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Landmarks Commission to Question Gansevoort Developers at Hearing Tuesday

 Rendering of 60-74 Gansevoort Street.
Rendering of 60-74 Gansevoort Street.
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MEATPACKING DISTRICT — The Landmarks Preservation Commission will question the architects of a controversial development on Gansevoort Street at a public hearing on Tuesday.

The hearing is a follow-up to one held back in November, during which the LPC took so much testimony from people opposing the development, they didn't have time to publicly discuss the design.

►READ MORE: We Live Tweeted the Gansevoort Redevelopment Landmark's Commission Hearing

The architects, Harry Kendall and Todd Poisson of BKSK, are expected to present their design for the south side of Gansevoot Street from Ninth Avenue to Washington Street again, potentially with modifications based on the November testimony.

The design will turn the row of squat buildings from 46-74 Gansevoort St. into five distinct structures. The westernmost buildings would be six and eight stories tall, though appear shorter from the street level as the upper floors will be set back.

While they are shorter than the buildings across Washington Street, neighborhood opponents complain they are out-of-context with the typically low-slung buildings of the Meatpacking District and adjacent West Village.

The commissioners will ask questions of the architects, and developer Jared Epstein of Aurora Capital, which owns the properties with William Gottlieb Real Estate, is expected to be present to answer questions as well.

The public is not permitted to speak at this hearing, though opponents of the plan, including Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation and a local group called Save Gansevoort, are galvanizing their membership to show up and register their disapproval by wearing stickers.

Since the developers unveiled their plans to the neighborhood in August, along with the news that Keith McNally will reopen Pastis in one of the buildings, several businesses have been displaced, designer Diane von Furstenberg switched sides on the issue, and the developers commissioned a controversial study they said showed local support for their project.

The hearing is scheduled for 11:15 a.m., and will take place on the 9th floor of 1 Centre St. The public is permitted to attend, but not to speak.