Advocates Slam Planned Demolition Of Historic St. Denis Building

GREENWICH VILLAGE, NY — Locals and preservationists gathered at the 165-year-old St. Denis Hotel building Saturday, slamming the developers who aim to raze the building and erect a 12-story office space.

Community members have decried Normandy Real Estate Partners' plan to demolish the historic 799 Broadway building since permits were filed with the city in April to replace the building where Alexander Graham Bell demonstrated the telephone for the first time with a glassy high-rise.

The building housed the St. Denis hotel for 65 years and hosted an array of historic events and visitors including Mary Todd Lincoln, was where Ulysses S. Grant wrote his memoirs with the help of Mark Twain when he hit writers block and was a meeting spot for The Walt Whitman Fellowship.

It was converted into an office building in the 1920s. The building's tenants were evicted earlier this year and among them was Jeremiah Moss, who has famously chronicled the city's disappearing history with his preservationist blog Jeremiah's Vanishing New York.

Moss lamented the loss of the building's historic "soul" and its affordable space at Saturday's rally.

"We need old buildings because old buildings are often affordable ... When your rent is low you can take risks, you can take political risks, you can create something new, you can go against the grain," said Moss. "St. Denis is most likely already gone, but let its empty shell stand as a warning of what’s to come."

Permits to demolish the building have yet to be filed with the city's Department of Buildings, but last month Columbia Property Trust purchased majority stake in the project from Normandy Real Estate Partners for more than $70 million.

The $300 million project is slated to be complete by 2020, according to Normandy's website.

Columbia Property Trust declined to comment. Normandy Real Estate Partners did not return a request for comment.

Dozens of community members rallied in front of the St. Denis Hotel Saturday, holding signs printed with "Greenwich Village Isn't Midtown South" and "Defend The East Village." Local preservationists called for greater land use protections to combat out-of-character development in the area.

"What this neighborhood needs right now is action," said Andrew Berman, the executive director of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation. "And that is more protections for this neighborhood or a change in the zoning to ensure that we don’t have more of what’s about to happen here, which is the destruction of our history being replaced by big, glassy office towers."

Preservationists and local Councilwoman Carlina Rivera pushed for land use protections as part of the nearby 21-story Union Square Tech Training Center, which was recently approved by the City Council.

The final deal did not include sweeping safeguards against out-of-character development for the neighborhoods south of Union Square, but Rivera negotiated a handful of other preservation-oriented measures and is urging the City's Department of Planning to establish a special permit district for hotel development rising from Third Avenue to University Place.

Her office remains committed to historic preservation in the district, a spokesman for the councilwoman said.

“Councilwoman Rivera continues to advocate for further protections for historic sites within District 2 following her recent vote against development adjacent to the Merchants House and her fight to secure hearings for land marking seven historical buildings along Broadway," said Jeremy Unger, a spokesperson for Councilwoman Rivera.

"[The councilwoman] understands the importance of protecting historically-significant buildings in the Village and she will continue to work with [the Landmarks Preservation Commission] in the monthly meetings she recently secured to fight for additional protections in the neighborhood."

Photo courtesy of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation