GVSHP Tries to Trump the Donald

Community Board 2 will be holding a hearing to discuss the proposed 45-story, 400-plus unit Trump International Hotel and Tower Soho, at 246 Spring Street (at Varick), tonight at Housing Works, at 320 West 13th Street (west of Eighth Avenue), at 6:30 p.m. The Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation is a featured presenter at the hearing.
GVSHP executive director Andrew Berman will be on hand to share his orgaznization's concerns regarding the $370 million project, namely that this is an attempt by Trump to build residences in an area zoned for manufacturing. The zoning law allows hotels to operate in certain manufacturing districts, as long as "units may not be made subject to sale, lease or other arrangements under which they would not be available for transient occupancy." (D.O.B. ruling, April 19, 2004.)
According to the New York Post, the hotel would sell rooms to individuals, who could then rent them out as hotel rooms. GVSHP alleges that this is just a scheme so that Trump could provide apartments and pieds-à-terre to individuals under the guise of "transient" housing.
And if that doesn't make your blood boil, consider this: Apprentice season No. 5 winner Sean Yazbeck will manage the construction, if and when the project--which hasn't been granted the necessary building permits yet--moves ahead. So strike a blow for culture, if not zoning laws. -Matthew Grace