PRESERVATION ALERT
from the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation
April 20, 2007
BIG TURNOUT FOR NYU MEGA-DORM/POST OFFICE AIR RIGHTS HEARING
BIG TURNOUT FOR NYU-MEGA-DORM/POST OFFICE AIR RIGHTS HEARING: About 50 people joined GVSHP and neighbors of the NYU Mega-dorm under construction at 110 East 12th Street at the Board of Standards and Appeals (BSA) this past Tuesday to oppose the transfer of air rights from the Post Office which makes the project 55% larger than normally allowed. Special thanks to City Councilmember Rosie Mendez, who came to testify before the BSA in person against the air rights transfer. Thanks also to Borough President Scott Stringer, Congressman Jerrold Nadler, State Senator Tom Duane, and Assemblymember Deborah Glick, who sent representatives to give strong testimony against the air rights transfer, and City Council Zoning Subcommittee Chair Tony Avella, who had written the BSA to argue against the transfer. For GVSHP's full testimony to the BSA, CLICK HERE.
For coverage of the hearing:
The BSA will issue a decision in the case on June 12. See below and CLICK HERE for more information.
To join GVSHP or support our preservation efforts, CLICK HERE.
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PRESERVATION ALERT
from the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation
April 13, 2007
HEARING ON NYU E. 12 St. MEGA-DORM TUESDAY, APRIL 17, 11 am
NYU MEGA-DORM AIR RIGHTS HEARING TUESDAY, APRIL 17 at 11 am: Reminder: the hearing before the Board of Standards and Appeals (BSA) challenging the air rights "transfer" from the Post Office to the East 12th Street NYU Mega-Dorm will be this coming Tuesday, April 17, at 11 am, at the BSA, 40 Rector Street (between Washington and West Streets, 6th floor hearing room, bring photo ID). Please note the time: 11 am is an estimate; the BSA may not reach this item until later, but we recommend getting there at 11 am to be sure you do not miss the hearing. CLICK HERE for a flyer with location information.
HOW TO HELP:
To join GVSHP or support our preservation efforts, CLICK HERE.
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PRESERVATION ALERT
from the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation
April 3, 2007
HEARING ON NYU MEGA-DORM AIR RIGHTS SET FOR APRIL 17 * Suit Challenges Transfer That Made Dorm 65% Larger
HEARING ON NYU-MEGA DORM AIR RIGHTS APRIL 17: The legal challenge by neighbors to the air rights transfer for the planned 262 ft. tall NYU mega-dorm at 120 East 12th Street will be heard at the Board of Standards and Appeals on Tuesday, April 17th, at approximately 10:30 am. ANYONE WHO CARES ABOUT OVERDEVELOPMENT IN OUR NEIGHBORHOODS AND ENFORCEMENT OF ZONING PROTECTIONS IS STRONGLY ENCOURAGED TO ATTEND THIS HEARING AND WRITE TO THE BSA ABOUT THIS CRITICAL, PRECEDENT-SETTING CASE.
A 26-story dorm is being built at 120 East 12th Street for NYU. The developer of the dorm purchased air rights from the neighboring Post Office with the intention of increasing the size of the planned development by about 65%. While air rights transfers from neighboring properties are legal under New York City zoning regulations, this case is special. The air rights come from the Post Office, a federal agency which is NOT subject to NYC zoning regulations or NYC law. Therefore GVSHP and neighbors argue the air rights transfer should NOT be authorized by the City, because the City has no power to enforce its terms. The Post Office could "sell" their air rights and then build on their site again in the future using the air rights they have supposedly sold off, and the City would have no power to stop them. The Post Office, NYU, and the developer would profit, but neighbors would have no recourse against this kind of "super"-over-development in their neighborhood.
HOW TO HELP:
To join GVSHP or support our preservation efforts, CLICK HERE.
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February 2, 2007
Dear friend,
We have just received word that the hearing scheduled for February 6th regarding the East 12th Street NYU dorm and Post Office air rights has been POSTPONED. We will let you know as soon as we receive word regarding when it has been re-scheduled, which we anticipate will be some time in the next few weeks. The postponement was granted at the request of lawyers for the Post Office, who are "evaluating" the case. Postponements such as these for Board of Standards and Appeals hearings are not uncommon.
Sincerely,
Andrew Berman
Executive Director
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PRESERVATION ALERT
from the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation
January 30, 2007
CASE AGAINST USE OF POST OFFICE AIR RIGHTS FOR NYU MEGA-DORM TO BE HEARD NEXT TUESDAY, FEB. 6th at 10:00 AM;
Please Attend and Testify!
