Trump SoHo

Everything Donald Trump does has to be bigger in some way. And of course being a real estate developer, this means bigger buildings and in NYC that means zoning, neighborhoods and controversy.
When I heard that a 42 story condominium hotel was being built in SoHo, I was surprised to hear that such a project passed all the hurdles and community opposition. So, armed with a camera, I decided to see the project and setting for myself - always a good idea since many stories are spun and important details left out. The first thing I discovered was that this building was not located in central SOHO near the historic district with its lowrise cast iron buildings. It was on the corner of Spring and Varick Streets where we have a strip of rather ungainly, hulking behemoth buildings in the printing district on a transit road to the Holland Tunnel. There are, however, shorter buildings and a school nearby on Spring and the building does tower above anything in lower Manhattan apart from the financial district. Many community members consider it an absolutely egregious sin, another one of Donald's cheap and shiny buildings, foisted on the neighborhood by the devil himself. Personally, I would have preferred it at least somewhat shorter. But if it wasn't too tall, too shiny, inappropriate or irritating in some way, we wouldn't know it was a Trump property, would we?

Afterthought: I sometimes wonder whether we really dislike Donald - he provides an endless source of entertainment. The King of Glitz is in ways much like some aspects of NYC - shouting its prominence for all to be heard ...

On a more somber note, a building worker was killed in an accident on January 14, 2008. You can read the story in the New York Times here.