WGPA

1. View of the proposed Domino refinery from the East River
(All image by Beyer Blinder Belle Architects & Planners)

For those who could not make it to the Community Board last night, this is what you missed. CPCR, the lead developer of the Domino project, has hired Beyer Blinder Belle architects to design the refinery rehabilitation. Once rehabbed, the refinery will contain parking at the basement level, 30,000 sf of retail at the ground floor, community facilities at the second and third floors, and residential above. Because the refinery is now a landmark, most of the proposed changes are subject to a public review at the Landmarks Preservation Commission. The public hearing for this application will take place on Tuesday, February 5 at 2:00 p.m., at the Municipal Building (1 Centre Street), 9th Floor North.

The big story is the rooftop addition to the Filter House (images 1 - 3 and 7 - 9). The Filter House is the tallest part of the landmarked refinery, and has the oval smokestack extending 100' or so from its roof. Beyer Blinder Belle is proposing to put a five-story addition on top of the Filter House. Including two large mechanical bulkheads that occupy most of the roof area, the addition will be 78' tall (the equivalent of 8 stories). The five-story portion of the addition will be clad in glass, with setbacks at the first floor and fifth floor. The bulkheads appear to be clad in a metal mesh. (The details on the glazing system and the screens for the mechanical enclosures were very thin in the presentation.)

[More images after the jump...]

From our colleagues at the Open Space Alliance:

The NYC Dept. of Parks & Recreation and architects Rogers & Marvel will be publicly sharing plans for McCarren Park Pool at the Parks Committee meeting of the Community Board:

Monday, February 4th
6:30 PM
Our Lady of the Snow Society 410 Graham Ave. (btwn Withers & Jackson Sts.) Brooklyn

There will be a second presentation to the full Community Board and we encourage your feedback:

Wednesday, February 13th
6:30 PM
Swinging Sixties Seniors Center
211 Ainslie Avenue (btwn Graham & Manhattan) Brooklyn

The Open Space Alliance for North Brooklyn (OSA) is grateful for Mayor Bloomberg’s $50 million allocation to fund long held community goals expressed by Community Board #1 for the renovation of the McCarren Park Pool. These goals include:

• renovating McCarren Park Pool for swimming,
• creating a year-round recreation center, and
• preserving and restoring the historic bathhouse building and entry arch.

The NYC Department of Parks & Recreation, with the assistance of Community Board 1, and OSA hosted two local design charrettes to obtain additional information about the community’s programming and design requests, and balanced against budget considerations. Several hundred people attended these sessions and their comments were incorporated into the creation of a survey prepared and conducted by Partnership for Parks.

[...]

The survey results show strong support for re-opening the pool for swimming and also, within certain demographics, for the concert and film programming that has been provided at the pool on an interim basis. The Parks Dept. and OSA value the cultural contribution provided by the film, dance and concert performances. We are also sensitive to the related noise complaints from neighboring residences, and we are seeking an accommodation for both perspectives. We are thoroughly examining all possible options, both temporary and permanent, to provide an appropriate location within the neighborhood for large-scale performances for 2009 and beyond.

In the meantime, pool construction will be bid out, and will start in late 2008. McCarren Park Pool will continue to be used as a performance venue during the summer of 2008. In addition to the concerts of the past years, OSA would like to encourage greater diversity of programming for the coming 2008 summer...

The complete survey results can be reviewed here: http://www.openspaceallianceNB.org

Look forward to swimming and splashing in the Pool with you in 2011!

(Monday's meeting conflicts with WGPA's monthly meeting, but happily there will be a second presentation on the 13th. This project will also require Landmarks approval, so there will be a public hearing at a later date.)

A quick update from this afternoon's LPC public hearing (the short answer being that no action was taken).

After a long presentation and even longer public testimony, the Commissioners asked questions and made some comments, but agreed to reconvene in the next few weeks for a formal commentary. The comments that we did hear from the Commissioners made it clear that none of the Commissioners are ready to stand up and support a five-story rooftop addition on the refinery. Some Commissioners seemed to be comfortable with an addition of two or possibly three stories, assuming that such an addition was more architecturally integrated with the historic refinery and the rest of the new development (very close to WGPA's position). The Commissioners who spoke also did not seem to like the storefront design (again, WGPA's position).

