Manhattan’s Community Board 1 slammed Trinity Church’s newly unveiled plans for a 30-plus-story glass building at 68-74 Trinity Place.
The sleek structure was designed by Pelli Clarke Pelli, who recently won a competition to design the new 300,000-square-foot building. A 175,000-square-foot chunk of the space is to be set aside for residential uses — one of CB1’s several bones to pick with the project.
“The building should look more in line with the neighborhood,” board member Joel Kopel told Curbed. “Tourists come here from all over the world and the last thing we need is another building that looks like it’s on East 59th Street.”
Community board members also expressed concern about the neighborhood’s ability to support the onslaught of new residents that will occupy the roughly 2,500 housing units planned for the area in the coming years — between 125 and 175 of which will be in Trinity’s new glass building.
The church leadership told Curbed that it has not yet decided whether that portion of the building will be condominiums or rentals.
The community board, meanwhile, has no real say in the plans, which are as-of-right. Still, the church expressed a willingness to consider concerns.
“We’ve been in the neighborhood for more than 300 years,” Jason Pizer, president of Trinity Real Estate, told Curbed. “We’re not going to surprise anybody, and we want our neighbors to be supportive of what we do.” [Curbed] — Julie Strickland