Amendment allows the transfer of residential floor area from the High Line subdistrict. On May 19, 2015 the City Council Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises approved an amendment to the Special West Chelsea District zoning text to allow a transfer of residential floor area from the High Line Transfer Corridor subdistrict. The applicant, 22-23 Corp c/o Park It Management, sought the amendment to allow transfer residential floor area from its property at 510-512 West 23rd Street, where current zoning text would only permit transfer of the property’s commercial floor area.
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Architect’s rendering of One Vanderbilt Place and Grand Central Terminal. Image credit: Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates
Proposal returns to City Planning with additional infrastructure improvements. On May 5, 2015 the City Council Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises voted to modify and approve the proposed One Vanderbilt skyscraper project and Vanderbilt Corridor rezoning plan. (See previous CityLand coverage here.) The proposal as approved now includes a second transit hall on 42nd Street and Vanderbilt Avenue, as well as a 22 percent increase in the below-grade pedestrian space. The below-grade increase allows for direct transfer between subway riders and the future East Side Access extension of the Long Island Railroad without having to go up through Grand Central’s main concourse first. The modifications amount to an extra $10 million in infrastructure improvements, increasing developer SL Green’s total investment cost to $220 million after earlier modifications by the City Planning Commission.
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Rendering of proposed building for 39-41 West 23rd Street. Image credit: COOKFOX Architects
The proposed building would be located in a commercial district on a present-day parking lot. On April 23, 2015 the City Council Subcommitee on Zoning and Franchises held a public hearing on 39 West 23rd Street, LLC’s proposal for a residential tower at 39-41 West 23rd Street in the Ladies’ Mile Historic District of Manhattan. The proposal would build the tower, made of two building segments reaching a maximum height of 278 feet, on a through-lot between West 23rd and West 24th Streets. The tower would feature 43 residential units, 800 square feet of ground floor retail space, and an underground parking garage for fifty vehicles and twenty-nine bicycles.
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Councilmember Dan Garodnick led the questioning on the One Vanderbilt proposal. Image credit: William Alatriste / New York City Council
Representatives of the project and the Department of City Planning spoke during a four-hour hearing. On April 13, 2015 the City Council Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises held a public hearing on One Vanderbilt, a proposed 1,450-foot commercial tower in East Midtown, as well as an accompanying proposal to rezone five blocks of Vanderbilt Avenue to create the Vanderbilt Corridor. The building will be located adjacent to Grand Central Terminal, bounded by East 42nd Street to the south, East 43rd Street to the north, Madison Avenue to the west, and Vanderbilt Avenue to the east. The rezoning intends to facilitate commercial development on the west side of Vanderbilt Avenue between East 42nd and East 47th Streets, and designate Vanderbilt Avenue between East 42nd and East 43rd Streets as a public pedestrian space. As a part of the overall proposal, project applicant SL Green will invest $210 million in transit and infrastructure improvements to Grand Central.
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Architect rendering of the proposed building at 505 West 43rd Street. Image credit: ODA
The fifteen-story building would be built over an open rail cut in the Special Clinton District. On March 24, 2015, the City Council Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises heard a proposal by 1818 Nadlan LLC to construct a new fifteen-story residential building at 505 West 43rd Street in the Special Clinton District of Hell’s Kitchen, Manhattan. The proposed building would consist of two segments, one fronting on West 43rd Street and the other fronting on West 44th Street, containing a total of 105 condominium units. Eight of the units are designated affordable, and a twenty-three space accessory parking garage is also available. The proposal requests a special permit to construct over a rail line and waivers of the height, setback, rear yard obstruction, and street line planter requirements.
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Eric Palatnik testifies before the Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises on the Sollazzo Plaza rezoning. Image credit: NYC.gov
Approval permits demolition of old farmhouse to make way for a shopping center. On December 15, 2014 the City Council Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises voted unanimously to approve rezoning for portions of a block to permit the construction of a retail shopping center. The rezoned portion is bounded by Forest Avenue to the north, Monsey Place to the south, Richmond Avenue to the east, and P.S. 22 to the west.
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