Seaport project gets approval from LPC
BY EMILY DAVENPORT
A massive transformation for the
South Street Seaport area of
Lower Manhattan has offi cially
been approved.
In a vote of 6-2, the proposal put forth
by the Howard Hughes Corporation® was
approved by the Landmark Preservation
Commission (LPC) on May 4. The LPC
had previously received more than 700
letters supporting the project ahead of the
meeting.
“We appreciate the Landmarks Preservation
Commission’s thoughtful feedback
and are gratifi ed that the Commissioners
have deemed our 250 Water Street proposal
appropriate for the Seaport Historic
District,” said Howard Hughes Corporation
New York Tri-State Region President
Saul Scherl. “We worked hard to produce
a design that is responsive to the Commission’s
comments and preserves the project’s
crucial benefi ts: deeply affordable housing
in one of the city’s wealthiest neighborhoods
and meaningful funding for the South
Street Seaport Museum, the heart of the
Historic District. The broad array of community
residents, preservationists, elected
offi cials, architects, cultural organizations,
local business owners and nonprofi t leaders
who support our project agree that the
Seaport’s best days are ahead and that this
project will play a vital role in New York
City’s inclusive post-pandemic economic
recovery. We look forward to continuing
to work closely with the community, elected
offi cials and the City as we move into the
land-use approval process later this month.”
The plan for the Seaport updates came
after hearing input from the community
over the past year. The $1.4 billion proposal
CREDIT: THE HOWARD HUGHES CORPORATION/SOM
for the Seaport included plans to transform
an underutilized full-block surface parking
lot along the boundary of the South Street
Seaport Historic District into a 25-story,
540,000 square foot mixed-income development
that would include affordable
housing at 250 Water Street through the
City’s Mandatory Inclusionary Housing
program. It would bring 270 units, 200 of
which are market rate and 70 affordable
at an average of 40 percent of the area’s
median income. The proposal also includes
an offi ce and community space, nearby
open space improvements and funding for
the museum.
The plan also includes bringing longterm
fi nancial stability of the South Street
Seaport Museum, improvements to the
Museum’s historic buildings that will allow
it to reopen, and a design for a new
Museum building on an adjacent vacant lot.
The proposal was designed by Skidmore,
Owings & Merrill (SOM).
The transformation expects to bring
signifi cant benefi ts to the neighborhood,
including generating over $1.8 billion in
economic output annually for both the city
and the state, $640 million in new labor
income, and around 2,000 construction
jobs, as well ascreate an estimated 2,475
new direct and indirect full and part-time
permanent positions, and annually generate
$645 million in economic output for
New York City, along with $327 million in
wages, salaries and benefi ts.
It is anticipated that the project will go
into the ULURP process in May 2021 in
order to get permits for height and setback,
and an air-rights transfer from the Pier 17
and the Tin Building sites that HHC controls
under a long-term ground lease.
Advocates demand rights for sex workers at ‘Pose’ pop up shop
BY TAT BELLAMY-WALKER
LGBTQ advocates joined at the
Christopher Street pier on May 1
for a “Pose” costume giveaway and
May Day rally against plans for a new beach
slated to appear near a historic hub for
LGBTQ people and sex workers.
Although the city is moving forward
with plans to construct Gansevoort Peninsula
near Pier 53 on Manhattan’s west side,
STARR, a transgender advocacy group,
wants to reclaim the area in honor of the
late trailblazing activists and sex workers
Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera.
“The beach being a thing before Marsha
and Sylvia Rivera have a memorial at
this space?” We cannot let that happen,”
Mariah Lopez, the executive director of
STARR, told Gay City News while wearing
a multi-colored dress and a corset. “Marsha
and Sylvia were titans; they weren’t just
trans icons. They were vanguards for the
movement to end homelessness. They were
vanguards for sexual liberation, and they
were vanguards for the poor.”
A temporary memorial was perched at
the site of Johnson’s death and photos of the
trans liberation leaders were seen wrapped
with fresh fl owers in honor of Johnson’s iconic
fl ower crown.. In 1992, authorities discovered
LGBTQ advocates joined at the Christopher Street pier on May 1 for a “Pose”
costume giveaway and May Day rally against plans for a new beach slated to
appear near a historic hub for LGBTQ people and sex workers.
Johnson’s body fl oating in the Hudson River
and initially ruled the case a suicide. However,
in 2012, Lopez petitioned for the city to reopen
the case as a possible homicide.
With support from local queer groups,
including FIERCE, advocates also called
for the full decriminalization of sex work —
which is a major LGBTQ issue in New York
City. Earlier this year the state repealed a
discriminatory loitering law known as
a ban on “Walking While Trans” and
PHOTO BY DONNA ACETO
several state lawmakers have signed on to
legislation dubbed “Stop Violence in the
Sex Trades Act,” a bill that would fully decriminalize
sex work in New York City for
all parties involved in the consensual sex
trade. That bill was fi rst proposed in 2019
but has yet to move in either chamber of the
State Legislature. Many district attorneys in
the city have also taken steps to move away
from prosecuting sex workers, including in
Manhattan.
Elisa Crespo, a volunteer at STARR and
former Bronx City Council candidate, said
she is satisfi ed with the Manhattan DA’s
decision not to prosecute sex workers in
most cases. However, she denounced the
politicians who have pushed the Nordic
Model, which only removes penalties for
sex workers and not others involved in the
sex trade.
“It seems to be the model that policymakers
think will receive the most support
from the legislature, but that’s not what
sex workers are asking for,” she said. “The
Nordic Model doesn’t keep us safe and
continues to drive the sex working business
underground. ”
She added, “It takes food off of people’s
table and puts the sex worker in a disadvantaged
position, giving more power and
control to the person that is purchasing
sex.”
Coco Saint, a volunteer organizer at
STARR and a sex worker, also criticized
the Nordic Model.
“The Nordic Model puts people in danger,”
they said. “And makes it harder for
us to get clients. All of the things that you
do in order to get a client are illegal. They
are just trying to confuse us and confuse
people in general into thinking that it has
been decriminalized.”
4 May 6, 2021 Schneps Media