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Dining News NYC Uncategorized

Smorgasburg Returns to WTC Fridays, Beginning April 1

Operating hours will be Fridays from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Then, the market’s outpost at Prospect Park’s Breeze Hill, follows on April 3, and run Sundays from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Smorgasburg’s Williamsburg market will reopen in June.

Vendors you can find at Smorgasburg WTC include Bona Bona, Carlitos Barbecue Tacqueria, Duck Season, Maos Bao, Ring Ding Bar, Rooster Boy NYC, Wood Fired Edibles, and more. (subject to change.) Bring your appetite!

For 2022, the market reopens with 20 vendors to WTC for the first time since 2019, increasing to 30 over the summer as workers and tourists return to Downtown Manhattan. 
Also starting in April, a new partnership with Uber Eats launches at the New York/New Jersey locations (World Trade Center, Jersey City, Prospect Park. Williamsburg will join in June). As the official delivery partner of Smorgasburg, Uber Eats will elevate the eater experience this season by introducing ways to get the best of Smorgasburg more quickly and easily. With Smorgasburg Pickup, for the first time market-goers can avoid lines by ordering for pickup in the Uber Eats app—from every vendor—and notified when their order is ready. The Smorgasburg experience is also available from home, as simple as ordering from any restaurant.

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News NYC

Waterfront Alliance Advances Climate Resilience

View of the huge iconic stainless steel Unisphere sculpture in Flushing Meadows, New York, which represents the Earth

Reprinted with permission from Waterfront Alliance

Waterfront Alliance Secures Congressional Grant to Develop a Climate Resilience Plan for Flushing Meadows Corona Park

The Plan will be a Community-Led Process to Identify Climate Hazards and Potential Resilience Strategies to Advance Plans for Shovel-Ready Projects

Waterfront Alliance is pleased to announce that its proposal for a climate resilience plan for Flushing Meadows Corona Park has been awarded Community Project Funding in the 6th Congressional District (NY) as part of the new federal spending package.

In Spring 2021, Congressmember Grace Meng submitted 10 Community Project Funding requests to the House Appropriations Committee for review. The funding was included as part of the FY 2022 spending bill signed into law yesterday.

Flushing Meadows Corona Park serves as critical infrastructure for multiple neighborhoods in the 6th District. The park is a space for recreation, reflection, and increasingly, refuge from urban heat. And yet, the park faces tremendous challenges due to climate change.

The primary objectives of Waterfront Alliance’s “Flushing Meadows Corona Park: A Hub for Climate Resilience” are to increase public awareness about local climate risks, build community participation in planning and infrastructure projects, and to identify potential resilience solutions for future investigation and development. Working with Queens community leaders, partners in city government, and academia, alongside the community, Waterfront Alliance will provide tools and lead events to share and gather information that will culminate in a climate visioning for the park. These concrete recommendations and concept plans can better position the Park and surrounding community to receive city, state, and federal funding for resilience projects.

Receiving much of the stormwater from surrounding neighborhoods, the park was identified by the Center for an Urban Future as the most-flooded park in the City alongside Forest Park due to increasingly heavy rains. Recent extreme weather events including Hurricane Ida reinforce the need for better preparation and planning. Torrential waters forced the NYPD to conduct multiple rescues from Flushing Meadows Corona Park and there was severe flooding as stormwater from the Grand Central Parkway and the Van Wyck Expressway ran off into areas of the park. Access to recreational programs and facilities in the park was halted due to sustained damage to buildings.

Additionally, the park faces risks due to sea level rise and storm surge, with much of the park facing permanent inundation by 2080, according to the New York Panel on Climate Change, and other areas only recently being brought back online following damage from Hurricane Sandy.

“As Queens’ signature local and destination park, serving several Central and Northern Queens communities with high social vulnerability, we must ensure that the park and surrounding communities are prepared for our climate future,” said Karen Imas, Vice President of Programs, Waterfront Alliance. “Tremendous thanks to Congresswoman Meng for her climate leadership. This project is particularly timely as increased funding may come to our region for climate change adaptation projects per the infrastructure funding package.”

