Town scraps mural plan outside Chelsea office

Brokerage failed to secure Landmarks permission for historic district building

From left: Domingo Zapata's planned mural and 446 West 14th Street
From left: Domingo Zapata's planned mural and 446 West 14th Street

Following a failure to secure city approval, Town Residential is scrapping plans to install a colorful floral mural outside the brokerage’s High Line-adjacent outpost.

The firm reportedly canceled the project this week without telling the artist, Spanish-American painter Domingo Zapata, according to DNAinfo. Zapata designed a mural called “Flowers” for the side of Town’s 446 West 14th Street location and was planning to kick off painting on May 1.

But the brokerage never secured approval from the Landmarks Preservation Commission to outfit the building’s exterior with a mural, a necessary step as the property falls within a historic district. Town only submitted updated plans on Tuesday, LPC officials told DNAinfo — six months after an initial hearing.

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As a result, Town representatives told DNAinfo, the project will just be scrapped altogether.

“Town is not proceeding with the project at this time, but we plan to revisit it in the near-term,” a spokesperson wrote the news site in an email.

Zapata told DNAinfo: “It’s disappointing. Anyways, what can I do? Not much, just concentrating on other projects, that’s it.” [DNAinfo]Julie Strickland