Between luxe prewar apartment building 1 Sutton Place South and the East River there is a lawn—a lush paradise (above left) that the building leased from the city for $1/year for most of the 20th Century until the lease quietly expired in 1990. A few years back, longtime Curbed readers will recall, the city finally noticed this fact and drafted plans to bring the park back into public hands with a full overhaul (above right). Residents of 1 Sutton Place (including Sigorney Weaver) weren't happy about this possibility, and vowed to fight.
Flash forward to May 31, when the city informed the building that it planned to start park construction by the end of June. Can you guess what happens next? Of course you can: the building has filed a lawsuit to block the park plan by deploying an awesomely absurdist argument about the East River's "high-water line." The Real Estate has the full press release from the building explaining this in glorious detail. As we wrote a few years back, we're still betting on the people with lots of money.
· One Sutton Place South Sues City Over Park Plan [The Real Estate]
· Dispute at Private Garden at 1 Sutton Place Heats Up [Curbed]
· Sutton Place Private Lawn Going to the Masses [Curbed]