Bank of America Wants the Funk

According to a source who was there, Bank of America's new plan for the renovation of 670 Sixth Avenue at 21st Street was greeted with enthusiasm this past Tuesday at the Landmarks Preservation Commission hearing. Problem was, the L.P.C. didn't have a quorum: no quorum, no vote. In June, the BoA got approval from Community Board 5 for an earlier design for this future bank branch, which was originally two former brownstones built in the 1850's and combined in 1963; the board was quite taken with it, but the L.P.C. thought it didn't fit in well with the Ladies' Mile Historic District. So it was back to the drawing board for architectural firm Whidden Silver, brand-design firm Gilmore Group and the BoA's environmental-design team. It appears to have worked, but we won't know for sure till next month's L.P.C. meeting, when the commission is slated to consider it once again. Let's hope that the BoA retains some of the geometric quirkiness of this building; as is, it looks nice and funky. The Real Estate had a quick chat with BoA spokesperson Tara Birk, who flat-out refused to give up any information about the changes and wouldn't make a rendering available. ("We're not going anywhere" is how she put it). Oh, well! - Matthew Grace