CB2 to Hold Hearing on Bossert Plans Wednesday, June 20

By on June 10, 2012 10:37 pm in Brooklyn Heights, Commercial Real Estate, Government, Landmark Preservation

Community Board 2’s Land Use Committee will hold a hearing on Wednesday, June 20 to “consider a variance application to be filed at the Board of Standards and Appeals (BSA) to reconvert the Bossert Hotel back to its original, transient hotel use.” The hearing, along with another to “review proposed changes to the text of the New York City Zoning Resolution, to modify the parking requirements in portions of the Special Downtown Brooklyn District”, will take place immediately before at the beginning of the Committee’s regular meeting, which is scheduled to begin at 6:00 p.m. in Room LC400 of NYU Poly’s Dibner Building located off of the MetroTech Commons at 5 MetroTech Center (follow link for map).

While the buyer of the Bossert, David Bistricer, has said that he doesn’t plan to alter the building’s facade, he has been coy about his plans for the interior, saying that they “have not been finalized” other than that electrical and plumbing will be improved. This leaves open what will become of the Bossert’s magnificent lobby (see photo). Of particular concern is his choice of architect: Eugene Kaufman, whose plans for the historic Chelsea Hotel in Manhattan have incited controversy.

Photo by Josh.

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  • http://brooklyncomplex.net/ Josh

    Homer, editors, et al:

    As a reminder, please remember to properly credit and link to photos from Flickr. The <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/joshderr/2521299522/"above photo is mine, and while it is frequently used here on BHB, is rarely credited correctly and almost never linked to the original. Proper attribution is greatly appreciated by myself and all the other photographers who contribute for this site. Thanks.

  • http://selfabsorbedboomer.blogspot.com Claude Scales

    Josh: I’ve corrected the photo attribution (which I got from a Google image search) and put in a link to your website.

  • Robert Perris

    “For safety’s sake, it’s probably best to arrive no later than 5:00?” Sun spots? What am I missing? The room does not open much before 6:00 pm.

    The community board’s hearing notice is available on-line.

  • epc

    Wouldn’t it be something if the community rallied to get the lobby landmarked? I suppose that’s unlikely in today’s Brooklyn Heights.

  • Elmer Fudd

    If the owner doesn’t want the interior landmarked – good luck. Money rules the LPC. The community doesn’t matter any more.

  • She’s Crafty

    Interior landmarking is difficult and can really be ruinous. For instance, the old Gage & Tollner building has interior landmark status and what has happened (with the current accessory store at least) is that the tenants just build tacky stuff up and around the things they are not able to change, making it look really ridiculous and probably discouraging tenants who might be better able to work with the space.

    It’s such a shame G&T closed when it did, because the changes over the last couple of years in that area mean it would probably have been busier and able to stay open. Good friends had their first date their in the ’90s.

  • Andrew Porter

    Landmarks has fought running battles with these people over the Chelsea Hotel, so their tactics are well known now.

  • http://selfabsorbedboomer.blogspot.com Claude Scales

    Robert: the announcement I got by e-mail, which is more terse than the hearing notice to which you linked, said that the meeting would start at 6:00 and that the hearings would be held before the meeting. This made me think that the hearings would be held before 6:00. Thanks for the clarification.