A local non-profit is suing to stop what would be the tallest tower in the Upper West Side from rising.
Extell Development has faced a volley of criticism for a proposed 775-foot-tall building at 50 West 66th Street that’s poised to loom over the neighborhood, propped up by a handful of controversial mechanical voids. In January, the city threatened to pull the project’s permits unless the plans were amended to accommodate zoning and safety concerns. But now that the new plans have been approved by the Department of Buildings (DOB) and the FDNY, the City Club of New York argues that the tower violates the city’s zoning and is suing to halt construction.
City Club claims that the building will rise higher than the special district it resides in allows and that the structure’s cavernous mechanical voids are being abused to dramatically increase the building’s height without merit.
“Extell’s building is hundreds of feet taller than allowed in the Special Lincoln Square District, driven by greed and the desire to build ever-higher apartments with commanding views and higher prices,” say court documents, which were filed in Manhattan Supreme Court on Thursday. “The zoning violations are blatant.”
After the city forced Extell to revise its plans, the developer added new elevator stops within the mechanical floors to give firefighters access in case of an emergency, and broke up the proposed mechanical void into three separate floors. Instead of two 16-foot voids and one gaping 160-foot mechanical floor, plans now call for two 64-foot spaces on the 17th and 18th floors and a 48-foot void on the 19th floor—overall, a 14 foot reduction in the building’s void space, according to the Department of Buildings.
“Safety is our highest priority, for residents and first responders alike. DOB has approved amended plans for the building’s mechanical floors that satisfy safety-related objections and bring the project into compliance with the city’s Zoning Resolution,” said DOB spokesperson Andrew Rudansky. The new plans, the city agency says, comply with zoning “because the mechanical floor heights are similar in proportion to those in other residential towers in New York City.”
The de Blasio administration, it’s worth noting, is in the midst of cracking down on excessive mechanical voids. The City Planning Commission approved a zoning amendment put forward by the Department of City Planning in January that would limit builders to 30 feet before the void begins to count towards a building’s usable space and would also restrict multiple voids from existing within 75 feet of one another. City Council members are reviewing the zoning changes, and may even further restrict those mechanical spaces. City Club points to 50 West 66th Street building as a perfect example of a building benefiting from the current lack of regulation around voids.
“Nothing in Extell’s public documents supports its claim that this space is necessary to house mechanical equipment,” the suit continues. “Indeed, there is no mechanical equipment yet imagined by humans that requires a 48- or 64-foot-tall clearance for accessory use in a residential building.”
The suit also charges that the project violates city regulations by improperly taking advantage of the fact that the building’s lot straddles two zoning districts: one that faces West 66th Street where towers are permitted, and another on the portion facing West 65th Street where such buildings are not allowed. City Club argues Extell has pieced together parts of the zoning to benefit the project.
But the developer is undaunted by the lawsuit and says it is continuing with construction.
“The building complies with all applicable zoning and code requirements and the request to halt the project was denied at yesterday’s hearing,” a spokesperson for Extell said. “We are confident that we will prevail in this litigation.”
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