Forty Stories of Problems at Planned 388 Hudson Tower Project

By Andrew Berman

388 HUDSON STREET. Designed by Herzog & de Meuron and Curtis + Ginsberg Architects.

The Mamdani administration appears poised to move ahead with a 400-foot tall tower on public land at 388 Hudson Street (at Clarkson Street) originally planned by the Adams administration. The proposed project is riddled with serious problems — including design, demolition, and choice of developer. If not changed now, it will become a permanent reality in our neighborhood.

The huge structure (the current tallest building in Greenwich Village is 327-foot tall), likened to a giant cheese grater, would loom over J.J. Walker Park and face the iconic row of houses on St. Luke’s Place that form the southern boundary of the Greenwich Village Historic District. It’s very clear this site will be built upon and there are many good uses that could go here. But some fundamental changes must be made to this plan.

THE NEW “VILLAGE WEST” APARTMENTS at 14th Street and Sixth Avenue, southwest corner. Designed by BKSK Architects.

The design. For whatever reason, the city selected Swiss starchitects Herzog & de Meuron to design the structure, whose pockmarked facade looks like 31 stories of measles sores. Whatever one might think of the firm’s other work, which includes the “birdcage“ stadium for the Beijing 2008 Olympics, it’s hard to imagine their aesthetic blending in with these surroundings, which is one of the primary requests generated during the city’s “public engagement” process. At a recent public meeting, the architects defended their choice, saying it’s hard to build new buildings in old districts that relate well to their surroundings. I would direct them to look just a few blocks away to the new “Village West” apartment building rising at the southwest corner of Sixth Ave. and 14th St. for a clear example of how this can, in fact, be done.

THE “BIRD’S NEST” STADIUM at the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics. Designed by Herzog & de Meuron.

The height and massing. 388 Hudson takes the form of a tall extruded tower seemingly to maximize height and views. A major source of feedback from the public was to keep the building as low and squat as possible, and to stagger it back as it rose from the park and the landmarked houses across the street. This would make for a much more contextual and much less visually intrusive design ─ so far they have refused to do so.

The new public recreation center in the base of the new building that lifts the entire tower 80 ft. into the air. This plan is premised on demolishing the landmarked Tony Dapolito Recreation Center across the street which the city has closed and refused to repair for six years. Money had been allocated for reopening and the city’s own inspections showed it could be repaired. But they’ve refused to do so, planning instead to move all its facilities into the new building, thus greatly inflating its size. While some new public recreation facilities can and should be included here, many fewer are needed than under the current plan if Dapolito is repaired and reopened.

The “affordable” housing. The plan calls for 31 stories of apartments which the city calls “affordable.” There will be income restrictions (at least when you move in; if your income goes up later, you’re still entitled to the apartment for life), and the rents will be pegged to those initial income levels. However, the city says some units will require as much as 60% higher income than the median for NYC ─ and about double the median income for NYC renters. So “affordable” here is a flexible term at best. And the city has adamantly refused to provide any details about the nature of the agreement with the developer and how it will ensure permanent affordability, and at what levels. Time and again we’ve seen developments in our city that were intended to be permanently affordable, eventually sidestepping those restrictions and going market rate. We can’t simply take the city’s word for it and the terms of any agreement must be made public for careful scrutiny. So far, they’ve also refused to consider a deed restriction that would run with the land to guarantee permanent affordability.

The developer. Camber Property Group was chosen by Mayor Adams and his Department of Housing, Preservation, and Development (HPD) for this project. Ironically, Camber was also named one of the 100 Worst Landlords in NYC by the Public Advocate for, among other things, racking up over 1,000 HPD violations and evicting dozens of low income tenants from its properties. Perhaps even more surprisingly, the Mamdani administration appears to be moving ahead with this developer. Clearly a very compelling explanation is needed for the choice of Camber or their appearance on this list of notorious landlords. Otherwise this decision, like so much else about this project, must be reconsidered.

Throughout the process, the city and some proponents of this plan have sought to marginalize and demonize critics, demanding you either blindly agree with all they’re proposing ─ or you’re accused of being anti-affordable housing or an obstructionist. Sadly, this is indicative of how things have evolved in our public discourse today, where not accepting unquestioned whatever the powers-that-be say can get you labeled heretical or treasonous — or worse.

Whether you fully embrace the plan for housing and a new public recreation center on this site, or wish to go back to the city’s original commitment to build a park there, one thing is 100% clear — housing is going to get built on the site. Village Preservation has supported this from the earliest announcement of a plan that would have been about a quarter the size of the new planned development. But details matter, especially big details like these. We can fight for a development that’s contextual for its surroundings, respectful of the nearby park and historic district, truly guarantees the permanence of its affordability, preserves and reopens the beloved Tony Dapolito Recreation Center, and is driven by a developer with a good track record. Or we can accept this plan as is.

Go to villagepreservation.org/388hudson to learn more or to help.

Andrew Berman is executive director of Village Preservation.