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(Photo: Terese Loeb Kreuzer)

"ABS sells off Tribeca development site," New York Post, 8/12/14. "After decades of family ownership, Alan S. Cohen and Adam Maxson of ABS Partners have sold the development site at 353 and 355-357 Broadway between Leonard and Franklin streets," says the New York Post. "The $73 million price-tag includes the air rights from No. 359, which the family is retaining. It was the family's first building and, in 1853, the site of Civil War photographer Matthew Brady's studio." For the complete article, click here.

"Behind Sharif El-Gamal's new Park Place plan," The Real Deal, 8/1/14. "In 2010, developer Sharif El-Gamal sparked a national firestorm when he announced plans to build Park51, a 15-story Islamic cultural center at 51 Park Place," says The Real Deal. "His critics famously (or infamously) dubbed the project the 'Ground Zero mosque' because of its close proximity to the site of the September 11 attacks, and El-Gamal became a bulls-eye for anti-Muslim backlash." El-Gamal told The Real Deal that he found the events of that time to be "an eye opener." He went on to say that it is "deeply disturbing that we have such a bad PR issue as Muslims. I feel grateful to God that he allowed me to be a custodian of that baton for a period of time, but I also feel that it's important for us to reflect on the principles of this country - among them religious freedoms and freedom of speech." Four years later, says The Real Deal, "the furor has died down and El-Gamal's plans for the site have quietly changed. While he is still building an Islamic cultural center, it is a significantly scaled down three-story version. The centerpiece of his project is instead an adjacent 39-story, 48-unit residential condo tower, as TRD and others have reported." For the complete article, click here.

Save Our Seaport talks and walks: On Wednesday night, Save Our Seaport (SOS), a group that is working to preserve the historic South Street Seaport and its maritime heritage, hosted an information session in the community room at Southbridge Towers followed by a walk through the Seaport. Around 40 people attended to hear from Maureen Koetz, an environmental law attorney; Joanne Gorman, a Southbridge Towers resident and SOS activist; and Bridget Schuy, a real estate specialist in Lower Manhattan.

According to Julie Finch, a member of SOS, Koetz said that sight lines are considered environmental assets, which would apply to the 50-story tower proposed by The Howard Hughes Corp. (HHC) on the Seaport waterfront where the New Market Building now stands. That tower, if built, would block views of the Brooklyn Bridge. Finch reported that Koetz said that if and when HHC started digging holes for new piles in the East River, that would trigger an environmental review. Quoting Koetz, Finch said that, "A tall tower near a historic district trips an EIS (Environmental Impact Statement). It is the law."

The next Save Our Seaport "talk and walk" will be on Aug. 27 in Titanic Memorial Park at Fulton and Water Streets. For more information, click here.

New Amsterdam Market petition: Robert LaValva, the founder of the New Amsterdam Market that was held on South Street between Beekman Street and Peck Slip, declared the market closed as of July 14 but he has not been idle since then. He is circulating a petition entitled "The Vision for the Seaport" that he plans to present to Mayor Bill de Blasio and City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito on Sept. 15. So far, he has collected around 800 signatures.

The basic premise of the petition is that "public assets must be used for public purposes, as determined via a transparent planning process."

The petition asks that there "be no further disposition of any public-owned properties in the [Seaport Historic] District to private developers, particularly the Tin Building and New Market Building, but also a number of other public assets that are not part of the 1981 'Marketplace' lease between the New York City Economic Development Corporation and Howard Hughes, as well as all assets now leased by the South Street Seaport Museum."

It goes on to ask that these assets "be restored with public and philanthropic funds, and retained for community and other civic uses, which will include a public market as envisioned and proposed by New Amsterdam Market, and a reinvented and robust Seaport Museum."

Since The Howard Hughes Corp. has proposed tearing down the New Market Building and erecting a 50-story hotel/apartment tower where it now stands, the petition specifically asks that the New York City Landmarks Designation for the South Street Seaport Historic District be extended to include the New Market Building.

Finally, the petition addresses a desire to wrest the governance of the South Street Seaport from the New York City Economic Development Corporation, which has repeatedly entered into secret deals with The Howard Hughes Corp. "All public properties in the Seaport District and along the East River waterfront in Lower Manhattan will be governed by a dedicated Local Development Corporation (LDC) or similar authority, as advocated by the 2006 SeaportSpeaks conference ," the petition says. "Future development, programming, and use of all city-owned properties in the South Street Seaport Historic District will be determined by this dedicated LDC via a transparent and comprehensive planning process that includes community input."

Many of the people who have already signed the petition have appended comments to their signatures. "New Amsterdam Market is crucial to keeping New York City special and a unique community," said one. "Save us from banality; honor our history and community," said another. "Give the Seaport back to New York," said a third. A fourth person simply wrote, "Good luck."

To see the petition, click here.