The Javits Legacy in Civic Architecture

Two big projects were named after NY Senator Jacob K. Javits, the Federal Office Building and the Convention Center...notable controversy arose around both, in a way that seems to peculiar to NYC..

Jacob K. Javits Federal Building

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Coordinates: 40°42′54″N 74°0′13″W

Jacob K. Javits Federal Building, 26 Federal Plaza

The Jacob K. Javits Federal Office Building at 26 Federal Plaza on Foley Square in the Civic Center district of Manhattan, New York City houses many Federal government agencies, and, at over 41 stories, is the tallest federal building in the United States. It was built in 1963-69 and was designed by Alfred Easton Poor and Kahn & Jacobs, with Eggers & Higgins as associate architects. A western addition was built in 1975-77 and was designed by Kahn & Jacobs, The Eggers Partnership and Poor & Swanke.^[1] The building is named for Jacob K. Javits, who served as a United States Senator from New York for 24 years, from 1957 to 1981.
Agencies located in the building include the Department of Homeland Security, the Federal Bureau of Investigation New York City field office, the Social Security Administration, the General Services Administration, and the New York City district field office of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). The building falls under the jurisdiction of the United States Federal Protective Service for any and all law enforcement and protection issues.
To the east of the main building is the James L. Watson Court of International Trade Building.

Artworks

A controversy developed over the artwork by Richard Serra commissioned for the plaza in front of the building, Tilted Arc. Commissioned in 1979 and built in 1981, it was criticized both for its aesthetic values and for security reasons.^[2] It was removed in 1989, which resulted in a lawsuit and a trial. The piece remains in storage, as the artwork was site-specific, and the artist does not want it displayed in any other location. The removal and trial led to the creation of the Visual Artists Rights Act of 1990.^[2]
After the removal of Tilted Arc, landscape artist Martha Schwartz re-designed the plaza.^[2] Other artworks connected with building include . A Study in Five Planes/Peace (1965) by Alexander Calder the Manhattan Sentinels (1996) by Beverly Pepper. In the James L. Watson Court of International Trade Metropolis (1967) by Seymour Fogel and Eagle/Justice Above All Else (1970) by Theodore Roszak.<sup>[2]

And then, of course, there is also the Javits Convention Center...what a story about this place</sup>

Jacob K. Javits Convention Center

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This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (October 2010)

Jacob K. Javits Convention Center
Front (east side) of the convention center
Address	655 West 34th Street
Location	New York City
Coordinates	40°45′26.64″N 74°0′9.12″WCoordinates: 40°45′26.64″N 74°0′9.12″W
Operator	New York City Convention Center Operating Corporation
Built	1980-1986
Opened	1986
Enclosed space
Total space	675,000 square feet
Website	www.javitscenter.com

Jacob K. Javits Convention Center from a distance

Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, or Javits Center is a large convention center located on Eleventh Avenue, between 34th and 40th streets, on the West side of Manhattan in New York, United States. It was designed by architect James Ingo Freed of I. M. Pei and partners. The revolutionary space frame structure was begun in 1980 and finished in 1986 and named for United States Senator Jacob K. Javits, who died that year.^[1][2] The Center is operated and maintained by the New York City Convention Center Operating Corporation.

The exhibit space is over 675,000 square feet (62,700 m²). Planning and constructing a convention center on Manhattan's west side has had a long and controversial history,^[3] including efforts starting in the early 1970s to produce a West Side development megaproject.
When the Center opened, it replaced the New York Coliseum as the city's major convention facility, making way for the demolition of the Coliseum and future construction of the Time Warner Center at Columbus Circle.
In 1995 the Independent Review Board charged that jobs at the Center had come under Mafia control.^[4]

Contents

Early convention center planning

Proposals for a convention center to replace the New York Coliseum date to 1962, only six years after the Coliseum was completed. A new convention center between 38th and 42nd streets was included in the City's 1962 plan for the West Side waterfront. Several other sites were subsequently proposed, including the New York Central rail yard between Tenth and Eleventh avenues (now known as the Eastern Rail Yard site at the Hudson Yards) and the west 50s between Eighth and Ninth avenues. Eventually the Lindsay administration included a new convention center between 10th and 11th avenues in the west 40s along with an extensive redevelopment of the West Side in their 1969 "Plan for New York City." Opposition to the massive residential displacement that this development project would have caused, and the failure of the City to complete any replacement housing, led the State Legislature to kill the convention center proposal in 1970. The City then moved the convention center site to the Hudson River, in place of Piers 84 and 86,^[5] despite the high cost of foundations and the lack of space for future expansion. That 44th Street convention center, designed by Gordon Bunshaft of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, was approved by the Board of Estimate in 1973 despite renewed opposition from the local community. In exchange, the community received a special zoning district that offered some protection from development.

