LPC endorses plan for Brooklyn Bridge Park theater warehouse

The Landmarks Preservation Commission last week issued a positive advisory report to convert the 18,000-square-foot Tobacco Warehouse at Brooklyn Bridge Park in Dumbo into a theater and community space, CityLand reported.

Residents spoke before the board about the structure at 45 Water Street in the Empire Fulton Ferry Park, either opposing the significant alterations or supporting its use as a cultural space, CityLand said.

Architect Jonathan Marvel of Rogers Marvel Architects presented a plan that will include a “flexible performance space” and 1,000 square feet set aside for local artists’ studios in an 18,000-square-foot enclosed building.

Doreen Gallo of the DUMBO Neighborhood Alliance said the community sought the warehouse’s preservation as “an urban ruin.” Christabel Gough of the Society for the Architecture of the City pushed for a “more respectful, less utilitarian” proposal, saying the design “avails itself of every square foot of usable space, without differentiating the ruin from the theater, or the new use from the old.”

On the other hand, a DUMBO Improvement District representative said she expected the theater to be a “stunning reuse of the space,” CityLand said.

The architecture firm first presented the plans in April to a Brooklyn Community Board 2 subcommittee, as previously reported. The roofless structure was the home of beloved local theater troupe St. Ann’s Warehouse until about a year ago.

Brooklyn Bridge Park Development Corporation President Regina Myer said at the meeting that the adaptive reuse of the warehouse had long been part of the park’s plans, CityLand said. [CityLand] –Mark Maurer