Four billion dollar project includes over four million sq.ft. of develop-able space. On March 26, 2008, the City Council approved developer Sheldon Solow’s plan to build seven towers on the 9.2-acre, former Con Edison site along the East River, just south of the United Nations, from 35th to 41st Streets. The plan also includes public open space, community facility space, and parking facilities. The Council approved Manhattan Community Board 6’s 197-a plan as well, which covers the Solow site and the surrounding area.

At the Land Use committee’s public hearing, Council Member Daniel Garodnick, who had participated in negotiations involving the proposal and whose district includes the Solow site, announced significant modifications to the project. Solow will reduce the heights of all of the proposed towers on the site’s northern portion. The tallest tower will now be 595 feet, down from the originally proposed 830 feet. Partly to address the community’s concerns over commuter traffic to and from the project’s commercial building, Solow agreed to reduce the number of parking spaces serving the building from 400 to 197, and to deploy an on-site traffic coordinator. (read more…)

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. (read more…)