A woman-led construction company has renovated The Weinstein Company’s (TWC) Tribeca offices, formerly occupied by convicted sexual assaulter Harvey Weinstein.
Vogue reports that Barbara Kavovit, founder and CEO of Evergreen Construction, beat out three male-owned competitors for the privilege of ripping apart the Weinstein Company’s former headquarters earlier this year.
The offices at 99 Hudson Street have been vacant since 2018. Harvey and his brother Bob, originally built Miramax from inside its walls years before TWC was created. Now, with their remaining assets sold off and Harvey Weinstein in prison, there are 13,000 sq. ft. of newly renovated commercial real estate with a dark past up for grabs in Tribeca, Vogue reports.
“I felt that I was doing something for female empowerment by ridding (the space of) bad karma and the things that went on in that organization,” the CEO, author, and former Real Housewife of New York was quoted as saying in the magazine.
The redesign represents what Kavovit calls “a #MeToo–inspired shift in office culture,” the published report says.
“Whoever leases that space is going to come in and take (COVID prevention) to the next level,” she says. “Personal protective equipment was used throughout the project, and everybody was maintaining social distancing, wearing masks, (and) sterilizing,” she said.
Kavovit said she “knows what it means not to be taken seriously,” working in a male-dominated industry. She says she is passionate about helping other women navigate the construction industry.
The TWC building renovation’s “star project manager is a woman (and) probably 25 women at any given time were doing electrical work, demolition, and sprinkler work,” Vogue quoted her as saying.
Evergreen Construction completed the renovation in November. Owner Olshan Properties is now seeking tenants.
