put deposits down on units that are going for up to $3,000 per square foot.

Trump previously told The Post that, while most guest rooms in the hotel will comprise studios and one-bedroom units, some of the "suites" will measure up 7,000 square feet.

braden.keil@nypost.com

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/09/19/trump-and-his-critics-square-off-in-soho/index.html?ref=nyregion
September 19, 2007, 2:54 pm

Trump and His Critics Square Off in SoHo

By Colin Moynihan

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2007/09/19/nyregion/19trump.span.jpg
Protestors held signs outside a news conference for the new Trump SoHo hotel and condominium. (Photo: Timothy A. Clary/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images)

Two opposing groups of roughly equal size gathered at Spring and Varick Streets this morning.

Several dozen people whose names were on an invitation list walked between velvet ropes and down a red carpet to enter the unfinished Trump SoHo hotel and condominium. They proceeded past a marble column, unfinished cement risers and plywood walls, then took a carpeted construction elevator up to a spacious area inside where some sipped mimosas and coffee, while security guards wearing black suits looked on. Across Varick Street, dozens of protesters — without invitations — held up placards that read “Dump the Trump” and “Don’t Comb Over Here.”

They insisted that the developer Donald J. Trump and his partners and their 46-story building were not welcome in SoHo and announced plans for a lawsuit to halt construction of the project by the Trump Organization, the Bayrock Group and the Sapir Organization.

Just 10 stories of the building, at 246 Spring Street, have been finished. Inside the structure, Mr. Trump stood at a lectern in front of a red velvet curtain, on which the words “Possess your own SoHo” were beamed in light. He thanked his development partners. He expressed gratitude to his critics.
“I want to thank the protesters outside for helping to make this job so successful,” said Mr. Trump, whose stiff trademark hairdo glistened in the flashes from the cameras. “I don’t know if they can hear me, perhaps not, but I hope they can.”

A moment later he added: “The Trump SoHo is a very, very special building. It’s by far the tallest building in SoHo. It is going to have by far the best views.”

Mr. Trump’s three children then took turns at the lectern to praise the tower and offer a few facts about it: The building will include 400 apartments priced at more than $3,000 per square foot; those apartments will range from 425 square-foot studios to suites of more than 10,000 square feet; owners will be permitted to live in those apartments for 120 days out of the year, or 29 days out of any consecutive 36 days; when not living there, owners will be able to rent their apartments to people who “really want to experience the ultra-luxury, premium five-star property.”

At the demonstration — organized by the Greenwich Village Society for Historical Preservation and the SoHo Alliance — local residents and members of advocacy groups said that they were dismayed by the prospect of experiencing the building in any fashion.

They called for the project to be abandoned and distributed a list of 37 people and organizations who they said agreed with them, including several state and city lawmakers, the Municipal Art Society and four Community Boards in Manhattan.

Sean Sweeney, the director of the SoHo Alliance, announced plans for a lawsuit seeking to overturn the city’s approval of the building. He said it violated federal rules and city zoning laws, a contention that Julius Schwartz, of the Bayrock Group, disputed.

Opponents of the building also said that the residential structure is being built in an area zoned only for manufacturing and said an agreement between the developers and the city to allow owners to live in condominiums for up to 120 days per year violates regulations.

Andrew Berman, executive director of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, said the matter would be presented first to the Board of Standards and Appeals but that the coalition of groups supporting the suit would be prepared also to appeal in state court. “This project will not only transform this neighborhood, but allowing high-rise condo-hotels without public approval for the first time in a manufacturing zone will transform neighborhoods citywide,” he said.

Haha, every one of Trump's developments are controversial.

It just does not fit in Soho.

Glass Goes Up on Trump Soho

http://nymag.com/images/2/daily/intel/07/10/18_building_lgl.jpg

10/18/07
nymag.com (http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2007/10/glass_goes_up_on_trump_soho.html)

We couldn't help but notice today that glass is finally going up on Trump Soho, the controversial hotel-tower that he has been shilling for the past few months. You can see it on the bottom of the picture to the left (it's blue!). You can bet that Soho and Village protesters will have a lot to say about this (meaning TalB). We're not sure we have an opinion, except that this accelerated progress is only going to mean that Trump will be hanging out in our neighborhood more often. Which is never good.

