By Nicole Breskin
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
NOHO — Celebrity chef Todd English’s team has received the final stamp of approval for its planned multimillion-dollar boutique hotel on Great Jones Street.
The Landmarks Preservation Commission unanimously voted to approve the architect’s plans for the façade of the building on 25 Great Jones St. on Tuesday.
This means that construction of the hotel — backed by English, a famed restaurateur and television host — can resume after two months of delays.
“There’s always an aversion to the new, especially when you’re going into a historic community,” architect Henry Smith-Miller told DNAinfo. “I’m happy this is going ahead. We have understood the process of working in a neighborhood and the city.”
The property was included in the expanded NoHo Historic District in 2008. As a result, everything on the façade — from the building’s floral patterns to gray pigmentation in the cement — fell under the purview of the local community board and the Landmarks Preservation Commission.
Smith-Miller engaged in extensive conversations with locals at community board meetings regarding the building’s aesthetics. He said the community’s input added to several aspects of the building’s final designs, including the shape of windows, but that he maintained his own aesthetic touches when it came to other details unpopular with the community.
Sean Sweeney, chair of Community Board 2’s Landmarks and Public Aesthetics committee, said neighbors had been especially concerned with the building's exterior after the height of the 13-story building slipped past restrictions imposed by the historic district. The project broke ground before the historic district was expanded, allowing the out-of-scale height to remain.
“It’s a give-and-take process, working with a developer and architect,” Sweeney said. “This is a good compromise. Too often the community board is disrespected by developers who don’t know or care how it operates.”
He added, “Hopefully the neighbors will grow to like this building in its execution.”
Barbara Resnicow, the hotel's project developer, told DNAinfo she is beginning to order building materials for the next construction phase, which she expects to resume in four weeks.
“We will pick up from where we left off,” Resnicow said. “I thought the final product was a great solution that mediated the concerns of the community and the commission.”
She estimates the project will be completed within six months.
