By Jill Colvin
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MIDTOWN — Major developer Vornado Realty Trust wants to drastically alter the former Manufacturers Trust Bank building, including demolishing the building's historic vault, a month after its interior was granted landmark status.
In order to retrofit the former Chase bank for the country’s first outpost of Canadian clothing retailer "Joe Fresh," Vornado has proposed major changes to both the exterior and the interior of the famous modernist building at West 43rd Street and Fifth Avenue — whose ground and second floors were just deemed landmarks last month.
The Landmarks Preservation Commission had been expected to cast its vote Tuesday. But citing concerns with the design, particularly the proposal to move the escalators and build new entrances on Fifth Avenue, the LPC decided to delay its decision, said spokeswoman Elisabeth de Bourbon.
The Joe Fresh plan calls for building a new glass elevator to connect the ground and second floors, relocating two escalators inside the new store so they criss-cross instead of run parallel and constructing a new wall to separate Joe Fresh from a yet-to-be-determined second tenant.
Two new entrances would be built on Fifth Avenue and an entrance on West 43rd Street would be moved down the block. The building’s concrete vault would also be demolished to make way for retail space, although the vault door would remain.
The plan also calls for significant restoration work to the building’s interior, including installing a new art piece to replace a Bertoia screen that was taken by Chase when they moved out.
Preservationists who weighed in on the plan had expressed serious concerns about the changes, while praising the restoration work.
The Society for the Architecture of the City slammed the proposal as "destructive," equating moving the escalators and demolishing the vault to demolishing the building’s Fifth Avenue façade.
"It looks like a cheap imitation of the original screen," complained Community Board 5 member Matthew Schneid of the new art when the board considered the proposal last week. Others bemoaned the loss of the vault.
The LPC asked Vornado to head back to the drawing board and revise their plans.
Despite the delay, de Bourbon said that all of the commissioners supported the change in use as well as plans to restore the building, which had been altered numerous times over the years.
"The best way to preserve a historic structure is to reuse it," LPC Chairman Robert Tierney said.
