Proposal: SPC Idea Bank

Many aspects of the our SPC campus are inflexible — we can't make major changes to our buildings, our landscape, our commercial tenants, or major projects on the fly. However, we can anticipate times at which changes can be made. I suppose that our Board or Management has already assembled some framework to keep track of certain opportunities, but there has historically been no way for Shareholders to contribute their own ideas. I propose that Shareholders be invited to contribute ideas to an "Idea Bank". The Idea Bank would consist of a webform accessible from within the portal, that would invite Shareholders to share the title, summary and details of their great ideas, and, optionally, their names!

[Notably, the "Cooperators Slate" of Candidates for our 2026 Board is actively engaged in collecting ideas from the community on a variety of topics. I hope they will continue to this, and that they — or whoever serves on our next Board — will be inclined to expanded and formalize this practice.]

The way I envision this working is that, upon periodic review, Management can accept ideas that have been submitted. Ideally these ideas would be published to the portal with options for people to upvote or comment on them.

Below are a few ideas that have come to my mind over the years. Again, these are not actionable at this moment. But I believe we should seize on them if the option arises.

 

Scaffolding Behind Building #2

We've seen more than our share of scaffolding over the years, and will see more the next time Local Law 11 inspections start. A pet peeve of mine is how scaffolding is erected in the courtyard behind Building #2 and along the garage. The path is already very narrow, and when scaffolding is erected, walking with a companion, an aide, a shopping cart, a walker, or a wheelchair is quite difficult.

Why not make the scaffolding wider - instead of crowding the edge of the sidewalk, why not extend it another foot or two onto the garage?

A related idea — and this could be done today — the giant concrete planters abuting this portion of the path are planted with yews or similar dense bushes that overrun the planter. These further crowd this narrow sidewalk. On this portion of our property, those concrete blocks should be angled in relation to the nearby seating areas and set back from the walkways.
     

Corner Store

There was a time when The Pickle Guys had their corner retail store, and their next store over — Dillers — as an eatery. That was an opportunity! I would have loved for our Board to throw some money at — we should have busted open the Essex Street wall in order to turn that corner property into the eatery, and moved their retail store to the other.

This storefront has the potential to be an anchor property, with generous outside seating. What's more, it would be a wonderful way to connect our commercial strip to the bustling traffic that already frequents Essex Street.

  
     

Doughnut Plant Office

Doughnut Plant first opened here and became a New York sensation. They quickly expanded from one of our storefronts to two, and then added four more NYC locations, designating the one in Brooklyn as their "headquarters". I don't want to mess with our most famous tenant! But their original location has become an office, and the windows are papered over in a most unappealing way.

Is there any way for us to reclaim this space? I suppose we might find a business that would love to have a store front next door to this famous store. A new business could make our neighborhood more convenient for our residents, and move valuable all-around.

At the very least, we should start to demand some style standards - clear windows, and lack of street-facing clutter from this tenant.

  
     

My Little Village Playground

We have My Little Village Preschool as a commercial tenant in Building #4. They rent classroom space and the fenced-in part of the playground behind the building.

There is a lot of fencing behind Building #4 that includes a fenced-in playground of our own in the middle of the courtyard.

All the fencing was designed at a time when SPC had no holistic plan of what to do with our property.

A recent initiative to reimagine our space was undertaken in the context of the recently-scuttled Lobbies & Grounds Project. The plans that were advanced did away with the preschool's fence entirely in the context of facilitating movement between buildings and across our property.

Although the Lobbies & Grounds Project as originally envisioned won't be pursued, there are elements that are worth considering! The private gated playground behind building #4 hinders the smooth flow of pedestrians across our property between the Building #3/#4 courtyard to Hester Street.

 

  
     

Treacherous Stairway Behind J-Section

All SPC towers can be accessed from the front door or a side/back door. For the most part, the side/back doors exit onto a sidewalk that allows easy passage through to the street or courtyard.

However, there is one exception — the back exit behind the J section opens to a treacherous staircase. The stairs are steep and dangerous in inclement weather, and cannot be navigated with a shopping cart or walker, let alone a wheelchair.

Addressing this is not urgent — the back exit behind the H Section is nearby! And remedying this would be very complex due to the change in ground level between the front and back of the building.

However, if we were to bring in design teams to, say, build a new gym in the space alongside that exit, or spend $32 million on a renovation that ties together interior and exterior aspects of our property, this issue ought to be considered.