Back in November I made the rather predictable
prediction that the low-rise buildings on the southeast corner of 14th and 3rd would soon fall. Curbed
confirmed it in December, revealing the big, glass-box monstrosity to come. And this week, the corner has fallen into rubble.
before:
after:
more pics of 14th and 3rd
I don't think it's a coincidence that this corner has come down so soon after the rise of the gargantuan
110 Third. It seems that wherever luxury condos sprout, their low-rise neighbors come down within months.
I live right nearby on 16th st and I've been watching that new condo go up...it was sad to see the small shops torn down when they started, worse to see the garish new retail tenants (as if 6th ave wasn't a crappy mall to start with!), and horrible to see the last stragglers closing down. I worry that the parking lot across the street, home to the weekend flea market, may fall to condo-land soon. Nor can I stand the constant construction dust between that place on 18th and the yves building. Yuck.
ReplyDeleteI will miss Robin Raj which always had fascinating stuff in the window but nothing similar inside. The mystery of how they chose their window displays will never be known. I don't know where else I will buy little plastic bottles. These stores are/were the character of our 'hood that will never be replaced as it turns into one giant outdoor shopping mall of blandness and uniformity. And, you can't buy food in a shopping mall, which is why we have no place left to get fresh meat, fish and fewer and fewer that sell produce.
ReplyDeleteHard to believe but even 8th street used to have charm and character.
ReplyDeleteLived in Soho when it had real AIRs before it was "discovered".
It's not just condo builders--it's NYU--which has a mania for tearing down older, smaller buildings, booting out local rent controlled people and building cheap, fast dorms.
Bad bars, fast food joints, and mall stores follow the students. Over time, NYU will have cooked its own goose because the area will have lost the cache students come here from the middle of the country, to find.
Really appreciate your blog.
6th & 3rd avenues have been torn down for the last 35 plus years. @one time there were small building all up 3rd- midtown & all the way thru the e.70s i was shocked in the 1980s taking the bus up 3rd. felt i was chocked. & 6 ave downtown started w/one discount chain drugstore on corner of 8th street-welons. that streets been awful thru the late 60s & on. & 8street became a low end chain place as the boutiques closed. as for 3rd & the e.50s, that was the antique district. then in the 70s it was all cheesy fast food & chains. i had thought that NYC had some zoning. & later east river drive, 1& 2nd ave e.90s etc would be for skyscrapers. looks like its all open game now? which areas have a legal height?? also to respond to one comment about NYU students. they are not in new york for the charm, they would study in vermont or boston for that. they want a big city.
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