NYU Dorm/Post Office Air Rights Hearing: Next Tuesday, February 6th, the Board of Standards and Appeals (BSA) will hear an appeal filed by neighbors of the planned 26-story NYU mega-dorm on East 12th Street, challenging the decision by the NYC Department of Buildings to allow the transfer of air rights from the neighboring Cooper Station Post Office to the site. ANYONE WHO CARES ABOUT OVERDEVELOPMENT IN OUR NEIGHBORHOODS AND ENFORCEMENT OF ZONING PROTECTIONS IS STRONGLY ENCOURAGED TO ATTEND THIS HEARING AND WRITE TO THE BSA ABOUT THIS CRITICAL, PRECEDENT-SETTING CASE.
A 26-story dorm is being built at 120 East 12th Street for NYU. The developer of the dorm purchased air rights from the neighboring Post Office with the intention of increasing the size of the planned development by about 65%. While air rights transfers from neighboring properties are legal under New York City zoning regulations, this case is special. The air rights come from the Post Office, a federal agency which is NOT subject to NYC zoning regulations or NYC law. Therefore GVSHP and neighbors argue the air rights transfer should NOT be authorized by the City, because the City has no power to enforce its terms.
Under typical air rights transfers, the City allows development rights to be moved from one plot of land to an adjacent plot, on the condition that once the development rights have been moved from one property, the owner who sold them cannot use them to build on their land anymore. The City has the power to ensure that this "transfer" is enforced on private property, because private property owners cannot build without permits from the City, and the police have the power to enforce this rule. Therefore in a typical air rights transfer, we can be assured that the amount of development never exceeds what the zoning allows.
However, if the entity which "sells" the air rights is a federal agency, like the Post Office, the City has absolutely no power to enforce the terms of the sale, or to prevent the Post Office from again building on their land, using air rights they supposedly "transferred." In a case like this, we could therefore end up with TWO 26-story (or larger!) buildings on these sites, even though the zoning is only supposed to allow one, and there would be nothing the City or the public could do to stop the new development.
THIS HEARING IS INCREDIBLY IMPORTANT BECAUSE IT WILL IMPACT WHETHER OR NOT THE CITY CONTINUES TO ALLOW THESE TYPES OF UNENFORCEABLE AIR RIGHTS TRANSFERS, WHICH HAVE BEEN PROLIFERATING THROUGHOUT NEW YORK.
HOW TO HELP:
To join GVSHP or support our preservation efforts, CLICK HERE.
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PRESERVATION ALERT
from the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation
September 29 , 2006
COMMUNITY BOARD SLAMS NYU FOR BREAKING PROMISES ON DORM PLAN
GVSHP, Cooper Sqaure Committee, St. Ann’s Committee, and other neighbors protesting NYU’s dorm plans at Community Board #3.
Community Board #3 resolution passed unaimously September 26, 2006, at the request of GVSHP and community groups WHERAS New York University has failed to engage in a meaningful and constructive dialogue with this community regarding its plans to build a 26-story student dormitory on East 12th Street; and WHERAS this Community Board has previously expressed its strong opposition to the height and bulk of the proposed building; and WHERAS NYU has completely failed to adopt any of the recommendations made by community groups, CB3 and community residents and continues to rigidly adhere to its original building plans in the face of intense community opposition; and WHERAS NYU’s actions appear to be part of NYU’s continuing expansion, wherein the interests and needs of this community are sacrificed so that NYU may continue its unabated growth; and WHERAS NYU has responded to community opposition to its plans, in part, by personally attacking the character and integrity of the executive director of a neighborhood preservation group, who is held in high esteem by this Board and Community; and WHERAS it is self-evident that NYU is an important part of our city and community, but that NYU must greatly improve its efforts to be both a good neighbor and a partner with our community; THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED THAT: 1. The Community Board hereby expresses its extreme outrage over NYU’s actions; 2. CB3 urges NYU to amend its plans for the 12th Street dormitory so as to address community concerns regarding the building’s height, bulk and architectural design and to ensure that the building meets recognized national standard for a “green building”; 3. CB3 decries NYU’s personal attack on the character and integrity of a leader of a local neighborhood preservation group as completely untrue and unwarranted and urges NYU to remove any public material repeating such attacks and further refrain from such actions in the future; 4. CB3 urges NYU to initiate a discussion about expanding into other communities and reexamine its apparent decision to constrict its campus to our community; 5. CB3 urges NYU to truly “give back” to