Noho’s ‘Peace Pentagon’ Boxed up, Ready for Demolition
Noho’s activist spirit is dead. Gone by way of luxury.
The Peace Pentagon is about to follow. Demolition is nigh. Its longtime sidewalk bridge, a mainstay for several years, was deposed this week, yet quickly replaced. The borderline-unstable property is being boxed up in plywood as we speak.
As previously reported, the A.J. Muste Institute sold the building to real estate baron Aby Rosen for $20.75 million in October. It owned the icon since 1974. The cobbling of boutique retailers on the ground level – whose rents helped sustain the Institute and its anti-war compatriots – all departed shortly thereafter. For the War Resisters League, Global Revolution TV, Socialist Party USA, Paper Tiger Television, and other progressive groups, the last day in the office was May 5. Ironically a day commemorating a war down south (Cinco de Mayo, when the underdog Mexican army beat the French at the Battle of Puebla). The rag-tag collection of organizations have since relocated to 168 Canal Street.
And while there still aren’t any permits on file with the Department of Buildings just yet (for demolition or new building), word on the street is that Rosen plans to demolish the destabilized structure to build more condos. And, for the record, the developer is already converted a former women’s shelter just across the street to create luxury retail.
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