City to Vote on Expanding Greenwich Village Historic District

New York City’s landmarks preservation commission is set to decide whether to create a 10-block historic district south of Greenwich Village, which would severely restrict new developments in the area.

The historic district would cover most of the area from Houston St. and Watts St. between Avenue of the Americas and West Broadway.

The vote, which is scheduled for Tuesday morning, is the culmination of a decade-long push to create the historic district and limit future development in the neighborhood by the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation. The society’s executive director Andrew Berman said in a news release that he expects the measure to pass.

“Given the overwhelming public support and the undeniable historic and cultural significance of this area, I am very optimistic that the Commission will vote in favor of the landmark designation we have been seeking for over a decade,” Berman said in the release. “With developers including Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner buying up properties in the area and tearing down historic buildings, landmark protections cannot come a moment too soon.”

The neighborhood is home to nearly 160 buildings — mostly residential buildings with some storefronts — that were largely constructed between the early 19th century and 1920, according to the commission’s agenda.

You can see a map of the proposed boundaries for the historic district, which stretches from 10 blocks south of Houston Street between 6th Avenue and West Broadway, on the commission's Flickr page here.

If the measure passes tomorrow, the city would immediately create the Sullivan Thompson Historic District.

The Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation pointed to President-elect Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner as one of the developers who has begun building and renovating in the area. Kushner served as a top-level adviser to his father-in-law during the presidential campaign. Kushner Companies have developed multiple properties near the borders of the proposed Sullivan Thompson historic district.

The company did not immediately answer an inquiry from Patch about Tuesday’s vote.

If the measure passes, activists have organized a celebration for Tuesday evening at Film Forum on West Houston Street.

Image via Google Streetview