our community by adopting the following practices: committing to hiring community residents; maintaining and expanding open green spaces; maintaining affordable housing, especially in light of its representation about having 20% low income housing in its properties; to enter into restrictive covenants on its properties, so that should NYU sell its properties, they can only be sold to entities committing to provide low and moderate income housing; 6. CB3 asks NYU to provide a written statement detailing NYU’s position on this Board’s 197-a rezoning plan, including its potential application to Third and Fourth Avenues; 7. We urge NYU President John Sexton to appear at a community board forum so he can actually see and, hopefully feel for himself, the extent of the deep community frustration caused by NYU’s repeated refusals to cooperatively engage the community and begin a dialogue aimed at repairing the relationship between NYU and this Community; and8. Should NYU fail to address these issues in a substantive fashion, within 30 days of NYU’s receipt of this motion, CB3 shall rightfully assume that NYU does not wish to engage in a meaningful discussion with our community and that NYU’s commitment to this community must be seriously questioned. |
NYU Slammed by Community Board for Breaking Promises on Dorm Plan: On Tuesday night, Community Board #3 unanimously passed a resolution roundly rebuking NYU for its failure to maintain its commitments to the public and moving ahead with a 262 ft. tall mega-dorm on East 12th Street. The strongly worded resolution said that NYU “failed to engage in a meaningful and constructive dialogue with this community…[and] completely failed to adopt any of the recommendations made by community groups.” The Board went on to express what it called its “extreme outrage over NYU’s actions” and called upon the University to, among other things, change its plans for the development and to finally offer a public position regarding the effort to rezone the Third Avenue corridor and blocks to the west in order to prevent further similar inappropriate development (this is the only part of the East Village the City is refusing to rezone, seemingly protecting NYU’s interest in further developing these blocks).
GVSHP and community groups had attended the Community Board hearing and urged adoption of such a resolution. In August, GVSHP, community groups, and State Senator Tom Duane and City Councilmember Rosie Mendez held a protest condemning NYU for many of the same reasons (CLICK HERE for press release).
HOW TO HELP:
To join GVSHP or support our preservation efforts, CLICK HERE.
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CLICK HERE for AM New York Story on Court Case against Proposed NYU dorm.
CLICK HERE for GVSHP Op-Ed in the Villager Pushing for Rezoning the East Village to Prevent More Mega-Dorm Development.
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NYU East 12th Street Dorm Under Construction
PRESERVATION ALERT
from the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation
August 7, 2006
GVSHP, NEIGHBORS, ELECTED OFFICIALS PROTEST NYU’s PLANS FOR 260 ft. tall DORM --
Building would be tallest in East Village;
NYU accused of reneging on promise to incorporate community concerns into plan
Opposition to NYU Mega-Dorm: In late 2005, NYU announced plans to build a 26-story mega-dorm on the site of the demolished St. Ann’s Church, on East 12th Street between 3rd and 4th Avenues. While GVSHP and neighbors expressed extreme concern about the plan, NYU publicly pledged to handle this building project “differently” than those in the past, and to take the concerns expressed by the community about this project and try to integrate them into the final design plan. After providing NYU with such feedback -- particularly concerns about the size and height of the project -- GVSHP and neighbors waited to hear back from NYU about the status of the plan, and what decisions had been made. Over the months, inquiries to NYU about the status of the project received no response.
Then in late July, GVSHP and neighbors found out that, without informing them, NYU had filed building plans for the project and was beginning construction. After getting copies of the building plans from the Department of Buildings, GVSHP and neighbors were shocked to discover that NYU had not made a single change to the design plan, and that if anything the building would be taller than NYU had originally led the public to believe.
On August 2nd, GVSHP was joined by State Senator Tom Duane, Councilmember Rosie Mendez, and more than 60 neighbors in the sweltering heat to protest NYU’s reneging on its promise and moving ahead with this totally inappropriate mega-dorm plan. The protest generated positive media coverage on NY1 News, in the Villager, the Village Voice, on Channel 5 News, WBAI, and WFUV.
GVSHP also wrote to NYU President John Sexton urging him to scrap the current plans for the dorm and come back to the table with neighborhood residents to discuss a more appropriate and acceptable design. Sexton and NYU have thus far refused to respond.
