Roosevelt Island's landmark Octagon Tower would become the restored public centerpiece in a new apartment complex under a plan proposed by a Connecticut architectural firm.

Two residential wings are envisioned as occupying nearly the same footprint as the old City Hospital, designed in a compatible style.  Together, the two six-floor wings would contain 300 to 400 studio and one-bedroom apartments.

Becker and Becker Associates, the New Canaan, Connecticut, firm proposing the construction, sees the apartments as being appropriate for dormitory space "or other institutional housing." In its brochure, the firm, which would serve as both architect and developer for the project, cites a track record in turning existing buildings into "market-rate housing as well as housing that serves low- and moderate-income families." Drawings and supporting materials were provided this week at a meeting with a selected group of residents arranged by the Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation (RIOC).

Bruce R.  Becker, president of the firm, told The WIRE, "We've asked for a two-year option on the property, during which the project would investigate financing with development partners and sponsors, and the design would be refined." Becker's firm says of itself, in its literature, "While the firm serves a broad range of clients...  it has a special expertise in creating socially progressive residential communities.  The firm focuses on understanding and addressing distinct community needs by creating housing and community services that are financially innovative, socially interactive, community-focused, physically secure, and architecturally attractive."

Past projects in which the firm has been involved in some capacity include Manhattan's Times Square Hotel, a single-room-occupancy facility, or "SRO," on which it "worked with a newly-established not-for-profit housing corporation in initiating the project, securing site control, and obtaining project financing..."

1897

The Roosevelt Island proposal resulted from RIOC's "Waterfront Development RFP," issued last year.  An earlier proposal for use of the site, the Eldercare facility, now planned as a 31-story tower just south of the Queensboro Bridge, was rejected by the RIOC Board after residents protested loss of Octagon Park.  The new proposal makes the park area a kind of waterfront lawn and gardens, marked on Becker and Becker's drawings as

Photos courtesy Judy Berdy, Roosevelt Island Historical Society, and Mort Pavane

"proposed terraced gardens and ecological park for public use." The 3.1-acre area would encompass the present playground and picnic site just west and south of the Octagon tower.  They are marked in the firm's drawing as "renovated for public use."

The Becker firm's past projects include rehabilitation and reuse of historic properties, including The Crescent in Bridgeport, Connecticut.  Completed in 1997, the $3 million restoration houses "a mix of formerly homeless, low-income, and special-needs individuals." The firm designed The Rio in Washington Heights, Manhattan, which houses a similar population.

Becker told The WIRE his firm's greatest concern in proposing reuse of the Island's one-time lunatic asylum is to "take the uncertainty out of this [approval] process as much as we can." He said, "Our strategy at the outset is to understand what the community is most interested in, and address those concerns immediately.  We hope that in doing that we will get a green light, and the only problems remaining to be solved will be the practical ones.  The concern now is the time frame.  We are hoping we can get this option in place expeditiously." He added, "We are concerned that if it takes too long, we'll have to focus our energies elsewhere."

Becker said that "it took a while to get on the [RIOC] agenda, but we're optimistic.  We're also cautious, because we know that RIOC is a different approval process from what you would have if you were across the river, and we need to understand that process and do what we can to encourage an expeditious review and approval."

As seen from Manhattan in the early 1970s

Becker indicated that his firm intends to seek support from the Roosevelt Island Residents Association (RIRA), and added, "We're hoping that by meeting the community's needs, we will satisfy that [approval] process, and that it won't become too political."   In the Wednesday telephone interview, he added, "We have no hidden agenda.  We have our passion about historic buildings, and we would take pride in restoring [the Octagon] and making it available to the public."  The drawings mark the existing tower as containing an information desk, galleries, a museum shop and museum lounge.  David Levine, the Becker and Becker architect on the project, said that various uses might be considered for the Octagon þ all public.

Although the firm's elevation shows the Octagon tower as it looks today, in stabilized form after a 1982 fire that destroyed an existing wood dome, the plan would be to restore the top of the existing building.  In the 19th century, the top of the building had various arrangements.  The pre-fire appearance is shown here in photographs taken by Islander Mort Pavane.

Asked about ultimate uses of the proposed apartments, Becker told The WIRE the eventual occupants would depend on what other organizations became involved in the development.  "It's premature to discuss who those agencies might be, because that depends on the details of our option agreement.  We've asked to provide housing that could serve as dormitory housing as well as other types of institutional housing.  We're hoping to obtain an option that will allow us to develop housing for all those options."