Boro prez supports South Street rezoning

Real Estate Weekly, Jan 15, 2003

Manhattan Borough President C. Virginia Fields recommended approval of an application to rezone an area of the South Street Seaport Historic District. The proposed rezoning would protect the character of the neighborhood bounded by Dover, Pearl, Fulton and South Streets while allowing new development. Fields submitted her recommendations today as required under the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure.

"This rezoning will respect the historic quality of the area and at the same time allow responsible development," Fields said. "This neighborhood is a one-of-a-kind snapshot of the early 19th century."

The district contains the largest concentration of early 19th century commercial buildings in New York. It is an unparalleled physical representation of the extraordinary development of trade and commerce in the early decades of the 19th century as New York City became the economic and financial capital of the nation. The streets are lined with the countinghouses where New York's merchants had their offices and warehoused goods. The area deteriorated in the 20th century, but restoration began in the early 1970's with the creation of the South Street Seaport Museum and marketplace.