In the absence of any real dialogue with NYU and any willingness on their part to make substantive changes, GVSHP is working with neighbors who are looking at all options available, including legal ones. GVSHP is also stepping up its efforts to press the City to force NYU to find locations OUTSIDE of the already-oversaturated Village should they expand in the future. GVSHP is also pressing the City to include the 3rd and 4th Avenue corridors, where the East 12th Street site is located, in a tentatively planned rezoning of the East Village, so that outrageously out-of-scale developments such as this one would no longer be allowed in this area. The City has thus far not supported either initiative.
HOW TO HELP:
To join GVSHP or support our preservation efforts, CLICK HERE.
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CLICK HERE for NY1's report
CLICK HERE for Village Voice coverage
CLICK HERE for an article from The Villager
PRESS RELEASE
For immediate release August 2, 2006
Contact: Andrew Berman 917-533-1767 or 212-475-9585 x38
VILLAGERS PROTEST NYU MEGA-DORM CONSTRUCTION,
CALLING IT TOTALLY INAPPROPRIATE FOR NEIGHBORHOOD
and SLAM UNIVERSITY FOR BREAKING COMMITMENTS
TO MAKE CHANGES TO DESIGN
Manhattan – The Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation (GVSHP), State Senator Tom Duane, City Councilmember Rosie Mendez, and scores of neighbors held a press conference today in front of the construction site of NYU’s planned 260-ft. tall dormitory, which will be by far the tallest building in the East Village. Neighbors protested the gargantuan size and height of the dorm, as well as the fact that the dorm would be even larger than they had been told it would be, that the university had reneged on its commitment to make revisions to the plan to address community concerns about height and design, and that construction moved ahead without the university even sharing with the community what decisions they had made about the dormitory plan.
In late 2005, NYU announced they were planning to build a 26-story dormitory at this location, which met with huge protest. But the university promised to set up a working group to meet with community residents to hear what their concerns were and to try to address at least some of the concerns in the design. Revisions proposed by the community included bringing the dorm out to the street to eliminate the plaza, making the building lower and squatter, and reducing the size and bulk of the building. NYU promised to get back to the community with details on what the final design would look like.
After several months of no word from NYU, however, community groups saw that permits had been issued for construction of the 26-story building on the site, and construction began last week. When NYU refused to share information, community groups were able to attain copies of the plans for the NYU dorm through the Department of Buildings; those plans showed that no changes whatsoever were made to the design, and the planned building was somewhat taller than residents had been led to believe by NYU.
“In a long history of bad faith dealings that NYU has had with this community, this may be one of the worst,” said GVSHP Executive Director Andrew Berman. “Only in NYU’s mind could a 260-ft. tall dorm on a residential side street like this be considered appropriate. Only in NYU’s mind could a design as horrendous as this be considered a contribution to the neighborhood. We all entered negotiations with NYU in good faith, believing them when they said that they would try to integrate community suggestions into the design. We didn’t expect to get everything, but we thought we would get something. Instead, we got less than nothing – they moved ahead with plans without telling us, and apparently understated how tall the dorm would be. It’s outrageous,” added Berman.
NYU has built more than a dozen new high-rises in the area between 2nd and 6th avenues in the last 20 years, and now occupies all or part of about 100 buildings in the neighborhood. This, however, would be by far the tallest of any of NYU’s development in the last 40 years.
Community groups such as GVSHP and the St. Ann’s Committee have been calling upon NYU and the City to find alternative locations for their ongoing and enormous expansion outside of the Village. Both groups have also called upon the City to rezone this area to prevent further totally inappropriate development like this on these blocks; currently the City plans to rezone much of the East Village to reduce the height of allowable new development, but has excluded these blocks from the rezoning.
“If nothing else, I hope that NYU’s actions will make clear to the City that NYU is a bad neighbor, and does not respect its own commitments any more than it does the wishes of its neighbors. I hope that from this the City will cease to protect NYU as it has been and instead protect our neighborhood from their ceaseless overdevelopment,” stated GVSHP Executive Director Andrew Berman.
In addition to today’s demonstration, GVSHP Executive Director Andrew Berman sent a letter to NYU President John sexton condemning the university’s actions and calling upon NYU to go back to the drawing board with this plan.
GVSHP letters regarding proposed NYU Dorm
GVSHP Letter to City Planning re: Need to Rezone East Village in Light of NYU Dorm Plan
Additional media coverage on proposed NYU Dorm
Village Voice Article, March 8, 2006
Metro NY Article on NYU Dorm Plan, 12/7/05
Villager Article on NYU Dorm Plan 12/1/05