A couple weeks ago I found myself with my boys at the Limelight Mall. I'm sure they would prefer not to be called a mall, but that's what it is. For anyone who wasn't going out in New York 25 years ago, the Limelight was a church converted to a club, that we danced in as kids. It is a beautiful landmark structure that was adapted for re-use as a club and now has been adapted for re-use for shopping.
So how did they get away with completely renovating it and not put in an elevator? As a preservation engineer, I found a few locations where an elevator could have been sensitively installed. I asked and one of sales people said that they wanted an elevator and were trying to get one installed but it took a long time. They said it something to do with being a landmark. I would hate to think that the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission would deny access to mid-level shopping to people in wheelchairs.
On the plus side, we found some great hats and gelato on the first floor and they had an accessible bathroom.
