The Conservancy spoke out against plans for a 21-story apartment tower at 277 Canal Street at a June 23 Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) hearing. At 240 feet, it would be the tallest building in the SoHo Cast Iron Historic District. We were concerned that this outsized height would weaken the context of the District, and then be used as a precedent for more towers. This would chip away at the qualities that make SoHo a local and international attraction.
The Commissioners voiced similar apprehensions. They recognized that the scale of SoHo’s buildings is part of what gives the neighborhood its special sense of place. They asked the applicants to rethink the height and look for ways to bring it down.
We had previously spoken in favor of a plan for a 13-story building at the same site. That height would have been more in context with historic SoHo. The Conservancy supports housing development in historic districts, which are often already some of the densest areas in the City. According to the Furman Center, SoHo is in a community district with over 88,000 people per square mile.
A date for the next LPC hearing has not been set.