Obfuscation, or a dead deal? Documents re B12 and B13 oddly portray as "storage" below-ground space announced for Chelsea Piers
Remember the below image at the 11/19/19 Quality of Life meeting (which I reported on three days later)? It shows the planned program for the B12 and B13 towers on Dean Street, for which TF Cornerstone has begun preliminary work. Full slides at bottom.
Notably, it cites 96,000 square feet of below-ground space for a Chelsea Piers Fitness Center and Field House, plus 9,000 feet at street level, dubiously approved as a new category of "recreational space," separate from the project's already approved--and limited--commercial and retail space.
By contrast, consider the excerpt below from the towers' zoning diagram (also at bottom), received by the Department of Buildings 4/3/20. As highlighted in red below, the underground space otherwise presented for Chelsea Piers is designated as "storage."
Unless TF Cornerstone and Chelsea Piers have severed the deal--unlikely, especially that early in the pandemic--this looks misleading. Perhaps we'll learn more at the Quality of Life meeting on 7/21/20.
More "storage"
Also note that Schedule A, part of the permit application, is excerpted at right and also omits the fitness center and field house.
It lists various below-grade features: parking, mechanical rooms, boiler room, trash compactor room, bicycle storage, children's play room, and accessory residential storage.
Given the level of detail, the Chelsea Piers omission is perplexing--or obfuscating.
Now it's possible that a fitness company, battered by the pandemic and lack of ongoing revenues, might rethink expansion efforts. If so, it's dubious that the state approval of additional "recreational" space could simply be transferred to expanded storage.
Then again, when I asked last month if the B12/B13 project was being redesigned for the coronavirus crisis, TF Cornerstone's Amir Stein said no, thus implying the deal was on. "We do not plan on redesigning the building," he said. "We are hopeful there will be a vaccine and this will be resolved by the time buildings are open."
In another page from the zoning diagram, below, 177,910 square feet of space--the Chelsea Piers section and the parking--is broadly classified as commercial space. That's also confusing.
Notably, it cites 96,000 square feet of below-ground space for a Chelsea Piers Fitness Center and Field House, plus 9,000 feet at street level, dubiously approved as a new category of "recreational space," separate from the project's already approved--and limited--commercial and retail space.
By contrast, consider the excerpt below from the towers' zoning diagram (also at bottom), received by the Department of Buildings 4/3/20. As highlighted in red below, the underground space otherwise presented for Chelsea Piers is designated as "storage."
Unless TF Cornerstone and Chelsea Piers have severed the deal--unlikely, especially that early in the pandemic--this looks misleading. Perhaps we'll learn more at the Quality of Life meeting on 7/21/20.
More "storage"
Also note that Schedule A, part of the permit application, is excerpted at right and also omits the fitness center and field house.
It lists various below-grade features: parking, mechanical rooms, boiler room, trash compactor room, bicycle storage, children's play room, and accessory residential storage.
Given the level of detail, the Chelsea Piers omission is perplexing--or obfuscating.
Now it's possible that a fitness company, battered by the pandemic and lack of ongoing revenues, might rethink expansion efforts. If so, it's dubious that the state approval of additional "recreational" space could simply be transferred to expanded storage.
Then again, when I asked last month if the B12/B13 project was being redesigned for the coronavirus crisis, TF Cornerstone's Amir Stein said no, thus implying the deal was on. "We do not plan on redesigning the building," he said. "We are hopeful there will be a vaccine and this will be resolved by the time buildings are open."
In another page from the zoning diagram, below, 177,910 square feet of space--the Chelsea Piers section and the parking--is broadly classified as commercial space. That's also confusing.
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