CB 5 seeks better 14th St. Busway signs
BY CHRISS WILLIAMS
A Midtown community board is
sending a letter to the Department
of Transportation on
the behalf of residents calling on the
agency to make changes to the 14th
Street Busway including to post better
signs with traffic rules given the high
number of drivers only making pickups
and drop-offs on the roadway’s
cross-streets.
At a recent Community Board 5 fullboard
meeting, residents expressed worries
about increased pollution on the side
streets because of the increased traffic.
Residents added drivers stayed on side
streets out of fear of violating busway
traffic rules.
Last October, the city launched the
14th Street Transit and Truck Priority
Pilot Project which only allows the
M14 A/D bus trucks and emergency
vehicles to travel along the traffic artery
between 3rd and 9th Avenues
between the hours of 6 a.m.
and 10 p.m. The project has
since been dubbed the 14th
Street Busway. Personal and
for-hire vehicles are allowed
on the street to make pickups
and drop-offs only but
must right turn on the nearest
cross-street.
Some residents, including
14th Street Coalition member
Gail Fox, asked for the city to
“bring back the bus stops’’ and
to “find a compromise to allow
cars.” To speed up travel time
on the M14 A/D bus route,
the DOT removed 16 local
stops when the 18-month-pilot project
launched.
According to preliminary data collected
Gail Fox of the 14th Street Coalition.
by Sam Schwartz Engineering,
the travel times on the M14 A/D bus
PHOTO BY CHRISS WILLIAMS
are 5.3 minutes faster during weekdays.
There has been a 24 percent increase in
bus ridership from November 2018 to
November of last year, data also shows.
November 2019 data also showed an
increase in bike ridership by 26
percent on 12th and 50 percent on
13th Streets compared to numbers
from November 2018.
Others complained that the
restrictive hours made it difficult
for car-owners to do necessary
tasks like loading and unloading
groceries from their vehicles.
Elected officials present at the
meeting stated that they were
eager to hear resident concerns.
“If there is a specific location
that you feel is problematic please
let us know, ” said Councilmember
Carlina Rivera. “We want this
busway to work for everyone.”
Councilmember Keith Powers
supported the busway calling it “one of
the best things the city did last year.”
A DOT spokesperson said that the
agency was looking forward to reviewing
the letter.
Thumbs up for Chelsea Terminal renovations
BY GABE HERMAN
The historic Terminal Warehouse
building in West Chelsea is set to
undergo a restoration and major
makeover under plans that the NYC
Landmarks Preservation Commission
unanimously approved this week.
The building dates back to the 19th
century and is on the block from 11th
to 12th Avenues between West 27th and
28th Streets. Developers L & L Holding
and Normandy Real Estate Partners
bought the building, which has 1.2 million
square feet, in 2018 for $880 million.
They plan to work with COOKFOX
architectural firm in converting 500,000
square feet of storage space into modern
offices.
Built in 1891 by Terminal Warehouse
Company, the buildings were once a hub
for shipping goods in and out of the city,
with easy access to the nearby Hudson
River, streets and freight line along 11th
Avenue. Its use for shipping declined
when the nearby High Line opened in
the 1930s. (Changes on the waterfront
would later doom the High Line, which
— after years of abandonment — was
transformed into a public park.)
In recent times, the Terminal Warehouse
was home to the Tunnel nightclub,
which operated from 1986 to 2001, and
housed what was once the biggest ministorage
facility in the U.S.
Now, the building continues to largely
be a storage facility, and also has office
A rendering of the renovated building at 11th Avenue.
and commercial space.
The revitalization plan will include
creating an outdoor courtyard at the
building’s center, along with several landscaped
terraces. Shops and restaurants
will be added inside the building, and its
train tunnel, with a twin set of tracks that
runs the 670-foot length of the building,
will be restored and have original wood,
brick and rails uncovered.
The large recessed arched entrances
at 11th and 12th Avenues will also be
restored as part of the plan.
The plan will also preserve and use
as much of the original wood in the
building as possible, the developers said,
while following modern building codes.
Research has dated some of the wood
back centuries, as far back as the 1500s.
“The Terminal Warehouse project
has been a labor of love from the start,”
said Rick Cook, founding partner of
(COURTESY COOKFOX)
COOKFOX Architects, after the LPC approved
the plan. “Thank you to the Commission
for their diligence in helping us
to preserve this critical and storied piece
of Manhattan’s West Side waterfront
infrastructure and create a new, highperformance
workplace for the future.”
Work on the project is scheduled to
start this spring, and continue in phases
over the next two-plus years, according to
a spokesperson for the developers.
4 January 30, 2020 Schneps Media