BY ALEX ELLEFSON | An application to build another “supertall” residential tower on the Lower East Side, which stalled earlier this summer while developers dueled over air rights, can now go though the Department of City Planning review process.
The green light for the application to move forward — first reported by Crain’s New York — occurred when two nonprofit groups withdrew as co-applicants for another project competing for their development rights. A City Planning spokesperson said the agency could not review the application while the site was in dispute.
Two Bridges Neighborhood Council and the Settlement Housing Fund agreed to sell air rights from their properties to JDS Development for $51 million so the development company can build a 77-story residential tower at 247 Cherry St.
However, developers Gary Spindler and Roy Schoenberg have also laid claim to the development rights and are suing the nonprofits for backing out of the deal.
Because Two Bridges and the Settlement Housing Fund were listed as co-applicants for both projects, City Planning said it had to hit the bureaucratic brakes while the site was in contention.
However, a letter from City Planning dated Aug. 23 said the nonprofits had formally withdrawn from the Spindler and Schoenberg project — thus, allowing the agency to continue its review of the JDS Development application.
A spokesperson for JDS Development said the company is pleased the process can resume.
“With its more than 150 units of affordable housing, innovative architecture, retail space and enhanced amenities for residents and the neighborhood, we believe that the project will contribute significantly to the vitality and resilience of the historic Two Bridges neighborhood,” the spokesperson added.
When the developers presented the project to the community in April, they touted the fact that 150 of the 600 units would be affordable.
They also pointed out that unlike the nearby Extell tower currently under construction — which will house below-market-rate tenants in a separate building — the JDS Development project’s affordable housing will be scattered throughout the building.
The JDS project is also designed to preserve an existing 10-story building for senior housing by bridging itself over the structure.
The nonprofits have also promised to use money from the sale of the air rights to make improvements to the existing senior apartments, such as a renovated lobby and flood barriers.
However, the presentation received a hostile reception from some community members who worried that adding another skyscraper development alongside the Extell building could squeeze out the neighborhood’s low-income residents.
Victor Papa, president of the Two Bridges Neighborhood Council, said the developer was being very cooperative in listening to community needs — and that the additional affordable housing, as well as improvements made possibly by the sale of the air rights, would benefit neighbors.
“This is an opportunity to change the neighborhood in a way that serves the new and old populations,” he said.
Papa said community stakeholders would be invited to forums at which they could give input about the project, as well as on how to spend the money earned from the development rights.
He declined to comment on the lawsuit by Spindler and Schoenberg, which continues in State Supreme Court.
The law firm representing the two developers also did not respond to a request for comment about the litigation.
