Solow’s plan covers one of the largest development sites in Manhattan. On December 5, 2007, the Planning Commission heard testimony regarding Solow Properties’ plans to construct a mixed-use development ground in the southeastern portion. Solow left the parking component of its plans intact.

Chair Amanda Burden and Commissioner Irwin G. Cantor both focused on the height of the proposed towers, some of which are significantly taller than the nearby United Nations headquarters. Solow’s attorney, Gary Tarnoff, argued that the towers’ height minimizes their footprint, which in turn maximizes the amount of publicly accessible open space. To abandon the tower-based design, he claimed, would compromise the development’s open space, which accounts for roughly half the site. (more…)

Commission signs off on Columbia’s eminent domain option despite vocal opposition. On November 26, 2007, the Planning Commission modified and approved both Columbia University’s campus expansion plan and Community Board 9’s 197-a plan. The two plans must now go before the City Council for their review.

Columbia’s plan called for rezoning 35 acres of Manhattanville, a section of West Harlem primarily zoned for manufacturing, to facilitate construction of a 17-acre academic mixed-use development roughly bounded by West 125th and West 135th Streets, from Broadway to 12th Avenue. The development would include research buildings, classrooms, university housing, as well as space for recreation facilities and ground-floor retail. A contiguous below-grade facility, or “bathtub,” would serve the new campus buildings with parking facilities, truck loading facilities, and two central energy plants. If Columbia is unable to purchase the property necessary for the bathtub, then, under the plan, the Empire State Development Corporation would acquire the property by eminent domain on Columbia’s behalf. 4 CityLand 89 (July 15, 2007). (more…)

Time Equities will build a 725-foot-tall mixed-use tower above the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel approach. Image:Murphy/Jahn Architects.

Helmut Jahn-designed tower will include four-star hotel, condos, spa and fitness center. On November 15, 2007, the City Council voted to approve Time Equities Inc.’s five linked applications to construct a 725-foot-tall mixed-use tower at 50 West Street, directly north of the Battery Parking Garage and adjacent to the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel. The tower will contain ground-floor retail, 155 hotel rooms, and 290 condominiums. The project site will also contain a 6,821-square-foot urban plaza, which will be open to the public 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

The project site, located within the Special Lower Manhattan District, occupies the southern portion of the block bounded by Rector, West, Washington and Joseph P. Ward Streets. Time Equities will demolish the three buildings currently at the site, the tallest of which stands 13 stories tall.

Time Equities sought to demap and acquire portions of the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel approach and James P. Ward Street, as well as an 8-inch wide, 121-square-foot strip of land that is part of the tunnel approach and runs along the southern boundary of the site. Time Equities also sought to purchase from the City between 179,998 to 189,525 sq.ft. of development rights from the demapped areas above the tunnel. (more…)

Under new plan, City can opt to build High Line amenities in exchange for $2.3M developer fee. On September 5, 2007, the Planning Commission approved amendments to the zoning text for the Special West Chelsea District, specifically aimed at allowing the City to opt to build amenities for the High Line Park rather than waiting for developers to complete the construction.

Under the original text, developments adjacent to the High Line could receive a floor area bonus if the developer agreed to construct amenities for the High Line Park. Since the text’s approval in March 2006, the City grew concerned that developers might delay the High Line Park’s opening since construction of the amenities would correspond to the development’s construction timeline, not the park’s. (more…)

City to lease portion of East River pier that had housed an OEM facility. The Department of Small Business Services proposed to lease to Basketball City, LLC a 64,000- square-foot portion of the one-story shed building located on Pier 36 along the East River, at the base of Montgomery and South Streets. In 2006, plans for the Hudson River Park forced Basketball City to vacate its former location on Pier 63 along the Hudson River at West 23rd Street. The plan caused great controversy at the time when school groups and local officials sought the Hudson River Park Trust’s agreement to stop or at least delay the loss of Basketball City’s facility.

Basketball City would convert the shed building into six indoor basketball courts, locker rooms, and 75 at-grade parking spaces. The Department of Sanitation, the NYPD, the FDNY and the Office of Emergency Management currently occupy portions of Pier 36. Under the proposal, OEM would vacate its space to make way for the indoor basketball facility; the other City uses would remain. (more…)