However the 44th Street convention center was never built because of the City's near bankruptcy in 1975, which led instead to a search by the State for a less expensive site with some opportunity for expansion. Two sites were considered — the Penn Central rail yard between Eleventh and Twelfth avenues north of 34th Street and Battery Park City. (Another site — the west 40's near Times Square, either between Seventh and Sixth avenues or between Seventh and Eighth avenues — was proposed by the Regional Plan Association, but not seriously considered by the City.^[6]) The Battery Park City site was rejected because it was considered to be too far from midtown hotels.

The rail yard site was originally proposed by the local community because of their concern about the major office and residential development project that would accompany the convention center. As an alternative to forestall the negative impacts of both, Daniel Gutman, an environmental planner working with the Clinton Planning Council, proposed that the convention center and all major development be located south of 42nd Street. The proposed convention center site — between Eleventh and Twelfth avenues from 34th to 39th streets — was later promoted by Donald Trump, who had obtained an option on the rail yard from the bankrupt Penn Central in 1975. With the City now out of the picture, the State chose the rail yard site. The rest of the community's proposal that major office and residential development also take place south of 42nd Street was realized thirty years later when Mayor Bloomberg proposed the Hudson Yards project for the area.

Major components of center

West (Hudson River) side of the Center

410,000 s/f Upper Exhibition Hall
250,000 s/f Lower Exhibition Hall
100,000 s/f Special Events Hall (seating capacity 3,800) / Meeting Rooms (102)
63,000 s/f Cafeteria / Restaurant / Lounge; 75,000 s/f Concourse (1,000' x 90' x 75' high)
65,000 Crystal Palace (270' x 270' x 180' high)
60,000 s/f Galleria (360' x 90' x 90')
24,300 s/f River Pavilion (270' x 90' x 135' high)
50 loading docks on two levels;
1.1-acre public plaza with water walls and pedestrian link under 11th Avenue;
60,000 s/f surface parking for 140 cars^[7]

Expansion

On October 16, 2006, a groundbreaking ceremony was held to mark the symbolic start of a $1.7 billion expansion project. The project, which would have expanded the center's size by 45 percent, was scheduled for completion by 2010. Architect Richard Rogers led the design team. However, the physical constraints on the project site imposed by the Bloomberg administration complicated the design and caused the cost to soar to $5 billion.
In April 2008, Governor David Paterson decided to move forward with merely a renovation with a severely revised budget of $465 million.^[8]
In January 2012, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced plans to construct a new convention center on the site of Aqueduct Racetrack in Queens and redevelop the Javits Center site with a mix of commercial space and apartments, similar to Battery Park City.^[9] A plan incorporating new office and residential development on the Javits Center site had already been produced in 2007 by Meta Brunzema, an architect, and Daniel Gutman, an environmental planner, for the Hell's Kitchen Neighborhood Association. Among the features of the HKNA plan is an eastward extension of Hudson River Park and conversion of Pier 76 to public use.

See also

• West Side Stadium
• Subway Extension to Javits
• New York Comic Con

References

1. ^ Purnick, Joyce (June 18, 1980). "Carey, Koch Join Forces To Celebrate New Center". The New York Times. Retrieved 2012-01-06.
2. ^ Gottlieb, Martin (April 4, 1986). "Javits Center Bustles on Opening Day". The New York Times. Retrieved 2012-01-06.
3. ^ "Convention site called a danger; West Side Group Will Sue on Ground of Pollution Environmental Study". The New York Times (03624331). August 22, 1973. p. 56. Retrieved 2012-01-04.
4. ^ Raab, Selwyn (May 4, 1995). "Panel Says Mob's Friends Got Teamster Jobs at Javits Center". The New York Times. Retrieved 2012-01-04.
5. ^ Burks, Edward C. (February 24, 1971). "City Planning Convention Center". The New York Times.
6. ^ Oser, Alan S. (June 9, 1976). "About Real Estate; Some Urge Convention Center in Midtown". The New York Times.
7. ^ Jacob K. Javits Convention Center and Plaza - Pei Cobb Freed & Partners Architects LLP.
8. ^ Brown, Elliot (April 2, 2008). "Javits Renovation Plan Doesn’t Go the Way of Client 9". The New York Observer. Retrieved 2012-01-06.
9. ^ Lovett, Kenneth (January 4, 2012). "Cuomo Administration Inks Agreement with Developer to Build Convention Center at Aqueduct Racetrack". Daily News (New York). Retrieved 2012-01-05.