Governors Island May Soon Host More Restaurants, a Conference Center, and a Hotel
The 1843 Admiral’s House (also known as Building 1) in the historic Nolan Park section of Governors Island may soon find new use as a hotel.
The Trust for Governors Island has issued two requests for proposals (RFPs) to solicit ideas for how to turn five historic buildings into 45,000 square feet of restaurants, events venues, or a hotel.
Deputy Mayor Maria Torres-Springer calls the solicitation “a critical step to make the Island a full-service hospitality destination, spurring our economic recovery through tourism and job creation.”
Clare Newman, president of the Trust for Governors Island, said the project will “breathe new life into our historic assets.”
The RFPs call for Building 140 (the nearest brick structure to the ferry dock from which visitors from Manhattan disembark) to be transformed into a food and beverage destination or an events venue. Building 140 was constructed in the mid-1800s as a munitions warehouse, and later used as a bank and a post office during the decades when Governors Island was a military outpost.
Building 140, which is the first structure visitors pass when disembarking from the Governors Island Ferry, is being considered for use as a conference center or events venue.
Buildings 1, 2, 3 (known, respectively as the Admiral’s House, the Governor’s House, and the Dutch House), and 25 are available for development as “food and beverage concepts, event and convening spaces, and overnight accommodations,” according to RFP documents.
Together, these buildings offer 35,000 square feet of combined indoor space at Nolan Park, formerly home to the commanding officer’s quarters during Governors Island’s history as an Army and Coast Guard base. Today, the area is home to the Nolan Park Cultural Campus, a growing hub of arts organizations.
These RFPs follow the April issuance of a solicitation to the four finalists designated last year by City Hall (as one of Bill de Blasio’s final acts as Mayor) in the competition to build a Climate Solutions Center, which will combine interdisciplinary research on climate change with education in a single physical hub. Universities from around the world were invited to submit proposals in the first stage, called a “request for expressions of interest.” A dozen plans were submitted, and four of these were deemed worthy of moving to the final round.
Respondents to the RFPs for restaurants, events venues, or a hotel will be eligible for a subsidy of up to $5 million in tax credits per year, now through 2025.
In addition to this, the Trust for Governors Island is also offering a valuable promise to developers who commit to projects there: “year-round, 24-hour ferry service to the Island, at a minimum frequency of 15 minutes during peak periods, to support the selected Project,” according to RFP documents.
Matthew Fenton
For Thrifty Epicures
Restaurant Week Includes 45 Downtown Eateries
New York’s annual food celebration, Restaurant Week, started yesterday and wraps up on Sunday, August 21. For those disinclined to venture above Canal Street, the good news is that of all the 659 establishments participating throughout the City this summer, almost four dozen are located in Lower Manhattan. Most restaurants are offering a selection of $30, $45, and $60 two-course lunches and $30, $45, and $60 three-course dinners. In many of these locations, the everyday prices are significantly higher than Restaurant Week offerings, which makes this value proposition a compelling opportunity to try places that might ordinarily be outside your budget. Because seats go fast, please call ahead to confirm availability and make a reservation.
For a list of participating Lower Manhattan restaurants, their addresses and phone number, click here.
Preserving ‘a Postmodern Idiosyncratic Folly’
CB1 Considers Whether the Juxtaposition of Old and New Is Better Than Old and Newer
Community Board 1 is urging the City’s Landmarks Preservation Commission to reject a proposal by a developer to redesign the street-level facade of a Wall Street skyscraper. At issue is the postmodernist office tower at 60 Wall Street, which opened in 1989.
Cosmos of starry skies reflected in Earth’s fireflies
Images from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope offer stunning views of the universe.
In dark sky locations on July nights, the cosmos of stars meets and seems to blend with brilliant, flashing firefly lights in the space between treetops and ground in a great, animated surround. At nightfall, blinking lightning bugs stream over wild meadows, fallow hay fields, parks and gardens where artificial light is minimized—leaving the awe-struck stargazer rapt in Earth’s near atmosphere that is alive with luminescent, courting beetles. But light pollution is destructive to fireflies and humans alike. Seek out dark areas within the city and head out to dark enclaves in the boroughs and beyond.
A lunch time program for passersby to play a quick game of chess or backgammon. Using clocks, opponents will play 5 minute games that are fast, furious and fun. An instructor will be on hand to offer pointers and tips to improve your game. Free.
