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Over the weekend we were sent a number of statements by people who live in the vicinity of the Prospect Grand Hall, whose owners recently proposed a plan to erect an 11-story building with parking and hotel rooms on the site. While there was plenty of support voiced for the project at last week’s community board meeting (including a vote of confidence by the 5th Avenue BID), the emails we saw over the weekend were largely negative.

— “A building and business of that size will have an enormous negative impact on the quality of life for the residents of 16th street. As others have pointed out, we’ve fought hard to have zoning put into place to keep the scale and feel of this neighborhood.”

–“An 11 story hotel on the GPH site is an abomination. It will completely commercialize the block…To preserve our neighborhood this project must be stopped.”

–“As I stood outside my house today I thought about the height and scope of this project. I am concerned about the height of the project, it would loom over anything in the neighborhood, 11 stories, the tallest is about 8 stories on that block (unless I counted/remember incorrectly). In reading the details on IMBY’s blog I also see that houses on 16th would be demo’ed and that bothers me. Even if they currently own the properties, it is the changing of the scale of the neighborhood that is worrisome.”

–“Aside from the infrastructure and traffic issues, the shadow this 110+’ building will cast, the noise, the blight it will make 16th street into with two major driveways cut into the middle of the block all make me very nervous.”

Personally, we can’t see the justification for a variance in this situation, regardless of the kind of impact the project would have.


What's Your Take? Leave a Comment

  1. I have owned the house at 214 16th for the past 17 years. My property touches a part of the Grand Prospect Hall property. I love the Grand Prospect Hall and hope it remains viable for a long time. I have no objection in principle to having a hotel in the current parking lot. I do question the design proposed at present, which turns 16th Street into a feeder road for a parking garage and an entrance for events. I also object to the demolition of some of the nicest private homes on the block just for some driveways. Prospect Avenue is twice as wide as 16th Street, and is already plagued by heavy traffic noise from the Prospect expressway. I think the hotel should be designed to have it motor entrances from Prospect Avenue, just as the current entrance to the parking lot is off Prospect Avenue. To me this is the key point for the neighborhood. The height of the building is an issue, but the design is set back from 16th Street, which already has a looming presence (the former factory) right on 16th Street. For this reason I think the design change should focus on stopping the house demolitions on 16th, and moving the entrance/exits to Prospect Avenue. Rusty Mae Moore

  2. Denton, there is indeed a condominium and a rental apartment building on the same block as GPH, as well as the historic church and parsonage mentioned above. Whatever you think of the aesthetics of our block, there are hundreds of people living along Prospect Avenue, all of whom will be adversely affected by the loss of light from shadows cast by the new building. The noise and traffic effects remain to be seen; it’s hard to imagine they would be worse, actually.

    The new hotel could be a boon or a bane to the neighborhood as a whole, but those of us living in its immediate vicinity are likely to see at least a short term depreciation of our home values.