| Trump SoHo New York | |
|---|---|
| Trump SoHo, November 2008.JPG Building under construction, as seen from Varick Street. (2008-10-24) |
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| General information | |
| Status | Complete |
| Type | Hotel Condominium |
| Location | 246 Spring Street, New York, New York, USA |
| Coordinates | |
| Construction started | 2006 |
| Completed | 2010 |
| Cost | $450 million |
| Height | |
| Roof | 454 ft (138 m) |
| Technical details | |
| Floor count | 46 |
| Design and construction | |
| Main contractor | Bovis Lend Lease |
| Architect | Handel Architects, Rockwell Group |
| Developer | Trump Organization, Bayrock Group LLC, The Sapir Organization, FL Group[1] |
| Website | |
| http://www.trumpsoho.com/ | |
Trump SoHo New York or just Trump SoHo, announced in 2006,[2], is a $450 million, 46 story, 391 unit hotel condominium being constructed in SoHo, New York City.
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The building is located two blocks from the Manhattan entrance of the Holland Tunnel in Hudson Square, Printing District, West Soho neighborhood of New York City, at 246 Spring Street, between Varick Street and Avenue of the Americas. Despite its name, it is located a few blocks west of the SoHo-Cast Iron Historic District, but most likely the developers hoped to capture the cachet of that nearby neighborhood. This is a region zoned for manufacturing, which precludes permanent residences.[3] The condo-hotel design was approved after negotiations with New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.[3] As a hotel condominium, 391 dwelling units within the building will be privately owned, but no unit may "be occupied by the same person for more than 29 days in any 36-day period, or for more than 120 days a year."[4] When not occupied by the owner, an empty unit may be rented out as a hotel suite.[3] The building will feature a spa, a high-end restaurant and over 12,000 square feet (1,100 m2) of conference and banquet facilities.
The project is a collaboration between Trump, the Bayrock Group and Tamir Sapir.[3] The building is being overseen by Donald Trump, his children Donald Trump, Jr., and Ivanka Trump, and The Apprentice season 5 winner Sean Yazbeck, who chose this project over the Trump International Hotel and Tower (Honolulu) project on the June 5, 2006, Apprentice season finale. The Trumps have not invested their own capital in the project.[3]
Design architects for the building are Handel Architects based in New York. The interior designer is David Rockwell of the Rockwell Group.
Columbia architecture professor Mitchell Joachim judged Trump Soho "one of the ugliest buildings in New York". The Trumps are marketing the Trump Soho hotel-condo to buyers from the United Arab Emirates. http://therealdeal.com/newyork/articles/trump-soho-marketed-to-uae-buyers
In November, 2009, the SoHo Alliance filed a legal Objection at the NYC Board of Standards and Appeals that the project is overbuilt by some 5,000 square feet (460 m2). After a couple of hearings at the BSA and written submissions, the Objection is still having another hearing on July, 27 2010, an indication that there is substance to the Objection that it is overbuilt. The Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation also was strongly opposed to the project. The group led protests against the building claiming it violated the zoning. They also put together a broad coalition of business and civic groups as well as elected officials and community boards from across the city to oppose approval of the Trump permits based on the zoning issue.
According to a March 29, 2010 article in The Wall Street Journal the building is scheduled to open on April 9. At the time of the article only one-third of the 391 units were under contract and it was unclear how many of those under contract would actually close. In 2009, only 30% of the units actually closed at Trump Hotel Las Vegas. The building's financing was troubled: Bank of America dumped the mezzanine loan for far less than its $75 million face value and the lenders who have $350 million in loans are working on restructuring debt with the developer.[3]
As of November 2010, the Wall Street Journal reported that the owners of Trump SoHo were offering buyers partial refunds on their deposits if they agreed not to participate in a lawsuit alleging sales figures for the development were misrepresented.[5] This all stems from the ‘condo-hotel’ usage which the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation and the SoHo Alliance long argued made the project illegal, whereby the City considered the units a “transient hotel” even though they were sold to individual buyers who could live there for much if not all of the year.
The developers claim that the 386,000-square-foot (35,900 m2) condo-hotel was designed to contribute to the neighborhood as well as the skyline. On the other hand, many complain that it "sticks out like a sore thumb" and is entirely inappropriate for the area. Along with the private rooms, it is expected there will be public areas, including the Quattro Gastronomia Italiana restaurant, and a public garden, two story guest lobby, Library and Bazaar, the hotel's cocktail lounge.[6] There will also be a business center with conference and meeting rooms.
The hotel will feature an outdoor, seasonal pool deck with a boccie court. Located on the same level will be the 11,000 square feet (1,000 m2) The Spa at Trump, fitness facilities and the seasonal bar Bar d’Eau.
The external walls of each room with be made completely of double sided mirrors, giving its tenants a panoramic view of the Statue of Liberty, Hudson River, and the Manhattan skyline. The rooms are the only New York City hotel furnished by Fendi Casa.[6]
The 46th floor will be home to "SoHi," an event space offering New York skyline views.[6]
Excavation and foundation work for the new building began in November 2006,[7] though full city approval for the project was not granted until May 2007.[8] The plan faced strong opposition from the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation. The preservation group felt that the building was too large and did not in keep with the community's character. They pushed for rezonings of the Far West Village and Hudson Square that would prevent out-of-scale projects such as this. [9]
Construction was temporarily halted in December 2006 after workers discovered human bones.[10] Archaeologists determined that the remains were from 19th-century burial vaults built under the former Spring Street Presbyterian Church,[11] which stood at the site until 1966.[12]
On January 14, 2008, formwork collapsed during a concrete pour, killing one worker. Yuriy Vanchytskyy, an immigrant from the Ukraine employed by DiFama Concrete, fell from the 42nd floor and was decapitated; three other workers were injured. The Department of Buildings halted work on the project and the contractor, Bovis Lend Lease, was issued four violations. Investigators subsequently determined that the wooden formwork did not meet industry standards.[13][14][15] The stop-work order, which only applied to the building's upper floors, was later lifted on August 22.[16]
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