“Flushing Meadows Corona Park is a beautiful landmark of our district. It provides a lovely area for recreational and leisure activities, refuge from the heat in the summer and possesses one of the most beautiful sculptures in all of New York, the Unisphere,” said Congresswoman Meng, New York’s senior Member of the House Appropriations Committee. “That is why I am so pleased that the Waterfront Alliance will receive funding through the new government spending package to help the park battle the effects of climate change. Stormwater from surrounding neighborhoods continuously flood the park and in some areas, the park is projected to be permanently flooded due to rising sea levels in the coming decades. The funds will help make key assessments, plan out necessary strategies, and begin implementation to help keep the park open for Queens residents for generations to come.”

“Once a flourishing tidal wetland that absorbed waters from Flushing Bay and the Long Island Sound, Flushing Meadows Corona Park has undergone many transformations—a coal ash dumping ground, two World’s Fairs and one of the top 10 biggest parks in NYC,” said Rebecca Pryor, the Executive Director of Guardians of Flushing Bay (GoFB). “GoFB is eager to play a role to envision the park’s next stage of transformation: as a climate resilient hub for the surrounding environmental justice communities who depend upon it. We are looking forward to collaborating with Waterfront Alliance and our local partners in this process, and we are sincerely thankful to Congressmember Grace Meng for making the project possible.” 

“I am delighted that Federal funding has been awarded to support community-based resiliency planning and education in Flushing Meadows Corona Park,” said Kizzy Charles-Guzman, Executive Director of the NYC Mayor’s Office of Climate and Environmental Justice. “Together, communities and governments can build a more just vision for the future as we fight against climate change.” 

“NYC Parks is committed to improving Flushing Meadows Corona Park and ensuring this iconic park is resilient for decades to come. To that end, more than $350 million has already been invested in recent and upcoming park renovations, including projects that increase resiliency and improve stormwater management,” said NYC Parks Commissioner Sue Donoghue. “We’re grateful for the Waterfront Alliance’s partnership to raise awareness and engage the community around these important issues.”

About: Waterfront Alliance is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization with a strong track record of providing technical planning and project development services, developing community-based plans, and convening individuals and groups across New York City and the region to inform different public and private waterfront projects. Specifically, the organization has been engaged by NYC Department of City Planning, NYC Economic Development Corporation and The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, among other government agencies and organizations, to either develop waterfront plans, convene community engagements on major projects and plans, and/or provide technical advice on critical coastal and waterfront projects. 

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Featured News

Innovative Leadership at Four Seasons Downtown

Four Seasons Downtown manager Thomas Carreras

Building on the Four Seasons Downtown

WHEN THE FOUR SEASONS ARRIVED Downtown years ago, there was a conscious decision to adapt one of the world’s most luxurious and recognizable brands to its new neighborhood. In July 2019, when Thomas Carreras took the helm as general manager, he continued that mission. “When I arrived I recieved all the things the Four Seasons sent and then I sent it all back. I said, ‘I don’t like the cutlery. I don’t like the linens. I don’t like the dishes or the glasses. I don’t like the spa products.'” Carreras wanted something more distinctly Downtown. He continues, “Downtown has a strong identity. The minibar should look like a speakeasy. Everything inside should say ‘home.’ And this applies to everything we do. If you want pancakes at 8pm you can have them. We started a noodle soup menu—real Asian comfort food. On the second day we had 30 orders. People catch on to what we do because it feels different.”

Hiring the Right People

Carreras took a similar dissenting view towards hiring his staff. When he arrived they did the usual mass recruitment event and saw over 5,000 people. “We signed about 10 people from that event, and some of those had never worked in hotels. Two of our best people at the front desk had been teachers. One told us that it had been his dream to work in hotels but was never given a chance because in New York they are looking for transaction experts. We aren’t. I want people who actually care about other people. The guests feel the difference.”

