Crawdad: Don’t think that’s right. Not all zoning lot configurations are wrong or potentially illegal. This one, however, raised a series of issues—lack of contiguity, inabiliity if occupants to routinely access the land, the irrationality of the configurations and others. Most expanded zoning lots arise from adjoining, rational lots.
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Chused, this zoning lot merger follows the template of previous zoning lot mergers. If there is something inherently wrong about how the city has interpreted its rules for the last 50 years, that would not be limited to 200 Amsterdam. Essentially every zoning lot merger would be subject to review. And the city taxpayers would obviously bear the responsibility of tearing down half the residential highrises built in the last half-century, because the city interpreted the law in this manner. So not gonna happen.
Again, no one is claiming that this developer (or other developers, for that matter) acted in a rogue or deceptive manner. Rather, the claim is that the city doesn’t understand how to interpret its own laws. If a developer submitted false or misleading docs, then there would be an issue, but the developer is following the city’s longstanding interpretation of the law.
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Just curious Crawdad. Was this zoning lot configuration really like all those in the past in your mind? Or was it stranger in its configuration? I suspect it was stranger.
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Just a casual count but 20 floors would take it down to roughly the second setback and all East views would be blocked by the brown tower on Bway.
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If the 20 floors get removed this obviously sets a very dangerous, scary precedent, on 2 fronts.
- What other towers might the Nimby’s go after next. Will they demand 700 feet get chopped off Central Park Tower, 111 W57th etc. (EDIT: looks like they are now going after Sutton 58)
- Towers in the pipeline that haven’t started yet could get indefinitely delayed/significantly cut down in scale if other developers are scared they could face the same fate.
This is truly terrible news for us skyscraper fans.
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It’s terrible news for NY. These underemployed jackasses who have nothing better to do than complain about Amazon, tall buildings, and rich people are ruining New York. When everyone wealthy has moved to Florida, who do these morons think will pay the taxes to fund New York’s absurd, socialist give aways for the poor (e.g., obscene Medicaid and pensions for starters).
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Well let’s wait and see what happens at appeals. This case could easily go to SCOTUS, even. Lots of money at stake.
The city government would obviously like tall buildings built to get that tax revenue + attention from the global elite. They will need to clarify their laws to make sure that zoning maps cannot be disputed once they are approved. I’d be alright with a compromise in terms of crazy infinite-sided mapping in exchange for the banning of this bullsh*t litigation
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Im so curious ! Maybe you can answered, since the last news do you know if some workers are always on the site or they all deserted ?
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I’ll take a look next time I walk in that direction.
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Has work been halted? Or is construction still ongoing
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This building cuts such a handsome profile: it tapers off at the top perfectly. Removing any amount of heigh will result in an awkward looking form factor - bad for the public, the developer, everyone. How did this happen, don’t you need DOB approvals to start building: what a boondoggle.
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This happened because wealthy NIMBYs sue every building that goes up on the UWS, and they finally found a sympathetic judge. And of course the building has DOB approvals.
No one argues the building doesn’t meet all regulatory requirements; the claim is that the regulatory requirements are not being correctly applied; i.e. the city doesn’t know how to interpret its own rules, which is absurd.
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" i.e. the city doesn’t know how to interpret its own rules, which is absurd." OK thanks, that is a great answer and now I don’t need to do any digging on the subject; that seems like a very byzantine story. I have done about 5 projects working directly with the DOB downtown on Broadway Duane/Read street: very bureaucratic and murky people - not surprising to hear about this type snafu.
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Sanders-types (including AOC) will precipitate New York’s downfall and a mass exodus of taxpayers to South Florida.
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Main stream wealthy corporate Democrats like Nadler took sides against the developer not progressives Robert.
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Nadler is a left-leaning NIMBY and not really different from AOC or Sanders. They’re all populists who like to toot the “rich are evil” horn when convenient.
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Give it a rest.
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Thank you stache Crawdad–tirades do not advance the forum’s conversation.
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