City Council Holds Public Hearing on Chelsea Market Rezoning

The New York City Council holds a public hearing tomorrow before it decides whether to rezone the area surrounding Manhattan's Chelsea Market. 

The rezoning would allow construction of two towers on top of the historic indoor market. The towers would house hotel and office space. 

Andrew Berman with the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation says Chelsea Market is known for its unique and artisanal food stores, but that could all change.

"We believe the ground floor that many people love will continue to change and become unrecognizable from what it was when it first started to just another indoor shopping mall that you could find anywhere."

According to Berman, the neighborhood has already undergone too many changes.

"Anybody who lives anywhere near Chelsea Market knows the area has been developed and developed and developed in the last several years," he says, "The congestion, the traffic, and the over-building has multiplied to an incredible level." 

The turn of the century market was the birthplace of the Oreo Cookie.