Supporting the Four Seasons Downtown Community

Carreras’s worldview is a perfect fit for Downtown, where the mood is hip, active, and community-centric, and the demographic is getting younger and more creative every day. And the hotel’s clientele reflects its vibrant neighborhood. Says Michael Law, Director of Marketing, “We get a lot of athletes and celebrities who know the brand, but also who want to be part of this incredible neighborhood.” He continues, “Every guest that walks through our door is Downtown’s guest. We succeed or fail together. There is a great sense of optimism for the future.” Carreras adds, “The people who live and work here really care about Downtown. There is an emotional connection to this place.” That is why, as part of the staff orientation, Carreras takes them to the 9/11 Memorial for a moment of remembrance. “The rebirth of Downtown is not just the buildings, it’s the people. This isn’t just a job. This is about building a community, and it comes with a sense of responsibility.” He continues, “I want our staff to feel part of the rebirth.”

fourseasons.com

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Art Culture Featured News

David Byrne’s ‘How I Learned About Non-Rational Logic’ Exhibit Opens at Pace Gallery

David Byrne's How I Learned About Non-Rational Logic exhibition runs at Pace Gallery Feb. 2-March 19.

David Byrne’s How I Learned About Non-Rational Logic exhibition runs at Pace Gallery Feb. 2-March 19.On the wall, Human Content.

David Byrne, lead singer/songwriter for The Talking Heads, and currently starring on Broadway in the smash musical American Utopia, continues to keep busy, exploring different art mediums. During the pandemic, Byrne created a series of drawings, that are featured in a new book out Feb. 16, A History of the World (in Dingbats): Drawings and Words (co-authored with Alex Kalman) . In conjunction with the book release, Pace Gallery presents a collection of Byrne’s work in a new exhibit, How I Learned About Non-Rational Logic, open Feb. 2-March 19.

David Byrne, Hot Bread Delivery, 2020.

The exhibit incorporates Byrne’s pandemic doodles, along with a collection of playful, thematic tree drawings from the early 2000s, and a selection of chair drawings from 2004-2007. The ‘dingbat’ doodles made during quarantine, were a means for Byrne to cope with boredom, anxiety, and isolation, offering a way to express hope, desire for connection, a bit of wicked sense of humor, and the power of community.

Of his tree drawings, Byrne has described them as ” faux science, automatic writing, self-analysis, satire, and maybe even a serious attempt at finding connections where none were to exist. And an excuse to draw plant-like forms and diagrams.”

David Byrne’s Girl Head Chair drawing.

Of his surreal chair drawings, Byrne has said, “Maybe they are portraits, maybe self-portraits, maybe portraits of my interior state. Maybe they are also possible practical furniture design. Maybe all of the above at once.”

On Monday, Feb. 7, at 7pm, Byrne with speak with documentary filmmaker John Wilson at Pace Gallery. The conversation will later be shown on HBO. Tickets to the event are sold out, but it will be live streamed.  See more details about the program here: https://www.pacegallery.com/events/how-we-learned-about-non-rational-logic/.

Pace Gallery is located at 540 W. 25th Street. For more information, visit pacegallery.com.

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Business Finance News NYC Real Estate

A New York Story

Larry Silverstein

Larry Silverstein has spent a lifetime shaping the New York City skyline. He isn’t done yet.

Photography by Andrew Matusik

“BUY CORNERS,” Larry Silverstein replies without hesitation when asked what the most important lesson is that his father Harry taught him about the real-estate business. “If you buy a corner, you have frontages on at least two streets, right? And if you get lucky enough to be able to buy a block front, that gives you even more possibility.” Trained as a classical pianist, Harry had struggled to provide for the family during the Great Depression, eventually becoming a commercial real-estate broker to make ends meet.

Curious about the business, Larry went to work for his dad after graduating from N.Y.U. in 1952. “Something that hit me very early on,” he recalls, “is that I wanted to own something. I wanted to be an owner.” Lacking cash for a down payment, the Silverstein father-son duo took a page from Harry Helmsley and Lawrence Wien’s playbook, scraping together a syndicate of investors to buy their first property, a shabby industrial loft building on East 23rd Street, in 1957. It may not have been a corner property, but they made it work by converting it to office space and leasing it out to white-collar firms. “It was sink or swim,” Larry says of their first venture. “Failure was not an option.”

