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The notion of a new high-rise residential building in Tribeca is not sitting well among neighborhood residents.
Nicknamed “Jenga” after the popular puzzle game for its unusual design, the Leonard Street development is poised to become the highest building in Tribeca, standing 800 feet tall at more than 57 stories. Unlike most buildings in the area, the Jenga building is designed as a post-modern structure with a glass-and-steel facade.
A small triangle-shaped space across the street from the former St. Vincent’s Hospital has become the latest battleground in the contentious debate between community members and the owner of the property.
Rudin Management, which plans to turn the former hospital site into condominiums, recently presented a proposal to Greenwich Village’s Community Board 2 to overhaul the triangle park and set aside a small portion to commemorate St. Vincent’s role in the fight against AIDS. But some community residents are promoting an alternate design for what they’re calling AIDS Memorial Park.
Outraged Jamaica residents say a development company whose executives include a former Department of Buildings (DOB) inspector may be putting the community in danger with plans to pave a driveway too close to a gas vent.
Officials at Melody Development Inc. contend the work, set for the side of a small commercial building on the corner of Sutphin Boulevard and 110th Avenue is perfectly safe and notes the project has the DOB’s approval.
But gas company officials say such work shouldn’t be done within 200 feet of a gas vent. The vent is about 13 feet from the driveway site, which is to be paved over gas lines.
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