Sutton Place skyscraper halted following neighborhood rezoning

Construction will now come to a halt at Gamma Real Estate’s planned Sutton Place tower following the City Council’s verdict on the Sutton Place rezoning yesterday. It might not be a permanent halt on construction however, The Real Deal reports.

The developer had previously hinted at appealing to the city’s Board of Standards and Appeals if the rezoning halted construction on their project. Foundation work on the tower is now just 15 days from completion, according to TRD, and under city law, Gamma’s project may be exempt from the newly approved rezoning measures because of the progress it has made so far.

It could be months before construction resumes however. The appeals process at the BSA can go on for a while, and Jonathan Kalikow, the co-founder of Gamma, told TRD that his project will likely resume sometime in late spring or early summer next year.

He did not mince words over the City Council’s verdict either.

“In blindly following Council member Ben Kallos, the New York City Council just put more than a hundred New Yorkers out of a job tomorrow, right before the holidays,” he said, in a statement to TRD.

Kalikow was referring to the Council member representing the Sutton Place area, and the Council’s practice to follow the lead of the member representing that neighborhood. With the rezoning now in place, future developments along the roughly 10-block stretch between 51st and 59th Street near Sutton Place will have to adhere to “tower on base” standards, which means about 40 to 50 percent of the building will have to sit below 150 feet.

• Gamma says work will halt at Sutton Place condo tower after Council votes on rezoning
• Bedford-Union Armory redevelopment, East Harlem rezoning both pass City Council [Curbed]
• Sutton Place skyscraper will rise regardless of rezoning, developer says [Curbed]