Silverstein, who turned 90 in May, still reports to the office almost every day, invariably dressed to the nines in a double-breasted suit with a colorful tie and matching pocket square, dispensing friendly salutations to everyone he passes along the way. But behind the elegance and old-school charm, the Brooklyn grit and street smarts remain. “It was not a very luxurious existence,” he recalls of his upbringing on the top floor of a six-story walkup in Bed-Stuy, “which wasn’t nearly as trendy of a place as it is today.”

THE REBUILDING

That Brooklyn grit would come in handy when it came to rebuilding the World Trade Center. When Silverstein acquired the Twin Towers in July 2001, he could never have imagined that within months they’d be gone—and he’d be stuck with a 99-year lease that obligated him to continue paying the Port Authority, which owns the site, $10 million a month in ground rent. The lease also stipulated that he rebuild all the office and retail space that had been destroyed on 9/11.

To make matters worse, quite a few of the two dozen companies that had insured the towers—to the tune of $3.5 billion—were refusing to pay Silverstein’s claims. It took five years of litigation and the intervention of New York governor Eliot Spitzer to finally move the needle. “I called him, and I said I can’t collect,” recalls Silverstein. “So, he brought them all to New York and told them, ‘The courts have found that these are your obligations, so if you don’t pay, you’re never gonna do business again in the state of New York.’” In May 2007, they finally agreed to pay Silverstein the $2 billion he was still owed, marking the single biggest insurance settlement in history. A tidy sum indeed, but still not nearly enough to fully rebuild the Trade Center.

Fumihiko Maki Larry Silverstein Norman Foster and Richard Rogers photo by Joe Woolhead
STARCHITECT LIFE: Prtizker-prize winning architects Fumihiko Maki, Lord Norman Foster, and Lord Richard Rogers, with Silverstein, in front of an architectural model of the World Trade Center campus. Maki designed 4 WTC, Foster’s 2 WTC is expected to begin soon, and Rogers designed 3 WTC. (Photo credit Joe Woolhead)

Despite the many professional battles, Silverstein says it was the “naysayers” who personally affected him the most. “The negative voices kept telling me I would never succeed,” he says. “No one will ever come down here. No one will ever rent space. Why are you wasting your time?” Yet he remained determined to rebuild. Not for personal gain—he stood to make little money from the effort and was already well beyond retirement age—but because otherwise would signal defeat. “If you don’t rebuild it, then the terrorists have won, right? I absolutely couldn’t let that happen.” When pressed if there was ever a point at which he doubted that rebuilding office towers adjacent hallowed ground was the right thing to do, his answer is immediate and unequivocal: “Never.”

“[Downtown is] young, it’s vibrant, it’s enormously exciting. Should add ten years to our lives.”

Larry Silverstein at opening of 3 WTC.
OPEN FOR BUSINESS: Silverstein at the opening of 3 World Trade Center in 2018, with CEO Marty Burger, President Tal Kerret, daughter Lisa, son Roger, and architect Richard Paul. Photograph by Joe Woolhead.

 

Roger, Lisa, Klara, Larry, and Lenny Boxer pose with the ceremonial keys to the World Trade Center on July 24, 2001.

 

NEW KID ON THE BLOCK

“When we bought the Twin Towers, this place was a ghost town,” Silverstein recalls. “After six o’clock, you could roll a bowling ball down Wall Street or any place you wanted.” But after watching the neighborhood evolve after 9/11—and after more than 30 years in the same Park Avenue apartment—Larry and his wife of 65 years, Klara, decided it was time for a change.

“Something that hit me very early on is that I wanted to own something. I wanted to be an owner.”

Larry Silvestein
Larry Silverstein poses with the children of some of Silverstein Properties’ employees during “Take our daughters and sons to work day ” in 2013.

So, in 2018 they moved into a penthouse at 30 Park Place, one of his developments. The 82-story tower, designed by Robert A. M. Stern to look as if it could have been built a century ago, opened in 2016 and includes residences atop a Four Seasons hotel. “If you look far enough,” Silverstein jokes about the view from his 80th-floor terrace, “you can see the curvature of the earth.”

