Jeremiah Budin reports for Curbed: Landmarks Loves BKSK’s Redesigned 130 Seventh Ave. South.
It’s been a rocky road to Landmarks approval for mixed-use condo development 130 Seventh Avenue South, but after two redesigns the Commission finally signed off on the building yesterday, and did so with unanimous enthusiasm. “I cannot imagine a better building for this site,” said Commissioner Michael Devonshire. “As a New Yorker, I thank you for this building.” The Commission had ripped apart the original proposal for the site from architect Peter Samton, comparing it to “an industrial loft that has been added to in the ’80s.” Samton was subsequently replaced by BKSK Architects, whose new design was not quite as loathed by the LPC, but still deemed to be too tall and too glassy.
However, BKSK’s revised design, which they presented yesterday, won over the Commission completely. Lowered by one floor, with a façade of brick and brownstone masonry interwoven with glass and intermittent metal fins and increased detail on the side walls (which are very visible due to the odd shape of the lot), the new building was declared “thrilling” by Commissioner Fred Bland and approved unanimously. The project is being developed by Erez Itzhaki and Continental Ventures.
