Keepin' the FACE!

Last night I was at dinner with a friend and we were discussing what's happening to good ole NYC with a bank on every corner and the rising cost of living. He said, "the city is turning into banks galore and Starbucks... filled with doctors, lawyers and finance guys, where are the artists? what is happening?" he himself a Health Professional and a recent buyer of a conversion project. I thought about his concerns and do see his point. Is this market the cause of all this? Why are there so many banks? ( a whole other blog).
Then I saw an entry about Pearl Street on CURBED today. I love "seeing" things like this in new construction. Recent discussions on sites and parties of the "lost" grittiness of New York, and Gentrification Galore have poo pooed the "NEW" New York. Well how about what this building is doing? This is not only creative but fun and preserving what brought so many of us here! It's forced but what do you think about Keepin' the FACE?

In its acquisition of the property, Rockrose Development Corp. was required to preserve the facade of 211 Pearl Street in the Financial District, one of three Greek Revival warehouses known as New York's first World Trade Center that date back to the 1830s. But now that its old-timey neighbors at 213 and 215 Pearl Street have been obliterated, the lonely brick wall of 211 Pearl has looked pretty ridiculous standing amongst rubble and tall office buildings. It won't be like that for long, as David Dunlap reveals in the Times' City Room blog that the leftovers will be part of Rockrose's new 28-story building that's going up next to Rockrose's new 50-story building.
The company will at least get some mileage out of the old girl, with apartments and office space built directly behind the facade's windows. The base will continue to serve as the entrance to an underground parking garage. We've still yet to see designs for the Lam Group hotel that will reportedly be built right next door, but 211 Pearl Street will most likely end up as the historical lunch meat in a towering modern architecture sandwich.·

A Brick Facade Remains as a Signal for Change [City Room]·
Destructoporn: 213 Pearl Street Gone [Curbed]·
Pearl Street Demo: Preservationists' Last Gasp? [Curbed]