Meatpacking Now Slightly More Hideous

by jonw | February 14, 2007 at 06:02 am

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HUNDREDS TURN OUT TO PROTEST HOTEL GANSEVOORT'S

8-STORY HIGH BILLBOARDS

*Owners Dig in their Heels on $1 Mil./Yr. Sign

*Strategy Meeting to Plan Next Steps this Wednesday at 5 pm

Billboard Protest: About
200 people -- including residents and business owners in the West
Village/Meatpacking District and representatives of State Senator Tom
Duane -- participated in a noisy demonstration yesterday organized by
GVSHP to protest two huge new billboards erected by the Hotel
Gansevoort on Hudson Street (See below for photos
of the demonstration and more information on the billboards). GVSHP
and demonstrators began on Hudson Street and marched to the front
entrance of the Hotel, handing flyers to hotel guests and other Meat
Market vistors urging them to tell the hotel to take down the
billboards or lose their patronage. The well-attended demonstration
garnered attention and coverage from the New York Times, the New York Post, NY 1, New York Metro, Channels 5, 7, and 9, the Villager, and Curbed.

Status of the Billboards: The
Department of Buildings continues to review information we have
submitted pertaining to the billboards but unfortunately has not yet
found the billboards to be in violation of zoning regulations. Hotel
Gansevoort President Michael Achenbaum responded to GVSHP's letter
urging him to take down the billboards by "declin(ing) your request for
us to remove the signage" (CLICK HERE for letter) while Hotel Gansevoort CEO Elon Kenchington was quoted in the New York Times as saying that the billboards would bring 'warmth and light' to what is "pretty much a dead area."

Next Steps: GVSHP
and neighbors have vowed to keep fighting to see this sign removed. We
will have an emergency strategy meeting to decide next steps this
Wednesday at 5 pm, location TBD. If you are interested in attending,
please send an e-mail to RSVP
and to get location. In addition to continuing to lobby the
Department of Buildings and the Hotel Gansevoort, we will let you know
soon about next steps to keep the pressure on.

From Curbed

Let's start the day on an up note, shall we? Two days back, a tipster emailed, "The ugliest building in New York - the Hotel Gansevoort - is in the process of erecting a massive billboard on its east side, at the corner of Hudson and Gansevoort streets. It's the kind of free-standing billboard you'd expect to see along the New Jersey Turnpike. I hate to say it, as I own an apartment across the street from the Gansevoort, but the transformation of this edge of the West Village into New Jersey East continues."
Good times! And sure enough, Curbed operatives dropped by at dusk last eve to find Little West 12th Street closed, and the sign dropping into place (above). Odds on which fashion brand snags the space first?