Jewel Box Reveal: Restoration of 50 Hudson Completed

Developer Eric Schlagman completes first-of-its-kind three-story addition of approximately 10,000 square feet to Tribeca mixed-use building at 50 Hudson Street. 

Denizens of Tribeca may have notice the removal of scaffolding on the corner of Hudson St. and Thomas St. earlier this summer, a fixture of the intersection since 2021. The reveal was worth the wait as the new addition makes the corner really shine. 

Below clips from the official Press Release outline the challenges and ultimate satisfaction of taking the road less traveled, when it comes to NYC redevelopment. 

"Landmarks to landmark, a 20-year challenge to revamp an ailing building, increase its footprint and win Landmark Preservation Approval for a building addition that now features unique, never-used-in-NYC-construction before glass bricks... the multi-stage redevelopment project, which initially began in 2006, when Schlagman and partner Miriam Rothstein purchased the property with the goal of restoring it and adding to it, has been a challenging, but exciting one. Over the course of two decades the three-story building would ultimately be transformed from 16,000 square feet to 26,500, complete with a one-of-a-kind, three-story glass brick addition. The new structure adds 8200 square feet to the commercial building and the height of the facade went from 38 feet to 59.

“We purchased 50 Hudson Street (aka 46-50 Hudson Street) as a long neglected, three-story office building in 2006,” explains Schlagman.  “The building was built on the corner of Duane Park in Tribeca 1925 by the John F. Sarle Company, a paper making firm and designed by little-known architect William F. Hemstreet.” It was later occupied as a forensic engineering firm for about 50 years.  In 1991 the Tribeca West Historic District is designated and any modifications to the property require their approval.

...Upon seeing the heavy brick sample, Despont (design architect) exclaimed, “This is disgustingly beautiful. This will get approved because it is magnificent.” “After the presentation, the commissioners said of the addition, ‘Make it bigger!’”, explains Schlagman. In 2017 the LPC approved the addition and by 2019 work began on the foundation, the superstructure of the lowers forms and the transfer platform supporting the addition.