Several hundred people packed the Student Union at Pace University on Monday, Jan. 13, for Community Board 1's Town Hall meeting to discuss the future of the South Street Seaport. Over a two-hour period, more than 40 people came to the podium to express their opinion about what has happened at the Seaport and what should happen in the future. 

The Howard Hughes Corporation, a Dallas-based developer, has a long-term lease on parts of the Seaport. The shopping mall on Pier 17 is currently being demolished and rebuilt under Howard Hughes' direction.  

Christopher Curry, EVP of Howard Hughes Corp.

Of great concern to many of those in the room are the Hughes plans for the rest of the Seaport, which the company had previously acknowledged, include a 50-story hotel and residential tower on the waterfront at the site of the New Market Building. Howard Hughes would demolish that building to make way for the proposed tower.  

Most of the speakers said that they opposed the tower. Some of them called it "an obscenity" that would overpower the low-rise, historic buildings of the neighborhood and destroy iconic views of the Brooklyn Bridge.  

"Howard Hughes does not own or lease or have lease options on these buildings and on other publicly owned sites," said Michael Kramer when it was his turn to speak. "These are public assets. They have been de facto privatized by the old administration, the old EDC [Economic Development Corporation]. We think we need to rethink this whole process." 

He and other speakers said that they were asking Mayor Bill de Blasio, Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer and Public Advocate Leticia James "to reconsider how planning is being done at the Seaport."

No elected officials were present at the meeting, although they did send representatives. The Economic Development Corporation, the city's landlord for the Seaport, sent no one.

Robert LaValva and Gina Pollara

Robert LaValva, founder of the New Amsterdam Market on South Street, spoke at the meeting on behalf of a new initiative that he has started with Gina Pollara, who recently oversaw the construction of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Park on Roosevelt Island.  

They call it "Just Press Pause."

"Our premise is very simple," LaValva said, "to halt all current redevelopment proposals for the South Street Seaport and to initiate a comprehensive planning process for this unique and irreplaceable part of New York City. Until such a master plan is put in place, no ULURP process should be initiated."

Along with many other speakers, he referred to the Seaport's buildings as "public assets."  

"Our aim is not to fight against the current plan by Howard Hughes," he said. "There is no need to fight against a plan that should never even have been proposed." This remark was followed by applause.

Not everyone in the room was down on The Howard Hughes Corporation, however. Andrew Breslau, senior vice president of the Alliance for Downtown New York, praised Hughes' "transformation of Pier 17" and its summer programming at the Seaport.  

Breslau acknowledged that the "Howard Hughes' plans for the reconstruction of the landmarked Tin Building, and the addition of a marina and 50-story hotel and apartment tower have clearly sparked some concerns." He said the Alliance was not taking a position on those specific aspects of the plan at this time, but went on to say that, "The cost of rebuilding the infrastructure around the Seaport is simply one, in our estimation, the City will not undertake. It is incumbent on all of us to work creatively and constructively with Howard Hughes to bring about the kind of investment and the kind of visionary project that best benefits both New York's interests and the company's bottom line."  

After the meeting, Catherine McVay Hughes noted that people from other parts of the city had made an effort to attend.    

"The historic Seaport belongs to all of us," she said in an email. "The Economic Development Corporation (which owns the property for New Yorkers) must get it right this time. This may be our last chance to make it work and we can't lose such a valuable part of our neighborhood, which is recovering still from Superstorm Sandy." 

There will be a C.B. 1 Seaport/Civic Center Committee meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 21 at 6 p.m., held at 49-51 Chambers St, Room 709, where there will be an update on the Town Hall Meeting.  

- Terese Loeb Kreuzer