Livestreamed tour of London’s financial district, the heart of the city’s Jewish history from 1066 on. Visit St. Paul’s Cathedral, the side of a medieval Mikveh, the place where a Jewish doctor was put on trial and sentenced to death, the amazing London Guildhall, the site of the Great Synagogue, and the house of the Lord Mayor of London, and more. $36.
Observe and sketch the human figure. Each week a model will strike short and long poses for participants to draw. An artist/educator will offer constructive suggestions and critique. Drawing materials provided, and artists are encouraged to bring their own favorite media. Free.
Strengthen the body and cultivate awareness in a relaxed environment as your instructor guides you through alignments and poses. All levels are welcome. Bring your own mate. Free.
Conversation with New York City-based artists Tatiana Arocha and Sarah Cameron Sunde who will discuss their environmentally inspired projects presented at Brookfield Place. The discussion will be moderated by Kendal Henry, who has thirty years of experience curating exhibitions, specializing in public art projects across the globe, including Tatiana’s artwork at Brookfield Place. The panel will explore the ways each artist incorporate elements of earth and water in their practice to call attention to society’s complex relationship with and impact on the environment. Free.
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Today in History: July 19
Cesar Pelli, architect of the World Financial Center (now Brookfield Place New York), died on this day in 2019.
1545 – The Tudor warship Mary Rose sinks off Portsmouth. In 1982 the wreck is salvaged in one of the most complex and expensive projects in the history of maritime archaeology.
1553 – Lady Jane Grey is replaced by Mary I as Queen of England after only nine days on the throne.
1588 – The Spanish Armada is sighted in the English Channel.
1701 – Representatives of the Iroquois Confederacy sign the Nanfan Treaty, ceding a large territory north of the Ohio River to England.
1817 – Georg Anton Schaffer is unsuccessful in his attempt to conquer Hawaii for Russia.
1843 – Brunel’s steamship the SS Great Britain is launched, becoming the first ocean-going craft with an iron hull and screw propeller, and the largest vessel afloat in the world.
1845 – Great New York City Fire of 1845 killed four firefighters, 26 civilians, and destroyed 345 buildings.
1848 – A two-day Women’s Rights Convention opens in Seneca Falls, NY.
1943 – In World War II, Rome is heavily bombed by more than 500 Allied aircraft, inflicting thousands of casualties.
1976 – Sagarmatha National Park in Nepal is created.
1977 – The world’s first Global Positioning System signal was transmitted from Navigation Technology Satellite 2 and received in Cedar Rapids at 12:41am ET
1979 – Sandinista rebels overthrow the government of the Somoza family in Nicaragua.
1979 – The oil tanker SS Atlantic Empress collides with another oil tanker, causing the largest ever ship-borne oil spill.
1981 – In a private meeting with U.S. President Ronald Reagan, French President Francois Mitterrand reveals the existence of the Farewell Dossier, a collection of documents showing the Soviet Union had been stealing American technological research and development.
2014 – Gunmen in Egypt’s western desert province of New Valley Governorate attack a military checkpoint, killing at least 21 soldiers. Egypt reportedly declares a state of emergency on its border with Sudan.
2019 – UK oil tanker Stena Impero seized by Iranian Revolutionary Guard in the Strait of Hormuz
2019 – Largest wind farm in Africa opens at Lake Turkana, Kenya, generating 310 megawatts
Births
810 – Muhammad al-Bukhari, Persian scholar (d. 870)
1223 – Baibars, sultan of Egypt (d. 1277)
1759 – Seraphim of Sarov, Russian monk and saint (d. 1833)
1865 – Charles Horace Mayo, surgeon, founded the Mayo Clinic (d. 1939)
1860 – Lizzie Borden, woman tried and acquitted for the murders of her parents in 1892 (d. 1927)
1868 – Florence Foster Jenkins, soprano and educator (d. 1945)
1894 – Percy Spencer, physicist and inventor of the microwave oven (d. 1969)
1895 – Xu Beihong, Chinese painter and academic (d. 1953)
1946 – Ilie Năstase, Romanian tennis player and politician
1947 – Brian May, English singer-songwriter, guitarist, producer, astrophysicist
1956 – Mark Crispin, computer scientist, designed the IMAP (d. 2012)
1970 – Nicola Sturgeon, Scottish lawyer and politician, First Minister of Scotland
1976 – Benedict Cumberbatch, actor
Deaths
1249 – Jacopo Tiepolo, doge of Venice
1374 – Petrarch, Italian poet and scholar (b. 1304)
1943 – Yekaterina Budanova, Russian captain and pilot (b. 1916)
