The New 360 Smith Street: Better, Except For That Glass Tower!

Mr. Bill Stein and the new design for 360 Smith

Councilman Bill De Blasio

Full House At Mary Star Of The Sea

It may have been the brighter, cheerier surrounding of Saint Mary's Senior Residence instead of the gloomy funeral home where the Carroll Gardens Neighborhood Association had been meeting for decades, but last night's meeting actually felt like the community was speaking with one voice.
And this is what we all seemed to agree on:
Mr. Stein's redesigned building for 360 Smith Street looks better, much better.
But there is quite a lot of room for improvement.
But I am getting ahead of myself.
The big announcement of the evening was that Architect Robert Scarano and Mr. Stein parted ways back in December. The developer stated that he put the brakes on the project at "considerable expense."
After the last meeting with the community back in December, Mr. Stein changed direction and hired a new architect who could design the kind of project that Stein "could be proud of."
The new architect on the job is Armand Quadrini of K.S.Q. Architects. He was on hand
to give local residents a presentation of the project. This time, as opposed to the last meet with Mr. Stein, the press (and those "pesky" bloggers) were allowed to take pictures.
" Oliver House" as the project is currently being called, is still 70 feet tall at its highest point at the corner of Smith Street and Second Place. More care has been given by Quadrini to make the building fit in contextually by choosing materials that are more in line with a brownstone neighborhood.
Both the sides fronting Smith Street and Second Place are five story tall and are clad in a terra-cotta clay product. However, the 70 foot glass tower at the corner, right over the subway plaza, drew the biggest complaints from Carroll Gardeners. Described as too modern, institutional-looking or just plain too tall, Stein and his architect were urged to rethink that part of the building and to please not mix too many materials to prevent it from looking too "Hanna Senesh-y," a reference to the rainbow colored school next door.
Of course, developer Stein does not need to satisfy anyone but himself. However, he seemed to listen carefully to criticism and suggestions from the public.
As far as exactly when construction will begin, Mr. Stein stated that he will start as soon as he can "manage to get it moving again."
This may be wishful thinking. If the Place blocks are rezoned from 'wide blocks' to regular blocks before the foundation of the building is completely poured, Mr. Stein may have to rethink this building yet again and be prepared to scale it down significantly.
No wonder he is ready to get started!

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