Landmarks commission approves Queensboro Bridgemarket.The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission is the New York City agency charged with administering New York's Landmarks Preservation Law. New York City's first landmarks legislation was enacted in 1965, prompted by the demolition of the original Pennsylvania Station, unanimously approved on July 25th the revised designs for Bridgemarket, a retail development to be constructed in Manhattan under the vaulted approach to the Queensboro Bridge. "Bridgemarket, first envisioned 20 years ago, has now moved close to realization," said Caroline G. Harris, attorney in the law firm Stadtmauer Bailkin who represented the developer, The Gordon Company of Santa Monica Santa Monica (săn`tə mŏn`ĭkə), city (1990 pop. 86,905), Los Angeles co., S Calif., on Santa Monica Bay; inc. 1886. Tourism and retailing are important, and the city has motion-picture, biotechnology, and software industries. , CA, before the Landmarks Preservation Commission. "The project will provide New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of with a vibrant marketplace that will be occupied by two outstanding retailers," Harris said. "The project will be completed at no cost to the city. This is perhaps unique in that private funds are being used to restore a City-owned landmark," Harris said. The Queensboro Bridge was designated a landmark in 1974. "Bridgemarket will uniquely benefit the City by opening up the visually attractive space under Queensboro Bridge for the first time in nearly 50 years," Harris added. "Further, in a time of financial crisis, the project is expected to generate approximately $2.475 million in sales tax sales tax, levy on the sale of goods or services, generally calculated as a percentage of the selling price, and sometimes called a purchase tax. It is usually collected in the form of an extra charge by the retailer, who remits the tax to the government. per year for New York City New York City: see New York, city. New York City City (pop., 2000: 8,008,278), southeastern New York, at the mouth of the Hudson River. The largest city in the U.S. , in addition to rent." Speaking for the developer, Harris said that Bread & Circus, a renowned whole food market in Boston, will be one of the retailers to be located in the market. The design for the 90,000 square foot market development, by Hugh Hardy of Hardy Holzman Pfeiffer Associates, calls for retail shopping to be located beneath the bridge approach vaults, with a steel and glass building on a publicly accessible landscaped plaza. The ingenious design preserves and enhances the visual enjoyment of the Queensboro Bridge, Harris said. It provides a breathtaking view of the vaulted areas under the bridge approach, known as the "Cathedral," notable for the Gustavino tile vaulting vaulting Gymnastics exercise in which the athlete leaps over a form that was originally intended to mimic a horse. At one time, the pommel horse was used in the vaulting exercise, with the pommels (handles) removed. and terra cotta cot·ta n. pl. cot·tae or cot·tas A short surplice. [Medieval Latin, of Germanic origin.] , fluted columns. The Cathedral space beneath the bridge, completed in 1908, was used as an open green market, which closed in 1946. In more recent years the space, under the jurisdiction of the Department of Transportation, was used as a sign shop and a garage for sanitation trucks. |
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