Public testimony was generally split along two lines - those who felt that the proposal was appropriate because affordable housing was paramount, and those that felt that the proposed plan was not appropriate because it did not meet basic preservation standards. WGPA falls into the latter category, but as we noted in our testimony, the affordable housing issue is a red herring. The project does not need the rooftop addition in order to succeed; even if LPC finds some (or all) of the addition to be inappropriate, the developers can reallocate that floor area within the 11.5 acre project site (there are dozens of small towers on the site, and the lost floor area from the refinery could easily be reallocated there).

So this will be back at LPC soon, at which time the latest chapter (but hopefully not the whole story) will be finished. Stay tuned.

The Brooklyn Greenway continues to get closer and closer to reality. Much of the Brooklyn Greenway is planned for the waterfront, but for a variety of reasons (like the Navy Yard), the northern portion of the route will run a bit inland. Despite the waterfront esplanade that is planned for the Northside, the path of the Greenway in Williamsburg is along Kent Avenue. A proposal will be in front of Community Board #1 on Wednesday seeking support for this Kent Avenue route. The proposed route will result in a planted median separating bike and pedestrian paths from vehicular traffic (similar to the Hudson River Park greenway). This will mean the loss of on-street parking spaces along Kent Avenue (though the parking rules on Kent are pretty byzantine, so many of those spots are probably not usable on a day-to-day basis), but will introduce not only green space (including 200 trees) but much needed traffic-calming measures to Kent Avenue.

The Community Board meets Wednesday evening, 6:30 PM, at the Swingin' Sixties Senior Center at 211 Ainslie Street (corner Manhattan). Sign up before 6:15 if you wish to speak in support of this measure. And we hope you will speak in support of it.

A reminder that Architects Rogers Marvel and The Parks Dept. will present conceptual plans for McCarren Park Pool for public comment at the upcoming Community Board meeting:

Wednesday, February 13
6:30 pm
Swinging Sixties Seniors Center
211 Ainslie St. (corner of Manhattan Ave.)
Brooklyn

This is an informational presentation. Once the design is finalized, there will be a formal community review. For more information, visit the Open Space Alliance for North Brooklyn.

McCarren Park Pool in Summer (proposed)

Curbed has managed to find actual images from last night's McCarren Pool presentation by architects Rogers Marvel (as opposed to the cell phone photos of a powerpoint presentation that we were about to post).

The proposal at this point is still conceptual, but the concepts look very good. Of course the pool will once again be a pool, albeit a slightly smaller one. The large platform projecting into the pool basin is a 17,000 square foot "beach" that would double as an ice rink in the summer. The pool area to the east (left in photo) would be for lap swimming, and to the north would be "fun" swimming. To the west would be a ramped ("zero edge") swimming area to accommodate wheelchairs and also serve as a wading area for kids. The semicircular pool to the east of the main basin is the revamped diving pool.

The pool house itself would be converted to a fitness center and rec center, while showers and changing rooms would be in the new pavilions to the north of the pool house. A restaurant/concession of some sort would operate on the roof of the pool house.

And, of course, the entire complex will be restored. The Parks Department is genuinely excited about making McCarren the jewel in the crown, which (together with the $50 million already set aside for the project) bodes well for the completion and the ongoing operation.

Missing from the pool program is public event space, which people at the design charrettes and in online surveys asked for. Parks is saying that the pool might be used for public events in the Spring and Autumn, between pool time (June, July & August) and ice skating time. Parks is also looking at including venue space at the new Bushwick inlet park or elsewhere in McCarren. But after this year, there's no guarantees.

We look forward to seeing more details on the design as they emerge.

Pfizer Plant Entrance
Photo: Mary Habstritt

To be honest, we didn't know there was such a thing as a National Historic Chemical Landmark. But since there is, it makes sense that Pfizer's Williamsburg plant would be on it. As noted in the nomination, Pfizer is listed for its discoveries that led to mass production of penicillin during World War II.

The company was founded in 1849 in a building located at the corner of Bartlett Street and Harrison Avenue in Williamsburg. Pfizer is pulling up stakes and moving out of Williamsburg by the end of this year. But there will be some reminders of the company's origins and 158 history when they leave. The original Pfizer building still stands at the east Williamsburg plant. In addition, the brick smokestack in Grand Ferry Park is a relic of a Pfizer plant that was located just to the north (where the NYPA plant now sits).