Remember the snazzy renderings (above) we revealed about a month back for the 26-story NYU dorm slated for the St. Ann's Church site on East 11th Street in the East Village? We gaze at them daily with delight. We digress. While we were on vacation, The Villager dropped the latest update on neighbors' war to prevent the tower from rising. And check out this genius: they're resorting to some pretty cool legal technicalities:
The Cooper Station Post Office on E. 11th St. sold its air rights to the developer of the dorm, Hudson Companies, for $7.7 million. However, the suit argues, that since federal properties are exempt from city zoning regulations, the transfer of air rights from the post office to the adjacent dorm site is unenforceable: Since the city has no jurisdiction over federal property, it cannot remove air rights from the post office site to transfer them to the dorm, and the Postal Service can still build above the post office to a limitless height, the suit contends.Let's hope gigantoid developer Extell is paying attention. Why, you ask? Well, seems that June CurbedWire rumor about Extell "buying up the East Village" is indeed true: they've snapped up 17 buildings as part of a $72 million buy.
· N.Y.U. dorm is built on air, neighbors say, in new lawsuit [The Villager]
· Developer buys 17 buildings, sparks eviction fears [The Villager]
· Fist Shaking at the Soon-to-Be Tallest Building in E. Vill. [Curbed]