By Julie Shapiro
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
SOUTH STREET SEAPORT — Many downtown residents breathed a sign of relief when South Street Seaport owner General Growth Properties declared bankruptcy in 2009 and put its controversial development plans on hold.
But those plans, or something similar, could now be making a comeback.
The new owner of the Seaport, a General Growth spinoff called Howard Hughes Corp., has begun speaking with city agencies and SHoP Architects about options for redoing the property, a SHoP member said.
Corie Sharples, principal at SHoP, said the firm has not done any "physical work" for Howard Hughes but has attended meetings with them.
"They’re proceeding very, very cautiously," Sharples said. "They’re talking with the city before doing anything else."
SHoP Architects designed General Growth’s original 2008 plan to raze the Pier 17 mall and build a hotel and retail complex anchored by a 500-foot tower.
Local residents were concerned about the height of the tower and worried that the upscale development would shut out the community. General Growth proposed several givebacks to assuage those concerns, including a community center and a school.
The plan had strong support from the city Economic Development Corp., which owns the Seaport property, but it hit a snag at the city Landmarks Preservation Commission.
In November 2008, Landmarks commissioners slammed the project, calling the design “inappropriate” for the South Street Seaport Historic District. Commissioners also raised concerns about General Growth’s plan to move the historic Tin Building from the base of the pier to its tip.
The commissioners did not vote on the plan, but they suggested that General Growth revise it.
However, General Growth was struggling under $27 billion in debt and soon saw its stock price fall below 50 cents a share. In April 2009, before returning to the LPC with revised plans, General Growth declared bankruptcy and put all development on hold.
General Growth officially emerged from bankruptcy earlier this fall, after splitting into two companies. GGP retained more than 180 malls across the country, while the spinoff Howard Hughes Corp. — bolstered by investments from Pershing Square Capital, Brookfield Asset Management and others — took over the properties with development potential, including the Seaport.
Howard Hughes Corp. has not spoken publicly about plans for the Seaport, and the company’s staff has not responded to Community Board 1’s request that they attend a public meeting, the board’s staff said.
A Howard Hughes spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
