May 31, 2017 By Jason Cohen
The developer who knocked down the former 5Pointz graffiti mecca has released renderings of the new towers that are replacing it.
The site, which for years was home to an abandoned building at 45-46 Davis Street that artists used as a canvas, is being transformed into a trendy upscale place for millennials, said Jerry Wolkoff, who owns the property with his son David.
The old building, which was covered by spray paint graffiti, was whitewashed overnight in 2013 and demolished in 2014.
In its place will be two high-rise rental towers, one 47 stories and the other 41, containing nearly 1,000 apartments, 223 of which will be affordable. The development will have 50,000 square feet of commercial space, 12,000 square feet for artist studios and will include a public park.
The renderings show an “engraved graffiti logo” of the 5Pointz name behind the reception desk, similar to one the 5Pointz artists have used. There will also be graffiti-style artwork scattered throughout the building to reflect the history of 5Pointz, Wolkoff said.
Wolkoff said the logo used in the rendering will change but said that he had the right to use the 5Pointz name for his development.
According to Mojo Stumer Associates, which is designing the interior of the building, there will be a business center, lounges, a gallery, indoor pool and a fitness room. The lounge area will have 14 foot ceilings, with floor to ceiling windows permitting natural light.
In March, a group of artists who had sued Wolkoff for destroying their graffiti art won a legal victory when a judge ruled that their case against him could proceed. The artists claim that Wolkoff had violated the Visual Artists Rights Act of 1990. They are seeking damages.
Wolkoff, who has owned the property for 40 years, said that he allowed the artists to spray paint the building for 20 years and that they knew it would one day be demolished.
“They (the artists) wanted to keep the building’s graffiti, but it’s my building,” Wolkoff said.
20 Comments
Too much development. I weep for Court Square.
https://therealdeal.com/issues_articles/distressed-out/
This is an interesting read. I’m sure this happens all the time and now that it seems there is no penalty for this alot more people will try it.
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/manhattan/state-finds-big-income-renters-subsidized-nyc-apartments-article-1.3224455
LOL! graffiti and multi million luxury condos owned by rich people can live in peace and harmony!!
the combining of these two things seems like the street artists worst nightmare. Like when you favorite band sells out.
Wolkoff owns land can do what he wishes. You don’t like it, don’t live there.
Time to get over it folks.
The artists painted somebody else’s building. The owner accomodated the artists for many years and then decided to do something else with HIS property. The artists would be fools to believe that their work would be there forever.
Unfortunately agree. Though it would have been nicer if he accomodated somethinglike removing the walls to keep the graffiti in place in case the artists wanted them they can take them but otherwise, tough luck…
Garbage.
Millennial here. He’s aware we are mostly all broke, right?
I would rather have 5 POINTZ back. Just what we need another Luxury Condo. Overbuilding without proper planning does not work. How many of these people and all the other people in these Luxury buildings and excess of hotels (68), in the LIC area will use the trains? The trains are at capacity now. Go figure.
JVB got alot of money towards his campaign for this trust everyone that says this –
if you have to say trust me when i say this… 😛 nobody trusts anything after that haha
why so angry? yes it’s some over building of ugly buildings but they do have the right to do what they want on their property. What other strategy do you have besides it being a vacant lot? NYC is growing, changing, contracting, expanding. Live with it. Don’t fear change so much, help improve it.
Truth is, 5Pointz brought tourists to Court Square. MOMA PS1 just doesn’t draw them in the way 5Pointz did. Unfortunately the upcoming hotels will also bring tourists to the area but now there is not much for them to see. I doubt they want to take photos of all of the glass and steel, unless they want to bring those back to their countries to show people what not to do with their cities.
Rotten cheating scum the father & son .Who can believe anything they say, they lied to city council, to the unions & to the neighbors in LiC
Hope there Buildings built by illegals will fall apart even sooner than most.
With people actually living there, I doubt you want people to die in a collapse.
Regarding unions: These groups have increased the price of constructing so much that NYC is left in the 1920s. There is little incentive to modernize NYC. I’d be happy to import people who simply want to work to update the cityscape. Unions not only keep crap people up but it also keeps good people down. Its mediocrity at best.
every time i mention unions, they swarm, and attack. like killer bees with ny accents. no brains, just instincts.
Wow, this developer is totally oblvious.
How so? Just because “artists” spray painted his walls didn’t give them ownership of the building. Wolkoff has deeper pockets and will spend them into the ground in court.
He’s oblivious because he is pouring salt on their wounds, and only asking for trouble. Once this is complete or near complete, I hope they relentlessly tag it into oblivion (to stay on theme).
And, for those that don’t know, he is building this shit with non-union labor, and they have already had at least one crane accident. So I wouldn’t trust the structure at all.
Likewise, I don’t think his pockets are all that deep right now. Aside from using cheap labor to save money, if you have been watching the progress of this shit hole from the 7 train, you will have notice that it took them forever to figure out how to build on a site that floods very easily, and they are nowhere near done.
Again, the “artists” are acting like a bunch of spoiled brats. Jane st like in the lead up to the whitewashing of the building. I guess the concept of property rights was foreign to them.
As far as non-union “labor” goes, I could care less. Unions outlived their usefulness long ago.