By Della Hasselle
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN — The MTA is scheduled to present revised plans for a subway ventilation plant in Mulry Square at a Community Board 2 meeting next week.
The $108 million "fan plant," which would provide emergency ventilation to the subway system, is proposed occupy the open plot at the intersection of Greenwich and Seventh avenues, where the 9/11 "Tiles for America" exhibit is on display. When a preliminary design was revealed last year, residents objected to its look.
Renderings showed the all-concrete structure dressed up with a facade meant to resemble the surrounding buildings to help it blend in. CB 2 members didn't like it.
"If this were any other landlord presenting this, we'd laugh at them for presenting this in a historic district," Community Board 2 chair Jo Hamilton said last May. "I don’t know how we got to this — a blank, hollow concrete bunker."
Since then, the MTA and Community Board 2 have gone back and forth over the proposed plans, quibbling over details such as outdoor community spaces, window designs and a layout for the building's facade. Greenwich Village residents have urged the MTA to incorporate a green public area and nix glassless "ghost" windows, according to the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation.
The MTA isn't saying what changes have been made to the plan. The meeting with CB 2's Landmarks and Public Aesthetics Committee will be held Tuesday evening.
