An Important Zoning Change Could Make the Area More… Lively?

As you’re well aware, the demolition and construction of The New School site at 65 Fifth Avenue is well underway. On Thursday, The New School revealed for the first time the official design of the building, which includes some of the elements from its earliest sketches, such as the exposed staircases, but is different in two notable ways: the building is smaller than originally planned, and it is partially class in brass, rather than entirely in glass.

The building is being constructed as of right. There is no more debate over design or size. This is pretty much what we’re going to see: a university hub of about 16 stories with eight floors of campus space topped by a smaller eight floors of dormitory housing for 600 students.

To get caught up on what the building looks like and see many photos of the model, click here.

To read the somewhat positive New York Times architecture critic’s review, click here.

A neighbor attended the public viewing of the model and came away with some great facts:

–The loading dock is on 13th street at the eastern most corner of the lot.

–The main entrance to the building is on the southwest corner. This is for everything except the dormitories.

–The dormitory entrance is on 5th avenue, about 1/3 of the way down from 14th street.

–The northern 1/3 of the building at street level is retail – no word on what though.

–Directly above the retail is a cafeteria. It looks like seating for 300, which makes sense considering the 600 person dormitory.

–The dormitory floors are set back on all sides, and shaped in a ‘C’ with a light well on the eastern side of the stack. They are four bed suites, with kitchenettes in them.

–The set-back between the lower and upper halves is a green roof, and they say that for liability reasons it will not be open to the general building population. Pressing on this, and the answer was that while the green roof hasn’t been engineered yet, it is likely going to be possible to have foot traffic on it and will perhaps be open to supervised use (during a class, or for an experiment of some kind). (So no midnight keg parties, we hope.)

The green roof is at the level of 7 East 13^th St/10 East 14^th St, so about the same height as our roof.

— It looks like it’s designed to keep students inside the building, and not loitering on the street. The canopies are small, and the doors aren’t inset, so there isn’t any natural gathering space just outside on the sidewalk.

We hope that this brings everyone up to date on a project that will be a big part of the pulse of the neighborhood for the next two years….and beyond.

Visit Koi, at 32 Union Square East. They say:

A celebration, a date or just a relaxing break in the day, there is always a reason to get together around a cup of KOI tea. KOI brings joy to the world. Freshly brewed tea and flavorful ingredients, prepared with passion are the key to KOI’s authentic taste and the reason why people come back again and again. In each and every KOI store, the staff is keen to share our happiness and love of tea with you. They do their best every day to make your experience memorable. Hear the sound of tea being brewed, of ice being crushed, and of laughter. Smell the aroma of our freshly prepared ingredients. Be excited by the chewiness of our milk tea pearls. Enjoy the fun and comfortable surroundings. And the warmth of our tea shakers. With KOI, happiness happens naturally.

From the Times: “Venice was Chris Jaeckle’s inspiration for this duplex restaurant. “It has always had the most global outlook of any place in Italy,” said Mr. Jaeckle, the chef and a partner. “And that goes back 800 years.” But Venice is only a starting point. He also applies a touch of Japanese flavor to the typical Venetian rice, noodles and seafood. “With these ingredients, Japanese food has a lot in common with Venetian,” he said. Sardines with typical sweet-and-sour “in saor” flavors are artistically arranged Japanese-style. A touch of miso brightens razor clams. He interprets Venetian liver and onions with monkfish liver and adds a touch of curry to spaghetti with clams. Chris Cannon, the manager and consultant, has created a list with more than 36 Italian sparkling wines (white, rosé, red and even orange varieties) to pair with the food. The upstairs dining room is relaxed and understated; the ground floor is the bar. (Opens Monday): 22 East 13th Street, 212-231-2236, allondanyc.com.”

The City Streets store on the street level of our building is set to close up shop. What will come next?

Not that the area needed another high-end coffee pourer, but here comes Blue Bottle Coffee, on University between 12th and 13th.

An unusual crime at Giant Bagel, on the corner of Universty and 13th, last Friday night:

Three peed-off perps brutally beat a man for taking too long in the bathroom at a Greenwich Village bagel shop, police said yesterday. The thugs — identified as Osman Jalloh, 19, Amadou Diallo, 21, and Mohamed Sow, 21 — became enraged waiting for Zaaven Castelan, 23, to finish his business in a restroom at Giant Bagels on University Place at 10 p.m. Friday, sources said. When Castelan emerged from the bathroom, the trio started pummeling him, the sources said.Police quickly rounded up the men.