Community group argued developer improperly deducted elevator shafts on mechanical floor from floor area calculations. In May 2007, Buildings issued a building permit to the BayRock/Sapir Organization LLC to build a 42-story condominium hotel, known as Trump SoHo, at 246 Spring Street in Manhattan. The lot’s M1-6 zoning prohibited residential development. Therefore, Buildings’ approval required that the developer file a restrictive declaration prohibiting anyone from living in any of the building’s units for more than 29 consecutive days in any 36-day period or for a total of more than 120 days in a calendar year. Later that year, the SoHo Alliance community group unsuccessfully appealed the issuance of the permit, claiming that the building would violate the zoning resolution’s regulations for transient hotels. 5 CityLand 74 (June 15, 2008).

In August 2008, Buildings approved the developer’s plan to add a 43rd and 44th floor to the building. The Alliance challenged Buildings’ issuance of the permit, arguing that the project exceeded the maximum floor-area regulations. Buildings refused to revoke the permit, and the Alliance appealed to BSA. (read more…)

Trump SoHo wins another appeal. Image: Handel Architects.

Court finds that BSA’s decision to uphold DOB permits was supported by substantial evidence. The New York City Department of Buildings issued permits for a transient hotel at 246 Spring Street in Manhattan. Believing that the design amounted to an unpermitted residential building in an M1-6 zoning district, SoHo Alliance appealed DOB’s decision to BSA. BSA denied the appeal, 5 CityLand 74 (June 15, 2008), and SoHo Alliance filed an article 78 petition challenging BSA’s decision.

SoHo Alliance claimed that BSA had varied the terms of the Zoning Resolution so that the proposed development could be construed as a transient hotel. SoHo Alliance argued that, in order for a building to qualify as a transient hotel, the guestrooms would have to be rented on a daily basis; here, the hotel condominium offered private ownership and permitted a unit owner, or any other individual, to occupy a room for 29 days in any 36-day period and for 120 days in a calendar year. SoHo Alliance also claimed that, since the building was residential in character and within a manufacturing district, the desired separation of manufacturing uses from residential had been undermined. SoHo Alliance further claimed that the presence of owner-controlled closets in guestrooms was evidence of the building’s residential character, and that such closets were not among the enumerated accessory uses permitted for transient hotels. (read more…)

BSA allows construction of the controversial hotel to go forward. In September 2007, the New York City Department of Buildings approved plans for the 42-story Trump SoHo condominium hotel, to be located at 246 Spring Street between Varick Street and Sixth Avenue. Because there is a general prohibition against residential developments in the area with the exception of transient hotels, Buildings’ approval required the developers to file a restriction against the property that would prohibit anyone from living in any of the Trump SoHo’s 413 units for more than 29 consecutive days in any 36-day period, or a total of about 120 days per calendar year.

The SoHo Alliance Community Group filed an appeal with BSA, arguing that Buildings’ approval should be revoked because people can still live in the Trump SoHo’s residential units for protracted periods of time for a significant portion of the year. Moreover, the Alliance argued that the restriction is unenforceable and prone to abuse. 4 CityLand 156 (Nov. 15, 2007). (read more…)