162-space garage starts hearing process

City Planning receives three different applications for garages in the Columbus Circle area. On April 3, 2006, the Planning Commission certified an application by William Zeckendorf, on behalf of 15 CPW Realty, LLC, for a special permit to allow a 162-space public parking garage to be located within the as-of- right development on the former Mayflower Hotel site. The certification begins the public review process and starts the time clock for review set by ULURP, the City’s land use review procedure.

If approved, Zeckendorf’s proposed 23,492-square-foot garage would occupy below-grade space in the 885,000-square-foot development currently under construction at 15 Central Park West. The project will contain 231 market rate residential units in two residential towers and over 86,000 sq.ft. of retail space on the ground, cellar and sub-cellar floors. The garage, as proposed, would operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week and have its ingress and egress from West 62nd Street, a one-way westbound street.

Zeckendorf, in his application to City Planning, claimed that the new project’s occupants would be the main users of the garage. The environmental study for the parking garage found that the 885,000-square-foot, mixed-use project would generate a peak demand of 148 spaces in the evening hours. The study concluded that, without the proposed garage, daytime utilization of nearby garages would increase from 83 to 88 percent.

Following the Commission’s April 3rd certification, Manhattan Community Board 7 held a hearing on the application, approving it on April 19th.

In addition to Zeckendorf’s 162-space proposed garage, in March 2006, City Planning received two other applications for parking garages in the Columbus Circle area. Element West Street LLC filed for approval of a public parking garage at 555 West 59th Street, and the owner of 300 Central Park West sought to increase its existing garage’s capacity from 80 to 121 spaces. Neither of these applications has been certified.

15 Central Park West Garage Special Permit Application No. 060402 ZSM, City Planning; New York Department of City Planning Applications Received During March 2006.

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