Advocates Try To Rein In Stable Destruction
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
In a last-ditch effort to save the storied Dakota Stables building on the Upper West Side, preservationists have received their day in court.
The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission held a hearing yesterday at Municipal Hall where about 70 people, most of whom favor protecting the old stable, delivered testimony to the commission’s board.
For more than 100 years the utilitarian red brick structure has lined a section of Amsterdam Avenue near 77th Street referred to as “stable way.” The building originally served as a commercial horse stable for the neighborhood’s middle class. Today, it houses a $575 a month parking garage and a fast food restaurant.
Landmark West, a powerful preservation advocacy group, has been lobbying the commission to preserve the Dakota Stables building for 20 years. However, the commission has twice denied the building a hearing.
Advocates renewed the push in 2005 when a large developer, the Related Companies, contracted the rights to buy the building. A timeline has been set to complete the purchase by the end of this year and to begin the construction of residential apartments.
In an effort to guarantee the finalization of the development, the Related Companies hired the architectural firm of David A.M. Stern. Mr. Stern, who is widely known as a preservationist and last year clashed with the Landmark Preservation Commission for failing to preserve 2 Columbus Circle, testified at the hearing yesterday. “I don’t relish being on the other side of the issue from my friends in the preservation community,” he said. “I respect the decision to give this building its day in court, but I would expect the commission to stand by its earlier findings.”
The Related Company has already committed close to $100,000 to the development of the building. “It very late to make a decision,”a spokeswoman for the developer, Cheri Fein said.
In early September, the current owner of the building, the Sylgar Property Company LLC, obtained a façade demolition permit from the Department of Buildings and workers began tearing out windows. On September 20, after being notified by preservation advocates about safety issues, the department slapped a stop work order on the demolition. The permit has since been reinstated.
The Landmarks Preservation Committee’s policy doesn’t set a timeline for a decision, but at the hearing yesterday, the committee chairman, Robert Tierney, promised a timely response.
