Manhattan's New Home for Garbage Trucks Won’t Upset the NIMBYs

The people of SoHo did not want the garbage garage. First, there was that name, “garbage garage,” adopted by the New York media and naysayers around 2009, when the controversy around the building began to heat up. (Curbed NY got a little more creative and christened it the “Tower O’Garbage.”) Sure, the thing would house garbage trucks, not garbage, but the name was catchy and appealed to its opponents, who included residents of the expensive all-glass buildings developers now call “Hudson Square.”

Worries included smell, increased street traffic, and obstructed views of the Hudson River. (Interestingly enough, the plan grew out of a 2005 settlement between the city and the local advocacy group Friends of Hudson River Park.) Particularly vociferous opponents included Hollywood and musical heavyweights: Mad Men’s John Slattery, the late James Gandolfini, Michael Stipe, and artistic power couples Laurie Anderson and the late Lou Reed and Jennifer Connelly and Paul Bettany.