Long View Rendering of 126th Street and Citi Field. Image Credit: NYC EDC.
Legislative approval would be needed in order to build retail stores, restaurants and a movie theater on Willets West parkland. The Special Willets Point District was approved by the City Council in 2008. The rezoning was controversial; area businesses and residents were concerned over the relocation of businesses, the possibility of eminent domain, and traffic congestion. As a result, a lawsuit was filed against the City by business owners and residents but was dismissed by the New York County Supreme Court in 2010. EDC published a request for proposals in May 2011, asking developers to propose plans for Phase 1 of the development. In June 2012, Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced that the City had come to an agreement with the Queens Development Group for Phase 1 of the development plans. (more…)
Pier 54 in Manhattan. Image Credit: Pier54.com
Hudson River Park Trust agreed with Barry Diller and Diane von Furstenberg to reconstruct Pier 54 with a larger footprint and with performance spaces that could charge market fees. Pier 54 is a part of the Hudson River Park and is located on West Street and West 13th Street, Manhattan. The pier was built in 1906 for the Cunard Steamship Company, became deteriorated, and was partially dismantled by the Hudson River Park in 2013. The Park proposed to construct a new pier with funds provided by Barry Diller and Diane von Furstenberg. The new pier would be square rather than rectangular, have elevations that ranged from eight feet to approximately 62 feet, be larger in area than the old Pier 54, and have three enclosed performance areas. It would also have landscaped areas, paved walking paths, and seating for both active and passive uses. Under the agreement with Diller and von Furstenberg, the Park would have 51 percent of the performances at the performance areas be free, but 49 per cent could have fees at market rates. The reconstructed pier would be designated Pier 55, constructed north but slightly overlapping a portion of the historic footprint of Pier 54. Petitioners describe the planned location of Pier 55 as a “never-before disturbed stretch of the Hudson River.” (more…)
Long View Rendering of 126th Street and Citi Field. Image Credit: NYC EDC.
Appellate panel found the authorization for private construction on parkland did not extend to a shopping mall. On October 9, 2013, the City Council approved Queens Development Group’s planned 10-story, 200-room hotel and 30,000-square foot mall complex on the Willets Point West site, formerly the location of Shea Stadium. The site was once the north end of Flushing Meadows Park until the state legislature authorized the stadium’s construction in 1961. The development would anchor further construction of infrastructure improvements, mixed-income housing, and a school. Since the stadium’s demolition in 2009, the site has served as a parking lot for Citi Field, but remains classified as parkland.
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NYU superblock development as originally proposed. Image credit: NYU.
Court found no implied dedication of target parcels as parkland. In 2012, the City Council approved a plan by New York University to develop two “superblocks” bounded by West 3rd Street, Houston Street, Mercer Street, and LaGuardia Place in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan as part of an expansion plan for the campus. Assemblymember Deborah Glick, joined by the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, the Historic Districts Council, and other local community groups challenged the approval in court arguing the Council’s approval improperly granted four community parks to NYU for the expansion in violation of the public trust doctrine.
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NYU superblock proposec development. Image credit: NYU.
Coalition of local residents, Greenwich Village community organizations, and elected officials sought to prevent NYU’s development of two superblocks north of Houston Street. In 2012, the City Council voted to approve multiple actions to allow an expansion plan by New York University to develop two superblocks bounded by West 3rd Street, Houston Street, Mercer Street and LaGuardia place in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village. The project, projected to take 20 years to complete, would entail the construction of four new buildings to be used for student housing and faculty residences, academic use, public space, and a grocery store to replace one eliminated by the development. The largest building, the Zipper Building, would be 980,000 gross square feet. NYU claimed the project would create approximately four acres of publicly accessible open space and amenities. (more…)
