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From
Crains:
The owner of a Midtown apartment building that for years has been dogged with lawsuits has agreed to settle millions of dollars' worth of outstanding violations for $375,000 and bring the property up to snuff, according to federal bankruptcy court documents.
Ben Zion Suky was one of several owners of 440 W. 41st St. and for years rented apartments for less than 30 days in violation of city code, according to City Hall. In 2015 the Mayor's Office of Special Enforcement filed a lawsuit seeking to shut down the illegal inn and collect damages. Before it was resolved, however, Suky sold the 96-unit building to a company controlled by David Goldwasser, who then filed for bankruptcy protection.
The city argued that Goldwasser was responsible for the outstanding violations and penalties, which totaled more than $2 million, according to the documents. Now the two sides have agreed to settle the suit for $375,000 on the condition that Goldwasser bring the property up to code and cease all illegal hotel operations.
From
Crains:
Mayor Bill de Blasio announced a new timeline for the rezoning of a large swath of east midtown in Manhattan Friday, one that could stretch into 2016 but will allow for one major skyscraper project to get started in the meantime.
Under a special permit to be issued by the city and subject to public review, SL Green will build a 1.6 million-square-foot office building adjacent to Grand Central Terminal on Vanderbilt Avenue between East 42nd and East 43rd streets. The 65-story tower will be 150 feet taller than the Chrysler Building on the other side of the train station.
The project, called 1 Vanderbilt, will include indoor and outdoor public space, as well as underground connections to the subway to help relieve above-ground congestion. The public review process for the surrounding five blocks along Vanderbilt Avenue will begin this fall.
SL Green will invest more than $100 million to improve the flow of commuter traffic through Grand Central Terminal, said Marc Holliday, CEO of the development firm. But City Planning Commission Chairman Carl Weisbrod said the developer's investment in transit infrastructure will be "a lot more than $100 million," and other private firms looking to reap benefits from the rezoning will need to pony up as well.
Mr. Weisbrod confirmed two other development sites as part of the initial Vanderbilt corridor rezoning: a property on Madison Avenue owned by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, and the Roosevelt Hotel on East 45th Street.
The rest of the midtown east rezoning, which was shelved last year when the Bloomberg administration officials could not get midtown Councilman Daniel Garodnick to sign on, won’t kick off until at least the spring of 2015, and will likely extend into the following year. Mr. de Blasio tapped Mr. Garodnick and Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer to oversee a lengthy community review process before the mayor unveils a plan for the 70-block rezoning.
From
Capital New York:
Councilman Dan Garodnick and Council speaker Christine Quinn will not vote in favor of Mayor Michael Bloomberg's plan to allow taller buildings around Grand Central Terminal.
That means that the controversial proposal to rezone some 73 blocks in Midtown East is now, effectively, dead.
“Creating new jobs in East Midtown—and across all of New York City—is essential," said the councilmembers in a joint statement just emailed to reporters. "We can and should do more with the commercial corridor around Grand Central. ... However, a good idea alone is not enough to justify action today. We should rezone East Midtown, but only when we can do so properly. After extensive negotiations, we have been unable to reach agreement on a number of issues in the proposed plan."
The real estate industry and Bloomberg administration have argued that the office space in Midtown East is outdated and increasingly unappealing to modern tenants. In order for New York City to retain its status as a world-class city in an increasingly global economy, the city must allow for more modern office skyscrapers around Grand Central, the argument goes.
Most of the proposed rezoning falls within Garodnick's district, and since the Council typically refers to the local member in land use decisions, his support, or lack thereof, is considered decisive.
In a statement, mayor-elect Bill de Blasio applauded the councilmembers, "for pressing the pause button in order to ensure these concerns are adequately addressed. We must continue this process in earnest upon taking office, and I commit to presenting a revised rezoning plan for the area by the end of 2014."
From the
NY Times:
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s push to increase development in east Midtown would threaten some of the very buildings that give the neighborhood its character, preservation groups and community boards warn.
The buildings include the Barclay Hotel, the Yale Club, Brooks Brothers flagship store and the Graybar Building, which many New Yorkers may think — incorrectly — are protected as landmarks already.
The proposal is intended to provide a legacy of the Bloomberg administration by ensuring that the area around Grand Central Terminal stays on a competitive footing with business centers worldwide. It would increase the maximum allowable building density by 60 percent for some large sites near the terminal. Potential density would be increased 44 percent along an 11-block stretch of Park Avenue. Lesser increases would take effect elsewhere in the area between East 39th and East 57th Streets and between Fifth and Second Avenues, although most of the easternmost residential blocks would not be affected.
Such increases in density — meaning higher potential profits for landlords down the road — would give builders an incentive to spend the time and money needed to assemble large development parcels and then empty and demolish the buildings on them. The New York City Planning Department has identified projected and potential development sites in the area (on page 26 of this PDF).
In turn, the Municipal Art Society and the New York Landmarks Conservancy pinpointed more than a dozen buildings over which the shadow of demolition would most likely fall.
From the
NY Times:
Mr. Bloomberg’s proposal reflects his effort to put his stamp on the city well after his tenure ends in December 2013. Moving swiftly, he wants the City Council to adopt the new zoning, for what is being called Midtown East, by October 2013, with the first permits for new buildings granted four years later.
His administration says that without the changes, the neighborhood around Grand Central will not retain its reputation as “the best business address in the world” because 300 of its roughly 400 buildings are more than 50 years old. These structures also lack the large column-free spaces, tall ceilings and environmental features now sought by corporate tenants.
The rezoning — from 39th Street to 57th Street on the East Side — would make it easier to demolish aging buildings in order to make way for state of-the-art towers.
Without it, “the top Class A tenants who have been attracted to the area in the past would begin to look elsewhere for space,” the administration says in its proposal.
The plan has stirred criticism from some urban planners, community boards and City Council members, who have contended that the mayor has acted hastily. They said they were concerned about the impact of taller towers in an already dense district where buildings, public spaces, streets, sidewalks and subways have long remained unchanged.
Administration officials acknowledged that the current market for new office buildings across Manhattan was relatively weak. For example, a 40-story office tower at 11 Times Square, at 42nd Street and Eighth Avenue, which was completed in 2010, is still not full.
But the officials said major changes in zoning were intended to make it possible to build when demand returned, as history suggests it inevitably will. In promoting the proposal, the administration has repeatedly stressed that Midtown Manhattan needed to keep pace with business districts in other world capitals. And New York does compete with London for some financial firms.
But many of New York’s prominent corporations, law firms and other businesses are not about to decamp for a spectacular skyscraper in Hong Kong anytime soon. Part of the obsession with taller buildings is about prestige and worldwide bragging rights, for size and architectural supremacy.
Councilman Daniel R. Garodnick, a Manhattan Democrat, said the Bloomberg administration had failed to consider a host of substantive issues before plunging ahead.
“We need to address the impact of thousands of new office workers,” Mr. Garodnick said. “There are implications for transportation, sanitation and public safety.”
Amanda M. Burden, a close Bloomberg adviser who is director of the City Planning Department, has rebuffed requests from community boards and elected officials to slow down the process.