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/01/14/scaffold-collapse-at-trump-soho-tower-kills-1/
January 14, 2008, 2:31 pm

Worker Is Killed in Accident at Trump SoHo Tower

By Sewell Chan

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/01/14/nyregion/14scaffold.cityroom.jpg
An injured worker was lowered from the site of a construction accident at the Trump SoHo hotel and condominium tower. A second worker was killed, city officials said, after he fell from the 42nd floor. (Photo: Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/01/14/nyregion/14collapse-531.jpg
Emergency workers took an injured worker to an awaiting ambulance. (Photo: Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

Updated, 6:15 p.m. | A construction worker plunged to his death, and two others were injured, after a wooden structure on the 42nd floor of the Trump SoHo hotel and condominium tower under construction in Manhattan collapsed, city officials said. The building, which is to rise 46 stories, has been a persistent source of debate, with community groups complaining about its size and proposed use, even before construction began last May.

The worker fell from the 42nd story — the uppermost story built so far — at 1:52 p.m. when the wooden structure broke apart while concrete was being poured into it, Assistant Chief Thomas Galvin of the Fire Department said at an afternoon news conference. A second worker fell from the 42nd story but was saved by some netting around the 40th floor. That worker was hospitalized with injuries. One other worker suffered minor injuries. All three workers were employed by DiFama Concrete, a concrete subcontractor for Bovis Lend Lease, the general contractor.

It was unclear how far the dead worker fell, but initial police estimates said the distance was at least 30 feet. A second worker fell from several stories into some netting, and was rescued, with injuries. The collapse occurred at 1:52 p.m. at the hotel and tower, at 246 Spring Street near Varick Street, west of the heart of SoHo. Witnesses reported that a large number of firefighters and emergency medical workers converged on the area, as did police officers from the First Precinct.

The accident tangled traffic in the area, especially around the entrance to the nearby Holland Tunnel late into the afternoon.

The company managing work at the site, Bovis Lend Lease, is the same company that oversaw demolition of the former Deutsche Bank building in Lower Manhattan, where two firefighters were killed in August in a blaze that swept through the contaminated structure.

The Buildings Department announced in the late afternoon that it had ordered all work stopped at the building. The department said in a statement:

Preliminary reports indicate the concrete formwork on the 42nd floor failed, leading to part of the formwork collapsing onto the 40th floor. Buildings forensic engineers have determined the new building under construction is not in danger of further collapse and the crane at the site is stable.

Buildings forensic engineers are conducting interviews and assessing the construction site to determine the exact cause of the partial collapse.

The Buildings Department is vacating the top two floors of two neighboring buildings, 145 and 155 Sixth Avenue, as a safety precaution. The vacate orders will remain in effect until the general contractor at 246 Spring Street, Bovis Lend Lease, makes the construction site safe.

The department also announced that it had issued four violations to Bovis Lend Lease for failing to safeguard the public and property, maintain adequate housekeeping, provide a fire escape hatch, and provide adequate fire extinguishers.

The Trump SoHo tower is being developed by the Trump Organization, the Bayrock Group and the Sapir Organization.

Last month, The New York Times reported that an employee of the Bayrock Group who is involved in the project, Felix H. Sater, was accused by federal authorities in 1998 of money laundering and stock manipulation in a federal complaint that remains under seal. A subsequent indictment in 2000 stemming from the same investigation described Mr. Sater as an “unindicted co-conspirator” and an important figure in a $40 million scheme involving 19 stockbrokers and organized crime figures from four Mafia families. The indictment asserted that Mr. Sater helped create fraudulent stock brokerages that were used to defraud investors and launder money.

Mr. Sater and his lawyer, Judd Burstein, repeatedly refused to discuss in detail his role in the stock scheme. Mr. Sater now spells his last name Satter, he said, in an attempt to distance himself from the past. Neither Bayrock nor Mr. Trump has been accused of wrongdoing.

In September, Mr. Trump and his three children held a news conference at the tower to announce details of the project, even as dozens of opponents gathered outside in protest, holding up placards that read “Dump the Trump” and “Don’t Comb Over Here.”

The building will include 400 apartments priced at more than $3,000 per square foot; those apartments will range from 425 square-foot studios to suites of more than 10,000 square feet. Owners will be permitted to live in those apartments for 120 days out of the year, or 29 days out of any consecutive 36 days; when not living there, owners will be able to rent out their apartments.

