Here’s a Fresh Look at the 12-story Tumor to Sprout from the Provident Loan Society Building [PHOTOS]
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Photo: Rogers Partners
Hopes for a landmarked Provident Loan Society building on East Houston further faded yesterday with the release of new renderings for the proposed residential tumor.
It was about a year ago when Community Board 3 backed the grassroots bid to landmark 225 East Houston Street, at Essex. A so-called “cowboy preservationist” named Christian Emanuel rallied locals to the cause. But it was a short-lived victory. To date, the Landmarks Preservation Commission remains stalled in its consideration of the property, while building owners Elsa and Dunnie Lai continue their two-year pursuit for the 12-story enlargement.
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Photo: Rogers Partners
The Lais were apparently busy behind the scenes.
Pending plans still call for an approximate 41,000 square-foot transformation, equating to 38 apartments plus several recreational terraces and fitness rooms for tenants (34,200 square-feet). There is also bicycle storage with twelve spaces and commercial retail, presumably on the ground floor (6,800 square-feet). Floors eight through twelve cantilever over the Mercury Lounge, made possible thanks to the acquisition of 9,238 square-feet of air rights from that property, as first reported here in January 2015.
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Photo: Rogers Partners
Developer of record Rogers Partners plans to restore the historic Provident Loan Bank facade, but will gut the space for a new commercial tenant.
Heretofore armed with sketches of the cantilevered structure, Rogers Partners just unveiled more media-friendly images yesterday. The building design, like all new development these days, takes cues from the artists who helped shape the area. It’ll be inspired by the work of artist Jasper Johns, who once lived and worked at 225 East Houston. Specifically channeling Johns’ number series by using “pieces that allow the abstract and concrete qualities of the numbers to build upon one another and create an ultimate sense of structure.”
Yet during these intervening months, no conclusive word from the LPC.
The Provident Loan Society erected the Classical Revival-style building in 1912. It’s apparently the most intact of the dozen remaining former bank branches dotting the city.
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November 2015
[h/t City Realty]
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