By Nicole Breskin
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
NOHO — Community Board 2 is tweaking designs — from the floral patterns to shades of grey on the façade — of celebrity chef Todd English's multimillion boutique hotel on Great Jones Street.
The hotel broke ground before the site at 25 Great Jones St. was included in an expanded NoHo Historic District in 2008. That means the hotel's exterior aesthetics now fall under the community board's purview. This week, locals met with the architect to discuss the building's looks.
“They made all sorts of suggestions about how to make design better,” said Henry Smith-Miller, of Smith-Miller + Hawkinson Architects. “We might not do them all but I’ll certainly examine them carefully.”
The hotel, which is currently unnamed, began construction early in 2008. It is backed by English, a famed restaurateur and television host of PBS show "Food Trip With Todd English."
Sean Sweeney, chair of Community Board 2’s Landmarks & Public Aesthetics committee, said locals are concerned about the hotel's aesthetics now that the 13-story building slipped by height restrictions imposed by the historic district.
“There’s nothing we can do about the building’s out-of-scale setback now, which our committee would never have approved,” said Sean Sweeney, who is the chair of Community Board 2’s Landmarks & Public Aesthetics committee. “Now we’re only really talking about the skin, but our committee is very concerned about it.”
Designs aren’t the only thing changing about the hotel due to community input. Last month, the community board also negotiated conditions for approving the hotel's liquor license, stipulating there would be no use of the rooftop, that boardrooms will close at 8 p.m., and that any restaurant reservation of more than 50 people would be subject to tight restrictions.
Smith-Miller + Hawkinson will present their final design to the Landmark Preservations Committee in the upcoming weeks.
“It's important because, No. 1, it is our community,” said board member Zella Jones. "No. 2, it's in a loft-based community filled by artists who have families and babies and interests that don’t include a celebrity nightspot."
The Crosby Hotel also refashioned outdoor spaces as guest-only gardens that close early to appease local groups like the SoHo Alliance. The Mondrian in SoHo and The Bowery Hotel in the East Village also adapted to gain favor with the community.
“If residents don’t have control of a neighborhood then who will?” said Sweeney. “We don’t want to be Times Square. We want to have input so we don’t have unbridled development.”
