LPC Voted 8-0 to Consider Dumbo a Historic District

As reported on Tuesday, Dumbo Historic District was calendared by the Landmark Preservation Commission. According to today’s The New York Sun article, the LPC voted 8-0 to formally consider creating a historic district in DUMBO:

If approved by the commissioners in a vote later this year, 55 buildings in the roughly 15-square-block area would be granted landmark status, strictly limiting alterations that could be made to existing buildings and the type and style of any new proposed developments. Perhaps as much as any New York City neighborhood, DUMBO has undergone a residential building boom in recent years, transforming the once rundown industrial area into a sought after hotspot, complete with new luxury condo towers, art galleries, and restaurants.

Preservationists say that DUMBO, like many of the waterfront neighborhoods along the East River, is in danger of losing its original, industrial character. Some landlords and residents, however, wonder why the city would move toward attaching any kind of additional restrictions on an area that has been revolutionized by real estate development. A co-owner of two buildings in the proposed historic district, Peter Forman, said he opposes the designation. “Landmarking obviously imposes a burden on landowners,” he said.

“You’ve got a neighborhood that everyone loves. It’s been built successfully without landmarking, and my argument is that we don’t need landmarking,” Mr. Forman said.

He said factors such as land use and density could be regulated by zoning rather than landmarking, and that recent development, far from imperiling the neighborhood, has “made the area very desirable.”

“I look at the neighborhood and I saw wow, what we have today is pretty nice. I guess I’m not too concerned about it being destroyed,” he said. “I think that market forces can work better at developing the neighborhood appropriately just as it has successfully over the past 30 years.”

Click for the rest of the article on nysun.com.

{The ‘Burden’ of Making DUMBO a Historic District, 26July2007, NYSun}
{Dumbo Historic District to Be Calendared Today, 24July2007, DumboNYC}

20 Comment

  • I wonder which buildings would be included in the designation.

  • I wonder which buildings would be included in the designation.

  • I’ll tell you which one isn’t. The proposed Two Trees monster sits just outside the designated historic district. Is it a coincidence or did the appropriate palms get greased when the boundaries were drawn up?

  • I’ll tell you which one isn’t. The proposed Two Trees monster sits just outside the designated historic district. Is it a coincidence or did the appropriate palms get greased when the boundaries were drawn up?

  • “I guess I’m not too concerned about it being destroyed,” he said. “I think that market forces can work better at developing the neighborhood appropriately just as it has successfully over the past 30 years.”

    HA….tell that to the people who are faced with losing their Brooklyn Bridge views c/o Two Trees!!!! I trust developers like Walentas and crew to “appropriately” develop the neighborhood about as much as I trust a used car salesman.

  • “I guess I’m not too concerned about it being destroyed,” he said. “I think that market forces can work better at developing the neighborhood appropriately just as it has successfully over the past 30 years.”

    HA….tell that to the people who are faced with losing their Brooklyn Bridge views c/o Two Trees!!!! I trust developers like Walentas and crew to “appropriately” develop the neighborhood about as much as I trust a used car salesman.

  • Yeah, that quote is obviously a developer posing as a resident. For all of his shortcomings, Walentas maintained a remarkable amount of respect for the existing structures and local aesthetic. That’s the ONLY reason that development evolved so responsibly in Dumbo over the last 20 years–anyone else would have leveled the place. And they will still if controls are not implemented.

  • Yeah, that quote is obviously a developer posing as a resident. For all of his shortcomings, Walentas maintained a remarkable amount of respect for the existing structures and local aesthetic. That’s the ONLY reason that development evolved so responsibly in Dumbo over the last 20 years–anyone else would have leveled the place. And they will still if controls are not implemented.

  • Go to DNA website to see the proposed district map.
    PS – Peter Forman, quoted in the blurb as against landmarking but for zoning and natural devlopment, is on the board of the BID (Dumbo Improvement District) ANS developed J Street Condo – which IS not in character with the hood – IS AWFUL and UGLY and TOOBIG and far too high density fort his neighborhood. It had to be so tall/ Couldnt that greedy pig have built a – I dont know – 20 Story building? or a 15 story building? Still would have TOWERED over everything else.
    Instead he makes it over 34 stories… Landmarking will limit the completely out of scale buildings SUCH AS HIS. Zoning only enabled him to build that monstrosity. Once the zoning was changed in his favor, that is.

  • Go to DNA website to see the proposed district map.
    PS – Peter Forman, quoted in the blurb as against landmarking but for zoning and natural devlopment, is on the board of the BID (Dumbo Improvement District) ANS developed J Street Condo – which IS not in character with the hood – IS AWFUL and UGLY and TOOBIG and far too high density fort his neighborhood. It had to be so tall/ Couldnt that greedy pig have built a – I dont know – 20 Story building? or a 15 story building? Still would have TOWERED over everything else.
    Instead he makes it over 34 stories… Landmarking will limit the completely out of scale buildings SUCH AS HIS. Zoning only enabled him to build that monstrosity. Once the zoning was changed in his favor, that is.

  • anon, that is unbelievable. talk about tooting your own horn…What is the BID’s stance on landmarking? It seems that they are made up of the developers in Dumbo and not working for the interest of the residents. The zoning maps is also on an earlier post: http://dumbonyc.com/2007/06/04/nytimes-dna/

  • anon, that is unbelievable. talk about tooting your own horn…What is the BID’s stance on landmarking? It seems that they are made up of the developers in Dumbo and not working for the interest of the residents. The zoning maps is also on an earlier post: http://dumbonyc.com/2007/06/04/nytimes-dna/

  • perhaps landmarking could at least stop atrocities like putting white window frames into classic warehouse buildings and painting them purple on one side and green on the other. You can argue all day about whether or not developers like walentas have been sensitive to these issues or not, and the answer is probably yes, in some cases, where it serves them, and no in others, but it takes only one gutman to prove that landmarking is a great and very necessary idea – that a-hole is sensitive to nothing under any circumstances and there will be no reigning in the destruction he unleashes unless he is restricted, and hit in the wallet for his violations – the only thing he understands or thinks about.

  • perhaps landmarking could at least stop atrocities like putting white window frames into classic warehouse buildings and painting them purple on one side and green on the other. You can argue all day about whether or not developers like walentas have been sensitive to these issues or not, and the answer is probably yes, in some cases, where it serves them, and no in others, but it takes only one gutman to prove that landmarking is a great and very necessary idea – that a-hole is sensitive to nothing under any circumstances and there will be no reigning in the destruction he unleashes unless he is restricted, and hit in the wallet for his violations – the only thing he understands or thinks about.

  • Ummm, BID = Business Improvement District. A BID is a quasi-government development entity in which the business owners in the area pay an assessment for things like street cleaning etc among other things. None of which involves anything having anything to do with advocating for residents outside of how they spend their money. DNA, well that’s another crock-pot altogether.

  • Ummm, BID = Business Improvement District. A BID is a quasi-government development entity in which the business owners in the area pay an assessment for things like street cleaning etc among other things. None of which involves anything having anything to do with advocating for residents outside of how they spend their money. DNA, well that’s another crock-pot altogether.

  • The BID is funded by local businesses and the, by far, largest benefactor is Walentas and 2 Trees. They know who pays the rent.

  • The BID is funded by local businesses and the, by far, largest benefactor is Walentas and 2 Trees. They know who pays the rent.

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