Rea Getzels reading poetry that she wrote during a workshop held at the Independence Plaza North Senior Center and sponsored by Poets House. (Photo: Terese Loeb Kreuzer)

The spacious room on the second floor of 310 Greenwich St. at Independence Plaza North in Tribeca was decorated for the holidays as the poets stood up, one by one on Dec. 12 to read some of what they had written in a poetry workshop at the Independence Plaza North Senior Center.  

Their audience, other members of the Senior Center, applauded appreciatively.  

Many come to the center every day for companionship, food, and activities such as crafts and art classes, chair yoga and tai chi. Occasionally there are trips to see a play, a concert or a museum. There are health and wellness programs. A social worker visits once a week.

There are modest charges for some things such as the daily, hot lunch, which costs $1.50 but most activities are free - and no one goes away unfed or is denied access because they can't pay.

"Here I sit/resting, reading/hopefully healing," read Rea Getzels, one of the nine seniors in the poetry workshop. Her poem was called "Water Towers Revised."

"Help, if requested/comes from/caring, friends and neighbors," she read. "I look at the 'landscape'/wanting to paint each/exposed water tower/a bright, dazzling color."

The two-month poetry workshop was sponsored by Poets House in Battery Park City with funds obtained through City Councilmember Margaret Chin. The participants met once a week starting in mid-October under the guidance of poet and teacher Hermine Meinhard.

 "There was a great difference in their backgrounds," said Meinhard. "They were able to draw on life experiences that were very moving to others in the workshop. Writing together in this community and sharing the work brought people together. They supported each other and made new friends." 

The Senior Center at Independence Plaza North was founded 10 years ago by The Caring Community, an organization that started in 1973 to serve the seniors of lower Manhattan.  

According to program director Nicole Brown, 45 to 50 people a day use the center. Since July 2011, it has been run by Greenwich House under the jurisdiction of the City's Department of Aging. 

"They would like to see 75 people a day at the center," said Brown. "Several times, they've threatened to close it."

If that were to happen, the regulars at the center would be devastated. Many of them face loneliness, illness, straitened financial circumstances and other difficulties with each other's help.  

Anyone 60 or over is welcome to use the center.  It is open Monday to Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. A hot lunch is served every day between 12:30 p.m. and 1:30 p.m. For more information, click here. 

 - Terese Loeb Kreuzer 

A poem by Marie Soffer, one of the poetry workshop participants:

The setting sun is descending

Its rays visible through the treetops

Leaving the earth in darkness.

The morning after  

We meet by the river

Watching it flow gently by,

The lighthouse beckons

He loves the earth so much

He wants to stay on terra firma

To ride his bicycle

To whereever it takes him safely. 

Some of the people who participated in a poetry workshop at the Independence Plaza North Senior Center. From left to right (back row): Nicole Brown, program director for the senior center; Regina Hyatt, Hermine Meinhard, teacher; Marie Soffer; Edith Merle; Mary Ellen Liona; Reggie Harris, poetry in the branches coordinator for Poets House; (front row) Patrice A. Harvey-Livingston; Rea Getzels and Olga Wong. (Photo: Terese Loeb Kreuzer)

Duane Street in Tribeca. (Photo: Terese Loeb Kreuzer)

The New York Times reported in Sunday's Real Estate section that "After a four-year dry spell, a crop of new, luxury condominiums aimed at the superrich opened in Manhattan and were snapped up faster and at prices surpassing those attained before the recession."

The Times went on to say that, "In many cases, prices met or exceeded expectations, particularly in the downtown market, where about 260 deals over $7 million took place [in 2013] compared with 80 in 2012, with the majority in new developments."

According to The Times, "the most expensive sale to close this year was for $43 million: a former shoe warehouse at 144 Duane St. in TriBeCa." The building dates from 1862 and The Times says, "has 23,100 square feet of residential space including a triplex penthouse and a basement basketball court."  

But the poster child for lavish Tribeca real estate, says The Times, is 56 Leonard St., which has been on the market for 10 months and is 90 percent sold. Penthouse 60 is in contract for $47 million.   

For more, see "The Stars Inside the Building," New York Times, 12/27/13 and "In 2013, the High End Ruled," New York Times, 12/27/13.