“Two things really tipped the scale in favor of moving down here,” he explains. “Number one: my grandson said, ‘Poppy, if you move down here, I’ll show you how to go to work by skateboard every morning. It’s two blocks, downhill, piece of cake.’” Number two was
the rejuvenated neighborhood. “It’s young, it’s vibrant, it’s enormously exciting. Should add ten years to our lives.” Downtown’s residential population has more than tripled since 9/11, and according to Silverstein, the area now has the highest work-live ratio in the country: 27 percent.

That ratio will soon tilt even more residential. Last February, the Port Authority awarded Silverstein—in partnership with Brookfield Properties and two other firms—the rights to build 5 World Trade Center on the site where the plagued Deutsche Bank building once stood. The sleek 900-foot-tall tower, designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox, will feature more than 1,300 residential units, a quarter of which will be set aside for households earning less than 50 percent of the neighborhood’s median income.

While significant obstacles to groundbreaking remain, so does Silverstein’s trademark eternal optimism. Not only will the new tower be a model of energy efficiency and sustainability, he says, but “the firms that take office space at the new World Trade Center will be able to house their employees in the same campus if they want to, which is pretty damn unique, right?”

PRESERVING HISTORY

LOVE STORY: Larry and Klara Silverstein in the lobby of 4 World Trade Center.

Silverstein’s earliest memory of downtown is of the “extremely tall, very impressive buildings.” Little did he know he’d one day own one of them, 120 Broadway. Known as the Equitable Building, it became the biggest—if not the tallest— skyscraper in the world when it opened in 1915, occupying an entire city block between Cedar and Pine streets. It was so big that it spawned the city’s 1916 Zoning Resolution, which limited new construction to a percentage of lot size to ensure at least a modicum of sunlight could reach the surrounding canyons.

When Silverstein bought the landmarked building in 1980, many of its historic details had been neglected, if not concealed outright. “The previous owner had no feeling, no sensitivity to the importance of historic landmarks,” he recalls. “They hung acoustical drop ceilings without any kind of architectural detail at all. Added fluorescent lights and so forth. It was dreadful.” So, Silverstein immediately set about renovating it, carefully restoring such original details as the terra-cotta window frames and the lobby’s Tennessee-pink-marble floor, and vaulted, coffered ceiling with carved rosettes. “It makes such a difference,” he says. “Tenants appreciate what a detailed restoration can produce.”

ART & COMMERCE

Something tenants also appreciate, Silverstein says, is art. When he opened the original Seven World Trade Center, in 1987, he immediately realized he had a big problem on his hands. “I looked at the lobby, and I said to myself, I’ve gone crazy.” He explains that he had “fallen in love with” a particular carmen-red granite he’d personally selected from a Finnish quarry for the building’s façade.

But he didn’t stop there. “The entrance to the building? Carmen-red granite. The toilets? Carmen-red granite. The elevators? Carmen-red granite. Everything! Carmen-red granite. The place looked like a mausoleum.” He called Klara in a panic and asked her to come down and have a look for herself, hoping maybe she wouldn’t think it was all that bad. “One look around and she said, ‘You know what? Looks like a mausoleum.’”

They agreed the lobby could use some art to spruce it up, so they set about scouring the city for contemporary works large enough to adequately cover all that carmen-red granite. One of their first purchases was a fourteen-by- six-foot Roy Lichtenstein entablature. Works
by Frank Stella, Ross Bleckner, and Alexander Calder soon followed. “We ended up collecting a whole realm of first-class contemporary art,” he says. “That taught me something, that is art has a huge impact on people’s attitude towards buildings, a very positive attitude. It made an enormous difference.”

“We ended up collecting a whole realm of first-class contemporary art. Art has a huge impact on people’s attitudes towards buildings.”

Larry Silverstein at the piano.
AT HOME: Larry Silverstein at the piano.

Larry with his wife Klara, in their apartment atop the Robert A.M. Stern designed 30 Park Place.

“Whether I’m still around or not, the Trade Center will be done. And what we will have put back is vastly superior, not just in terms of quality or architectural design. The parks, the neighborhood-totally transformed.”

Art plays a bigger role than ever in and around the new World Trade Center campus. Not only are there remarkable lobby installations, like Jenny Holzer’s “For 7 World Trade” and Kozo Nishino’s “Sky Memory,” Silverstein even hired street artists Stickymonger, Ben Angotti, and BoogieRez to paint the corrugated metal walls that sheathe the base of what will eventually become 2 World Trade Center, now an entrance to the transit hub.