As Rob Walker noted in The Times Magazine in October, SoHo long ago shed its reputation as a scruffy haven for artists. The project is being cast as “the downtowning of Trump,” Mr. Walker wrote.

A coalition of public officials and community groups have opposed the project, including several state and city lawmakers, the Municipal Art Society and four Community Boards in Manhattan.

“Once the city issued the building permit, the only recourse was to take the city to court, and that is in process,” said Andrew Berman, executive director of one of the groups, the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, which has argued that the zoning for the site does not permit a hotel-condominium, an interpretation the city has disagreed with. “Neighbors have commented on the phenomenal pace of construction, which some speculated was an attempt to head off the legal challenge. People were amazed at how quickly the construction seemed to go. So tragically, in some ways this is not surprising.”

The city’s Board of Standards and Appeals, where the appeal of the Buildings Department’s decision was filed, has not yet set a date to hear the case. “The city has seemed to do everything in its power to shepherd this through and put the brake on community challenges,” Mr. Berman said.

In a statement, the Manhattan borough president, Scott M. Stringer, said that safety violations at the construction site had been reported in recent months:

The accident at the new hotel at 246 Spring Street is another example of the dangerous conditions created by rushed construction in Manhattan. My office did an initial investigation of violations at the site and discovered that there were two Class A violations issued on Oct. 26, 2007. These violations are considered high risk. However, the construction was allowed to continue unchecked and the Environmental Control Board hearing to review the violations was not scheduled until Jan. 24, 2008.

This is unacceptable. The death and injury of construction workers and the compromised safety of emergency responders and surrounding community should not be considered the cost of doing business in Manhattan. Any type of high risk violation should necessitate a halt of unsafe work until the violation is cured. I will continue to investigate this matter and look to see rapid response from all relevant city agencies. I applaud the fire, police and other emergency responders for their bravery and for putting themselves at risk to ensure the safety of all New Yorkers.

Later this afternoon, the Buildings Department said 11 construction-related Environmental Control Board violations had been cited at 246 since construction began in May 2007. The prior violations included violations for operating the crane in an unsafe manner, failing to provide a flagman during hoisting operations and failing to close the sidewalk before hoisting loads over the sidewalk. Eight of the 11 violations were issued to Bovis Lend Lease.

At the news conference, Patricia J. Lancaster, the commissioner of the Buildings Department, said that remedial work would continue this evening to clear away debris from the site. No construction work will resume on the building until the department is convinced that work can be performed safely, she said.

Aurora Kessler, a spokeswoman for the Trump SoHo project, referred a request for comment to Mary Costello, a spokeswoman for Bovis Lend Lease. Ms. Costello said in an e-mail message sent several hours later, “We are in the process of conducting our own investigation with our concrete subcontractor, while working with local authorities, to determine the cause of this tragic accident. Our hearts go out to the family of the deceased concrete worker and our prayers are with the injured workers.”

Charles V. Bagli, Al Baker, Thomas J. Lueck and Mathew R. Warren contributed reporting.

i was across the street at 131 varick right after it happened. that's the second time i've been near a crane related accident this season; i was a block from the BOA tower when shit fell too.

i was across the street at 131 varick right after it happened. that's the second time i've been near a crane related accident this season; i was a block from the BOA tower when shit fell too.

^^That tells me that when I am in New York and there is construction around you, I should stay about 2 blocks away from you:lol:

When I was in New York last September I witnessed some scaffolding collapse and a man was trapped inside the rubble. I'm not sure if he survived or not. It happened in midtown. Not sure which intersection exactly. Close to Times Square I believe.

When I was in New York last September I witnessed some scaffolding collapse and a man was trapped inside the rubble. I'm not sure if he survived or not. It happened in midtown. Not sure which intersection exactly. Close to Times Square I believe.

^^That tells me that when I am in New York and there is construction around you, I should stay about 2 blocks away from you:lol:

lol, dream brother's post also reminded me of the scaffold collapse i saw uptown i think over the summer. i'm on the road all day, so i'm bound to see crazy shit though. :nuts:

february 10th, 2008
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flickr

This photo was posted on WNY by Antinimby. The Trump SoHo is visible.

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Great!

Looks like there's a chance this thing's gonna open up by Oct. 1st! http://curbed.com/archives/2009/05/18/nab_trump_sohos_first_reservation_a_5000_value.php

Trump Soho 02.07.2009

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July 10, 2009

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