While there is much in the complex of Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village that is not going well, there are instances of something working very well. Though we may be prone to take the negative view, it would be disingenuous to deny that life in the complex can be quite good and enjoyable and that a portion of the landscaping has been a success. Now it's true that this success is generally in the areas that are more viewable by passersby and from the periphery of Stuy Town/Peter Cooper (useful for the sell/spin of the landlord), but the fact remains that for whatever reason the landscaping in certain areas is a clear improvement over what used to be here.
Case in point. Residents of Stuyvesant Town who've been around for more than five years in the complex and who walk along the 14th Street Loop have always seen the exposed grass area not far away from the flag pole as a baked earth, with little greenery evident. MetLife had the hardest time trying to make this region look green and nice and failed in every attempt I can think of.
Well, look at this area now:
Not perfect, but close.
It remains to be seen if the greenery here will be maintained or whether the area will fall prey, once again, to a baked earth brown. But so far, looking good.
It's nice to see greenery where there used to be none.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of which, my wife and I lived in ST for the first time at 272 1st Ave from 2000-2005 and have recently returned. Back then practically every bit of landscaping containing plants was chock full of them, you couldn't see the ground. But now the plants are more sparse in these beds and the amount of soil visible is appalling. When did this happen?
Yes, I've noticed that in certain areas. I'm assuming that the current landscaper considers it less maintenance (and cost) to do it this way.
ReplyDeleteOutside my building we have what I call asymetrical lanscaping. One side is chock full of plants, the other has a minimal number of plants and a lot of bare soil.
ReplyDeleteMust be some newfangled landscape artist or more likely just more evidence of the ineptitude of TS.
Indeed. There's a lot of "asymmetrical landscaping" around Stuy Town and Peter Cooper Village. Sometimes in my walks through either Stuy Town or PCV I say to myself, looking at the landscaping/greenery, "Hm, that looks very nice," but then in the next moment I come across splotches of barren or ruined ground. There is no consistency of "luxury living" here, with a general feel that everything is done half-ass. Which is a shame.
ReplyDeleteNever mind the grounds and all the damage Tishman Speyer has done. Just look at the Mac Gray laundry equipment and its problems and that will sum up what the quality of service that Tishman Speyer provides its tenants. Tishman Speyer turned the landscaped grounds into a mess and the buildings into tenements and made sure to put in tenement-worthy laundry equipment. Anyone wanting to appraise the quality of service TS provides should just go visit a laundry room because onsite laundry facilities are one of the biggest sellers when it comes to choosing which apartment complex to rent in. Tishman Speyer has driven people OUT to local public laundry facilities. Way to go TS! You idiots! I am so glad I don't have any TS and/or its holdings shares in my portfolio!
ReplyDeleteTS put down strips of sod to cover patches of bare ground in parts of PCV this week. Unfortunately, the patches look ridiculous next to the existing grass and the landscaping now looks like a bald guy wearing a very bad toupee.
ReplyDeleteMore kudos to the genius Speyers and their "vaunted" landscapers.
I spoke to the head landscaper "Vin" and he told me that his bosses at TS were the problem he says there used to be alot of landscapers and TS wont hire them back it is probably the same story with the buildings
ReplyDelete