BACK TO WORK

“There’s been no shortage of naysayers all over again,” Silverstein replies when asked if he sees parallels between post-9/11 and post-pandemic downtown. “New York is done, finished. No one’s ever coming back. The office buildings are gonna be vacant. Fold up the tent and steal away into the night.” Not surprisingly, he’s as sanguine as he was after 9/11 about the potential for recovery after covid. “Will it be 100% back to the way it was? No, I don’t think so. But people will come back. Of course. It’s gonna happen. So much comes out of talking together around the water cooler.”

And what does he think downtown will look like in another 10 years? “Well, whether I’m still around or not, the Trade Center will
be done,” he says. “And what we will have put back is vastly superior, not just in terms of quality or architectural design. The parks, the neighborhood—totally transformed.”

“Buy corners” may have been the best professional lesson Harry Silverstein imparted to his son, but it’s this bit of wisdom that endures: “Whatever you do in your life, be truthful with people,” Harry told him. “And never equivocate.” Impeccable advice for an age where truth has become all too relative. DT

Categories
Architecture Art Culture Living News NYC Outdoor Uncategorized

Sky Light

Tribute in Light
The Tribute in Light, designed by Gustavo Bonevardi. Photo by Joe Woolhead.

Twenty years later, Tribute in Light helps New York City heal. Photo by Joe Woolhead.

IN NEW YORK, art isn’t limited to the galleries and theaters; it overflows into the streets, draping itself across the city’s skyline. Architects, artists, social organizations, and New York’s many public agencies each play a hand in building the immersive installations that speak towards some of today’s most pressing topics. New York-born architect and artist Gustavo Bonevardi is recognized for his many public projects exploring the impact local and global crises have on our population, and in New York today he is perhaps best known, along with creative partner John Bennett and lighting designer Paul Marantz, as among the artists behind Tribute in Light, an annual light projection commemorating the anniversary of 9/11. Today managed by the 9/11 Memorial & Museum, Tribute in Light was conceived with the support of the Municipal Art Society as two beacons echoing the Twin Towers as they defined New York City’s skyline. Though the two light beams don’t represent the actual size of the towers, which were each an acre in size, the gap between the beams and the net acreage the installation occupies is approximate to the size of the towers. “What we’ve settled on is to create not the buildings themselves, but the void between those,” Bonevardi notes, emphasizing “this tension between these two vibrating pillars.” With the beacons of light reminiscing what the Twin Towers represented, Bonevardi adds that, “to my mind, it always seemed like the World Trade Center towers were sort of like a gateway, like a door to the city,” symbolizing open arms to the millions passing through each year. In the 20 years that Tribute in Light has taken place, it has acquired a steadfast following that looks to those lights each year, recalling that same message the towers once represented.

Tribute in LIght
Tribute in Light. Photo by Joe Woolhead.

Yet, Bonevardi hopes that the installation looks less at what was, and more at what could be. The Freedom Tower now erected serves as a new vision for the city’s reception of travelers and immigrants alike. Lower Manhattan on its broader spectrum has transformed from a once “beautiful and haunting” evening ghost town, as Bonevardi describes it, to a thriving neighborhood accommodating both residential and commercial tenants collaborating together to build a culture of arts, activism, shopping, and dining.

Gustavo Bonevardi
Gustavo Bonevardi. Photo by Ann Foker.

“I think that’s what New York is, it’s always fresh and new and vibrant,” Bonevardi notes, adding that when it comes to downtown’s future, “I expect it to be something unexpected. I expect to be surprised somehow. I mean, the city is constantly reinventing itself.” His most recent proposal, Missing, explores what traces the COVID-19 pandemic left on cities through footsteps echoing the many who passed away these nearly two years. Whether through such unexpected displays of resilience or delicate works of art, Bonevardi and the many other artists across New York show that this city champions perseverance and adaptability above all, underscoring what it takes to be a New Yorker.

Learn more and view a selection of Bonevardi’s works at gustavobonevardi.com.