Lots of Love for the Schermerhorn House
The Schermerhorn is not your average affordable housing project, as The Times makes abundantly clear in its profile this weekend. (As we put it a couple of weeks ago, “This place is about as sexy as supportive housing gets.”) Stand-out amenities include a gym with floor-to-ceiling windows and a ground-floor performance space. (The Brooklyn Ballet…
The Schermerhorn is not your average affordable housing project, as The Times makes abundantly clear in its profile this weekend. (As we put it a couple of weeks ago, “This place is about as sexy as supportive housing gets.”) Stand-out amenities include a gym with floor-to-ceiling windows and a ground-floor performance space. (The Brooklyn Ballet will be the anchor tenant.) Designed by Polshek Partnership Architects, the 217-unit building will end up being split fairly evenly between arts-related professionals who don’t make a lot of dough and those who qualify for supportive housing, typically the formerly homeless and others in need of help. The interior photo in The Times story is pretty darn slick for this type of thing, seeming to confirm our suspicions that lack of creativity and resourcefulness is usually more to blame than small budgets when ugly new buildings are put up.
New Homes for a Varied Cast [NY Times]
Schermerhorn House 1/3-Rented [Brownstoner]
Development Watch: Schermerhorn House Nears Completion [Brownstoner]
Development Watch: Schermerhorn House Gets Its Skin [Brownstoner] GMAP
Development Watch: 160 Schermerhorn Tops Out [Brownstoner] P*Shark
Development Watch: Schermerhorn House Rising [Brownstoner] DOB
Some More 411 on the “Schermerhorn House” [Brownstoner]
“Mr. “Red State exiled in NYC”???”
Are you referring to me, because I’m from one of the bluest states in the Union…
You don’t go to an art school or conservatory to hone your craft for 4-8 years to become a Nanny.
I could be a Nanny starting tomorrow.
That’s not to say I don’t value nannies, but the special skills invovled are being a nice person and good with kids…(most decent human beings could be a nanny).
I’m not a religious person at all, but some people were given incredible talents which should be shared with others.
Places like this help those people to share their art with others.
Some of you have put “art” in such a small little box.
There might be the next Pavarotti staying in this place for a few months or years, giving him a start in his musical life and going on to touch millions of people around the world with their music.
And that’s the same as the Nanny down at the playground changing Madison’s diaper…?
Good one, Heather.
For a nanosecond, I thought you might be serious.
I agree with a lot of Rob says (for once).
I’m all for preferential housing for people in the arts. Certainly it provides so much for our community. Would also like to see it for people who work with the elderly. For people who care for our animals. For people stuck in mindless jobs answering the phone for a bunch of jackasses because they’re still repaying a bill for an operation they had in 2002.
People who work in the arts for no money do so because they have a passion for their work. That’s far more than most people in the working world have.
“Are the arts less important than nannies? How much do nannies contribute to society in general compared to the arts?”
Hang out at a gentrified playground sometime during the day and it may provide your answer. In other words, I would say they contribute a great deal more.
11217, Bxgrl, cromsonson and all;
The “non-profits” in this town are all heavily subsidized by government. Many are nothing more than financial intermediaries of government money.
So, when government money is used to build housing, I’ll certainly speak up. If this were truly private money, then it would be none of my business (as Etson said). Since it is not, however, I speak up and once again, I think Heather’s statement above is succinct, and to the point.
Come on, you’re accusing ME of being a communist, Mr. “Red State exiled in NYC”???
😉
“MTA workers. Teachers. Secretaries.”
MTA workers make 40K, 50K, 60K and up depending on the job.
Teachers in NYC start in the mid 40’s.
Secretaries…the good ones…can make upwards of 40K and 80K to be an administrative assistant.
The starting salary at Carnegie Hall is 25K. In 2009.
The salary for the General Manager of XYZ Dance Company in NYC is about 40K. That’s a job that involves 5-10 years experience.
Most of the jobs at BAM pay in the low 30’s.
To compare the absolutely abysmal rates of funding for arts jobs as the MTA or Teacher’s Unions just means you don’t know what you’re talking about. Trash men in NYC can make up to 50 or 60K a year after a few years.
Do you know how long it would take to work up the ladder in “the arts” to make that salary? Roughly 10 years on average, I’d say.
Wait, isn’t rob the one a few months back who confessed that he is completely delinquent on gov’t financed student loans but was out buying video games? Seems like a pretty tough spot from which to rail against subsidies for pretty much anyone.
Don’t really see the big deal as there is other subsidized housing available for all professions. Having one that’s artist-centric doesn’t seem like such a big deal. But I’d also be happy if there was one for nurses, and another for teachers, etc. Seems like a cool idea.
“The slots should be open to all comers — which would produce an actual diverse population, instead of a faux-diverse one.”
When you buy a parcel of land and develop it into an affordable housing project, you can open it to all newcomers.
Until that times comes, this developer choose to open it to artists and the formerly homeless.
Since when did the Brownstoner crowd become Communists?