Battery Maritime Building / Foodie Paradise?

[oakapple]

According to a report in Downtown Express, the Battery Maritime Building could become a foodie paradise:

The mostly forsaken Battery Maritime Building is near the end of a $60 million façade restoration and the city hopes to transform New York’s only Beaux Arts ferry building into a fine food marketplace that will rival the likes of Pike Place Market in Seattle and the Ferry Building Marketplace in San Francisco

Next month the E.D.C., which steered the five-year renovation, will issue a Request for Proposals for companies interested in transforming the 140,000 sq. ft. structure into a “temple to food,” said Ascher. The 32,000 sq. ft. Grand Hall with sweeping 30-ft. high ceilings and large, cast iron columns would emerge as an indoor marketplace selling fine foods, wines and produce. The third and fourth floors of the four-story structure could be dedicated to a restaurant or a culinary institution....

The proposal is not without difficulty. The 1908 building, the Manhattan terminal of the Governor's Island Ferry, is located at the southern tip of the island. It is not particularly friendly to pedestrians, as access is blocked by the FDR Drive and the mouth of the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel. It is also "a haul from any residential enclave." Edited February 7, 2006 by oakapple (log)

[weinoo]

I saw this report yesterday - it would be quite exciting - and it made me think of the Ferry Building and the market plaza in San Francisco, which in its current incarnation is just great. However, we certainly have some difficult logistics to deal with here - much more of a problematic place to get to and from!

[docsconz]

Nice idea, but I too am concerned about the logistics.

[Vadouvan]

This is why we have urban architects and pedestrian walkways....I am sure they will figure it out.

[Sandra Levine]

That would be a wonderful adaptive re-use of this building. FYI, I did much of the historic architectural research for the restoration of the building.

[BrianYarvin]

Wasn't this what the Chelsea Market was supposed to be?

[weinoo]

That would be a wonderful adaptive re-use of this building.  FYI, I did much of the historic architectural research for the restoration of the building.

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Can't way to see it - looks great in photos. Congrats, Sandra!

[oakapple]

This is why we have urban architects and pedestrian walkways....I am sure they will figure it out.

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No one's saying it's insurmountable. The question is how much infrastructure you have to build, and what that does to the economics of it.

[weinoo]

And no matter what you build, it's still gonna be a schlep from where most anyone lives.

Edited February 7, 2006 by weinoo (log)

[oakapple]

And no matter what you build, it's still gonna be a schlep from where most anyone lives.

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It will be basically across the street from the #1 South Ferry subway station and the W/R Whitehall Steet station, and just a few blocks from the 4/5 Bowling Green Station, making it – at least arguably – a lot more accessible by mass transit than Chelsea Market. And Lower Manhattan is the city's fastest growing residential area.

[Sandra Levine]

Can't way to see it - looks great in photos.  Congrats, Sandra!

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Thank you. The best part was finding the original plans at the Art Commission. They are among the most beautiful architectural drawings I've ever seen.

[FatTony]

I live in Brooklyn and I, for one, would schlep further than this for something even close to San Francisco's Ferry Market. That place is amazing. Of course the real issue would be getting the right purveyors in there. Hope it happens.

[alacarte]

E.D.C. is toying with the idea of building a temporary bridge over the F.D.R. to ease access until the area is redesigned. At the moment, “there’s nobody who naturally goes” to the Maritime building

I still don't think I would go. But I know people who live in Battery Park City who probably will be delighted if/when this opens.