A long-delayed Washington Heights development can’t seem to catch a break.
One Bennett Park, a 22-story, 160-unit residential tower that has been in the works for nearly two decades, is still awaiting approval of its building permits more than three years after first applying for them.
The most recent hold-up for the project at 524 Fort Washington Ave., which would be among the tallest in upper Manhattan, involves a next-door subway station, the A train’s 181st Street stop.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority is seeking a small carve-out in the footprint of the project as a place where it can potentially build a new power station for the A train down the road, new filings show.
The site’s developer, Bizzi & Partners, which bought the property in February 2022 for $6 million after the previous developer fell into bankruptcy, has agreed to set aside the parcel, about a 500-square-foot rectangle next to the front doors of the station’s entrance on Fort Washington, according to the filings.
But Bizzi needs the Department of City Planning to give its blessing to the agreement before the developer can get building permits for the site. Bizzi’s application for the approval appeared on the Planning department’s website on Monday.
Since 2021 developers have to get Planning Department approval for all projects located within 50 feet of mass transit stations so that access can be preserved for the future.
Department of Buildings records indicate that there’s stop-work order in place at the project, which hugs a rocky cliff across from Bennett Park and extends through to Overlook Terrace. A source close to the project said the general order is unrelated to the situation with the MTA. But its actual cause is unclear. A phone message left for Alessandro Pallaoro, the Bizzi managing director handling the project, based on the filing, was not returned by press time.
While years have passed since Bizzi first announced plans for the site, the project’s scope does not seem to have notably changed. The 269,000-square-foot project will feature 142,000 square feet of residential space for the 160 homes, which are assumed to be condos, as well as 127,000 square feet of community facility space across eight floors. The site will also have an 80-space parking garage to be accessed from Overlook.
The project’s former developer, Ruddy Thompson, assembled the site in 2005 and the next year borrowed $95 million in construction financing from Amalgamated Bank. But the late 2000s recession kicked off a string of financial setbacks for Thompson, who ended being sued twice by Amalgamated in foreclosure cases. As his money problems mounted, Thompson also sold his Westchester home.
As part of the original deal, Thompson had paid about $2 million for 39,000 square feet in air rights from an onsite synagogue, Fort Tryon Jewish Center, while also agreeing to refurbish the 1930s-era sanctuary. But as the project stalled and the years dragged on, the synagogue building fell into ruin and was formally deconsecrated by the since-relocated center in 2022.
Ruddy also reportedly struggled to excavate the site’s bedrock, a challenge that Bizzi may be facing as well. Department of Buildings officials objected to the developer’s excavation plan as recently as late May, around the same time the officials also took issue with aspects of the project’s building permit application, records show.
When Bizzi’s plans were unveiled three years ago, the firm had a development partner for One Bennett Park, Sumaida + Khurana, though it’s unknown if the luxury builder is still attached to the project. There’s no mention of the development on Sumaida + Khurana’s website. And an email sent to its office was not returned by press time.
