New UES Rezoning Seeks 46-Story Tower In Yorkville, Plans Show
A developer wants to construct a 500-unit apartment tower on a midblock Yorkville site, potentially triggering another rezoning battle.
By Nick Garber
Sep 19, 2022
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A developer wants to rezone a low-rise Yorkville block to build a 46-story, midblock apartment tower, according to newly revealed plans — setting the stage for what could be another lengthy land use battle.
The rezoning would center on 221-243 East 94th St.: a site between Second and Third avenues that is currently home to two parking garages, an auto repair shop and a vacant five-story apartment building.
They would be demolished and replaced with a 46-story, 484-foot-tall apartment tower containing roughly 500 apartments, including up to 150 affordable units, according to a document posted on a City Planning website last week.
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To construct the new tower, developers must get permission to change the block’s current industrial zoning code to a new scheme that allows for dense residential and commercial use.
That will trigger ULURP review, which entails input from the community board and a final vote by the City Council. The 94th Street rezoning has not yet been certified, so the clock has not begun ticking on the roughly seven-month-long process.
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Spanning a combined 456,000 square feet, the new tower would be enlarged through air rights from a few adjacent lots on the same block, which would also be rezoned, according to the planning document.
Renderings of the tower depict it soaring above Yorkville’s other high-rises, including the Ruppert Towers complex a few blocks south. A ground-level image depicts a brick facade and large windows, designed by Hill West Architects — the same firm behind other high-rise towers planned in the neighborhood.
The tower would sit atop a four-story base, rising to six stories along with the upward slope of the block’s western side. Its affordable apartments would be open to those making an average of 60 percent of the area median income — or $56,000 for one person — including nearly half listed at 40 percent AMI.
Another 24,700 square feet of space would consist of ground-floor retail and an unspecified “community facility,” according to plans.
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Construction of the new tower would take two years and could wrap up by 2024, according to the planning documents.
Its ultimate fate could lie in the hands of Julie Menin, the City Councilmember who represents the project site and could likely influence her colleagues when it comes to a final vote.
Menin strongly opposed the Blood Center rezoning before being elected to the Council. Her office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the 94th Street rezoning.
If built, the 484-foot-tall tower would rank among the tallest buildings on the Upper East Side. Plans for the 94th Street rezoning are emerging just days after Patch reported that the Naftali Group intends to build a 535-foot-tall apartment tower on Second Avenue and East 77th Street — likely setting a record for the neighborhood’s tallest building.
