Fashion Institute of Technology

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Community Board 5 just announced a housing clinic which it will hold on Tuesday, Feb. 28, at the Fashion Institute of Technology at 6 p.m. Housing experts will be on hand to discuss a multitude of issues: senior/supportive housing, rent-stabilization, 80/20 housing and condo/co-op conversions.

Community Board 5 is a pretty professionally run board, so bring all your questions and concerns and ask away. And you don't need to be a resident of the board's district: All New York City residents are encouraged to attend.

Council member Dan Garodnick is slated to deliver the opening remarks, so if you want to lob him a few questions be sure to be there.

F.I.T., 227 West 27th Street, Building A, eighth floor, Feb. 28, 6 p.m.  read more »

-Matthew Grace

The Real Estate got its grubby little digits on a letter that the Fashion Institute of Technology sent to Community Board 5 last month, this time from school president Dr. Joyce Brown. In it, Ms. Brown downplays the defeat at the hands of the board of the school's commons proposal—to permanently close down the eastern third of West 27th Street, pedestrianize it, and transform the western portion to a cul-de-sac. The project was defeated largely because of a small group of vocal local residents, who argued that traffic on the surrounding streets would increase, and the loss of parking spaces on 27th Street would adversely affect the neighborhood.

The Real Estate ain't no traffic expert (unlike the folks over at the D.O.T., which endorsed the plan), but we'd sure be happy to see the street running in front of our own building closed down. Who wouldn't?

Anyhow, we digress.

Ms. Brown says in the letter, "We now believe it makes good sense to defer the Commons project until the rest of the plan has been completed," which confirms our suspicions that the commons project is far from dead. Most likely F.I.T. will spiff up the block with its new projects, and launch a massive P.R. campaign to get the locals on its side before trying again.

Community Board 5 originally sent out an e-mail saying that F.I.T. "is no longer interested in the implementation of this project." We dutifully posted that here, although F.I.T. director of media relations Brenda Perez said the schools was merely pursuing other projects in its master plan before approaching the commons proposal again.

Curious, The Real Estate decided to take a walk in the sweltering heat to check out the school's new dorm building at 406 West 31st Street, right off the Lincoln Tunnel. It's a work in progress, as the photos here show. Slated to be completed in August of next year, the 320,000-square-foot, 15-floor building will have 493 suites for 1,100 students, doubling the school's current housing. F.I.T. bought the building for $48 million in 2004, and the renovations will cost $64 million.  read more »

Another part of F.I.T.'s master plan is a project called "C-Squared." This interesting project will face 28th Street between Seventh and Eighth avenues, and will function as an extension of the school's Marvin Feldman Center (also known as building C--get it?). This six-story, 50,000-square-foot textured-glass extension was designed by architects Sharples Holden Pasquarelli (SHoP) and will cost $25 million, and it'll include a fifth-floor atrium. Hopefully, the new building will unite the disparate styles of the school's various buildings on the block. While not exactly an eyesore, the current F.I.T. campus is a wee bit cacophonous in its various architectural styles. —Matthew Grace

The Fashion Institute of Technology has been trying to permanently close 27th Street between Seventh and Eighth avenues for years, in its quest to create a "commons" space on the east end of the street that bisects its campus (along a cul-de-sac for deliveries on the west end of the street).

Most recently, in May of this year, the school ran its plan past Community Board 5, only to be defeated in a full-board vote. Opponents of the plan, including neighbors and community activists, claimed that traffic would increase substantially if the street were closed (a dubious claim, according to pro-commons folks, not only because the school already severely restricts traffic on 27th Street, but because of numerous studies showing that traffic actually decreases if automobile traffic is restricted; furthermore, when F.I.T. was trying to sway the board, Manhattan D.O.T. Comish Margaret Forgione was on hand bolster the school's case).

Nevertheless, the commons plan is dead for the time being, evidenced by Community Board 5's e-mail notification yesterday that F.I.T. "is no longer interested in the implementation of this project."

But try telling that to F.I.T.

Brenda Perez, the school's director of media relations, e-mailed The Real Estate today: "F.I.T. has deferred the commons until other projects in the college are completed. In addition to pursuing the commons, F.I.T. has been updating its 1995 campus-wide master plan, which will address the college's critical space shortfall. The original plan stipulated that the commons would follow the completion of other construction and renovation projects within F.I.T.'s existing campus footprint. The college has decided to follow its initial intention to pursue the commons once those projects are completed."

O.K., so they won't exactly be ramming this through again posthaste, but The Real Estate has a feeling that this will be coming up again sometime soon. Any bets we'll be seeing this again in 2006?  read more »

- Matthew Grace

There's love for fashion, yes. It's epidemic. But love in fashion?  read more »