Pols set to give Vornado a big gift

From Crains:

A now-defunct bill sought to give Vornado Realty Trust control of city parkland in Rego Park, Queens, and allow the firm to build an apartment building closer to an adjacent green space than would otherwise be allowed.

The legislation, introduced by Queens Democrats Toby Ann Stavisky in the state Senate and Jeffrion Aubry in the Assembly, indicates that Vornado is testing the waters for an apartment complex more than five years in the making near the Rego Park Mall, which the firm also developed.

However, little information was available in the bill or from its sponsors to indicate how much the park property would be worth and whether the public improvements and the space Vornado would need to dedicate toward a school in its new building would have been a fair trade for taxpayers.

Vornado’s property shares a border with a park containing Lost Battalion Hall—a once puzzle-piece-like boundary that was straightened out by separate parkland-swap legislation in 2011. Since that time, the developer has planned to eventually erect a residential tower on the site.

Should Vornado opt to build apartments facing the park, it would normally have to set them back at least 30 feet from the property line. The legislation, however, would have authorized the city to give Vornado ownership of the air over a portion of the park. While not the same as purchasing unused development rights (also called air rights), through the complexities of the city’s zoning code, it would have eliminated the 30-foot setback rule.

Vornado would thus have been allowed to build closer to the park, if not right up against it. In exchange, Vornado would have given the city a similarly sized light and air easement over its own property, agreed to potentially pay for park improvements and included space for a prekindergarten in whatever structure it ends up erecting.

The offices of neither Stavisky nor Aubry could detail how the bill came to be, though it was likely introduced at the behest of lobbyists Vornado hired to push the issue in the first half of 2016, according to state records. Because it did not pass by the end of the legislative session in June, it would need to be reintroduced next year to ever become law.

Fake park advocates think fake parkland swap is great

From Crains:

The U.S. Tennis Association, which owns and operates the U.S. Open, announced Tuesday morning it has reached an agreement with the city that will replace a sliver of public parkland in Flushing Meadows Corona Park that it needs to complete its expansion and also increase the active space available there.

The agreement ends a local fight over a 0.68-acre piece of parkland that the Tennis Association needed to acquire as part of a $500 million expansion for its 42-acre Flushing, Queens, tennis complex.
The community has been pushing the tennis association to replace the parkland, while the city had been open to accepting a financial commitment from the tennis group to make improvements to the park, rather than exchange land. One source said the land-swap agreement means there will be no USTA funding of improvements, but another said the matter is still to be negotiated.

The new agreement with the city will give 1.56 acres of parkland back to the community in return for 0.68 acres of parkland it needs. The replacement space will be located east of David Dinkins Circle and includes three-quarters of an acre of "passive open space" and nearly one acre of active space that contains five tennis courts. Those two parcels of land were added to the National Tennis Center's lease in 1993 and will be returned to the city. The Tennis Association would still be responsible for maintaining and repairing the tennis courts and would use those courts only for major tennis events.

So, they are proposing to privatize parkland by "giving back" parkland they already privatized (but still will be able to use whenever they want to). Well, that sounds like such a great deal for parkgoers! Let's hear from Holly...

"We are pleased that the USTA and the city have shifted their positions on replacement parkland," said Holly Leicht, executive director of New Yorkers for Parks. "This may seem like a small amount of acreage, but it is vital to close the door on this and future attempts to privatize parkland without replacing what is lost to the public."

Once again, New Yorkers for Parks is a fake park advocacy group that is joined at the hip with the Bloomberg Administration and a "partner" of the NYC Parks Department. I'm sure local activists will take a different stance...

"It's a good first step," said Will Sweeney, co-founder of the Jackson Heights Green Alliance and member of the Fairness Coalition of Queens. "We felt this was the most important thing the USTA had to do, mostly for precedent purposes."

So Sweeney and his fake coalition think that setting a precedent of replacing parkland with other parkland is good?

Heaven protect Queens from our so-called "park defenders."

Lost Battalion Hall finds itself a deal

From the Times Ledger:

Lost Battalion Park in Rego Park will be expanding its boundaries, thanks to a land swap between the city and a developer.

An oddly shaped parking lot and one end of the park currently fit together like puzzle pieces, but according to state Sen. Toby Stavisky (D-Whitestone), the swap deal will make both the parking and park easier to use.

“Everybody benefits,” she said. “The developer benefits, the city benefits and the developer is going to do the improvements.”

The park is at 93-29 Queens Blvd., and with the new deal would stretch all the way from Queens Boulevard to Junction Boulevard.

A vast parking lot now sits beside the park and near the back it snakes around and encompasses the entire greenspace.

The developer, Vornado Realty Trust, owns part of the huge parking lot, while the city owns another.

In the swap, the city will give Vornado a piece of the lot that is near the park and Vornado will trade the portion of the asphalt that wraps around the back of the park. That way, both the greenspace and the parking lot will become more normally shaped.

Is this nursing home trying to pull a fast one?

From Crain's:

A land-swap deal between Jewish Home and Hospital and Chetrit Group has enraged some Upper West Side residents who fear the for-profit developer will use Jewish Home’s special exemption in zoning laws to construct massive buildings on the site it’s acquiring from the nonprofit.

Jewish Home possesses an exemption to build higher than typically allowed under zoning rules that prevent the construction of tall buildings in the neighborhood. The city exempted Jewish Home so the nonprofit group could retain its right to someday build an efficient new facility on its West 106th Street campus—even a tall one—because such a project would also deliver a community service. Now, some residents worry that Chetrit Group will use the exemption that was given to Jewish Home so it can build high-rise housing instead.

“This is a classic bait and switch,” said Glory Ann Kerstein, co-coordinator of the Manhattan Valley Preservation Coalition. “Jewish Home got the carve-out from the zoning because they are a nonprofit, and now they want to give it away.”

Spokespeople for both Jewish Home and Chetrit Group denied the allegation.

The Chetrit spokeswoman said the company has no plans to use the exemption granted to Jewish Home and is currently examining neighborhood zoning rules to ensure the developer can build a viable project on the site. She said the contract between the two has not been signed yet.