P.M. BRIEFING : SoHo Reconstruction Planned
Contractors will be laying cobblestone streets again as part of a reconstruction project in Manhattan’s SoHo Cast Iron Historic District, the city announced today.
The city will spend $11 million during the next two years to rebuild Greene and Mercer streets. The work will include new sewers, water mains, catch basins, street signs and traffic lights, the Transportation Department said.
Because the district was designated a landmark area in 1973, the project will include distinctive street lights and fire hydrants and the existing cobblestone roadways will be restored by hand.
“It’s worth a few extra dollars to maintain the quality of the neighborhood,” department spokesman Joseph DePlasco said.
About 85% of the funding is coming from the federal government, he said.
The landmark area contains the largest collection of full and partial cast-iron facades in the world and retains much of the character of a 19th-Century commercial district.
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