One Vanderbilt. Image credit: Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates PC

Early in January 2017 the City of New York began the official public approval process for a proposal to rezone East Midtown Manhattan. The proposal was based in part on a report by the East Midtown Steering Committee co-chaired by the Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer and the District 4 Council Member Daniel Garodnick.

The new 2017 proposal is the third proposal for rezoning East Midtown. In 2013 the Bloomberg Administration proposed to rezone East Midtown, but was forced by opposition to withdraw the proposal.  In 2015 the City rezoned the limited area along the Vanderbilt Corridor adjacent to Grand Central Terminal.  Both the current 2017 proposal and the 2015 adopted Vanderbilt Corridor rezoning are an improvement over the Bloomberg Administration’s withdrawn proposal; a developer cannot just write a check to receive bonus floor area, but must build an improvement to the public realm.  Still, both the new proposal and the Vanderbilt Corridor rezoning represent “zoning-for-dollars,” and take zoning in a wrong direction.  How might we do better? (read more…)

City Officials Break Ground at One Vanderbilt. Image Credit: Office of the Mayor

City Officials and developer broke ground on the new One Vanderbilt office building and $220 million transit upgrade of Grand Central. On October 18, 2016, Mayor Bill de Blasio, Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer, Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney and Council Member Dan Garodnick joined the developer SL Green for the on-site groundbreaking ceremony. The new office tower will reach 1,401 feet and cover the city block west of Grand Central. The tower is expected to achieve LEED gold certification and contain 1.7 million-square-feet of office space across 58 floors. The One Vanderbilt project met resistance at the Community level but was ultimately approved by City Planning and the City Council with additional concessions by the developer. See CityLand’s previous coverage here and here. (read more…)

Architect’s rendering of One Vanderbilt Place and Grand Central Terminal. Image credit: Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates

Owner of Grand Central Terminal claims violation of property rights, seeks $1 billion in damages.  On September 28, 2015, Andrew Penson—the owner of Grand Central Terminal in the Midtown East neighborhood of Manhattan—initiated a lawsuit against New York City for allegedly unlawfully taking Grand Central’s air rights from him for the benefit of SL Green Realty Corporation without just compensation, which is a violation of the Fifth Amendment of the United States Constitution.  The complaint was filed with the United States District Court in Manhattan and seeks $1.13 billion in damages.

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Ross Sandler

The late Bernard Richland was Corporation Counsel when the City appealed the adverse 1975 New York Supreme Court decision in the Grand Central Terminal case. Federal Judge Nina Gershon wrote about Richland’s role in a memorial article about Richland in 2004. 48 N.Y.L. Sch. L. Rev. 411 (2004).

Gershon wrote that “there were some in the preservation community who questioned the city’s resolve to pursue, through appeal, the fight to preserve Grand Central Terminal as a landmark, after a devastating loss in the trial court, which had not only rejected, with derision, the findings of the Landmarks Preservation Commission regarding the significance of the Terminal but found that the designation of the Terminal as a landmark was unconstitutional; ominously, the trial court had also severed and kept open the request for damages for a ‘temporary taking.’ But when Bernie [Bernard Richland] became convinced of the merit of the city’s position, he did not stint in his support of the appeal.”

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MTA took private land to expand Sunnyside Rail Yard for East Side Access Project. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority acquired 38-38 43rd Street and 38-40 43rd Street in Sunnyside, Queens through eminent domain. The MTA plans to use the lots to expand the Sunnyside Rail Yard for the East Side Access Project, which would connect the Long Island Rail Road directly to Grand Central Terminal in Manhattan. 38-38 43rd Street consisted of a two-story storage, warehouse, parking, and office building situated on a 23,000 sq.ft. site. The building, with its basement, had 30,240 sq.ft. of gross area. 38-40 43rd Street consisted of a similar building (28,050 sq.ft. of gross area) situated on a 12,725 sq.ft. site. Both lots were zoned M1-1 for light manufacturing uses. At the time of the taking, both properties were being leased for income generation.

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