U.P.S. looks to deliver Hudson lot to developer

Rendering of architect Philip Johnson’s “Urban Glass House,” a 120-foot building proposed to be built at 328 Spring St. across the street from the U.P.S. lot.

“That site’s going to go for probably $100 million,” said the source, an executive with one of the developers that responded to the R.F.P. “It’s one of the last big sites on the waterfront. The strong condo market’s pushing this, but the Hudson River Park is helping.” A developer could be picked in three to four months, he said.

Since the site has manufacturing zoning (M2-4), a variance would be needed from the Board of Standards and Appeals to build condos. The developer would likely request a change in the site’s current floor-area ratio of 4, allowing a taller or bulkier building. However, the city has imposed a height limit of 14 or 15 stories on the area, so the building would likely not be taller than that.

“They’re going to seek a zoning change. When they go for rezoning, they go for new F.A.R.,” the source said. “I’m sure that’s going to be a lightning rod of [community] opposition.”

Last year, the south part of Hudson Sq. — south of Spring St., north of Canal St. and east of Washington St. — was rezoned to allow new residential construction. However, community residents and Councilmember Christine Quinn fought off the effort to rezone Hudson Sq. north of Spring St. to allow new residential projects.

Jackie Larson, a U.P.S. spokesperson, wouldn’t say if any deal is in the works.

“We still own the property. I just don’t have anything to tell you about right now,” she said.

The parking lot is across Washington St. from U.P.S.’s building, known as its Manhattan South Facility, which serves Lower Manhattan. U.P.S. purchased the parking lot in 1976. Not usually filled to capacity, it is used to park large tractor-trailers and some trucks.

Savanna Partners holds the lease for the south end of the U.P.S. building. Savanna subleased space to ImClone right before the insider-trading scandal involving Sam Waksal, ImClone’s executive, broke, but ImClone still hasn’t moved in.

Since the construction of the Hudson River Park’s Greenwich Village segment, high-end residential development has exploded along the waterfront. The last couple of years have seen two new 16-story luxury towers by architect Richard Meier at Perry and Charles Sts. with a third planned; Morton Square, a full-block, 14-story, 283-unit residential building at Morton St.; a project in the works by Related Companies at the Superior Ink factory site at Bethune St. and an exclusive sliver tower by Horizen under construction near the Meier towers.

The U.P.S. property is about seven blocks south of Morton Square. Just across Spring St. from the U.P.S. site, Nino Vendome has presented several variations on a plan to develop a luxury residential tower by renowned architect Philip Johnson; but so far the project hasn’t gotten off the ground.

Johnson’s latest plan for 328 Spring St., which Vendome released recently, is for a 120-foot building, described as an “Urban Glass House” to contrast with one of Johnson’s most famous designs, his Glass House in Connecticut. Johnson, 97, collaborated with his partner, architect Alan Ritchie, on the design, which would preserve the adjacent James Brown House, the historic home of the Ear Inn.

Zack Winestine, co-chairperson of the Greenwich Village Community Task Force, said it was the first he’d heard of the new project, but that an image of Morton Square, a new, 14-story, 281-unit, full-block residential development seven blocks to the north, immediately flashed into his mind.

The city’s Department of Sanitation District 1 garage is located across Spring St. from the site, and Winestine wondered if residents living in luxury apartments would really want to live above garbage trucks and a U.P.S. garage. In addition, he feared the garbage trucks would be forced to relocate, possibly to Gansevoort Peninsula, compounding the problem of getting city garbage trucks off the peninsula to allow it to be turned into part of the Hudson River Park.

“I’m really concerned about this,” said Winestine. “We just fought a battle to keep that general area open for light-manufacturing and office space. So this would seem to fly in the face of City Planning’s vision of the area. I think there’ll definitely be opposition, probably a good deal of it. People have to imagine a series of Morton Squares shoulder to shoulder ask, ‘Is this the Village waterfront we want?’ ”

Katy Bordonaro, co-chairperson of the Greenwich Village Community Task Force, recalled that several years ago, the U.P.S. parking lot was being considered as a new Sanitation facility for Community Board 2, as a way to get the garbage trucks off Gansevoort Peninsula.

“U.P.S. was opposed and then the plan died,” Bordonaro said.

However, the city now has plans to build a Sanitation garage somewhere south of the Javits Center, which may include a new District 2 Sanitation garage, and which will have a public park on top.

Kathy Dawkins, a Sanitation spokesperson, said the department is still interested in part of the site for an open-air parking lot for 12 garbage trucks from District 1 that cannot fit in the too-small District 1 garage and currently park on the street around the lot.

“We’re still interested in this property with U.P.S.,” Dawkins said. “We would like to lease a portion of it to handle off-street parking for our trucks. But we are waiting for U.P.S. to obtain a certificate of occupancy for that property before the city moves ahead with its lease for part of that lot.”

(A certificate of occupancy is the last step when building a new building; it certifies that the building is structurally sound and conforms to plans filed with the Department of Buildings.)

Dawkins said the city would only park garbage trucks from the District 1 garage, which serves Lower Manhattan’s Community Board 1, on the lot.

Lincoln@DowntownExpress.com