Mayor’s City Planning Officials Say
“University Place, Broadway, 3rd & 4th Ave Corridors Good Place For Large Hotels, Office Bldgs., and High Rises”
SEND THE MAYOR A MESSAGE!
One version of 300 or more ft. tall office tower contemplated for 799 B’way (at 11th Street)
Following last month’s Town Hall where Mayor de Blasio finally directed his City Planning officials to meet with GVSHP about overdevelopment between 3rd and 5th Avenues and zoning changes we’ve called for to stop it, we met this past Friday.
At that meeting, we asked those officials if they thought the 285 ft. tall luxury condo rising at University Place and 12th Street, the 300 (or more) foot tall office building being contemplated for Broadway and 11th Street, or the 311-room hotel with multiple bars and clubs rising on East 11th between 3rd and 4th Avenues were appropriate for this area. We also asked if more of the same, which the current zoning promotes and the Mayor’s planned ‘Tech Hub’ on nearby 14th Street would encourage more of, would also be appropriate for this area.
311-room hotel under construction on E. 11th St. btw. 3rd & 4th Aves, with multiple bars, replacing nearly one hundred units of housing.
To our surprise and dismay, their emphatic response was that they saw these types development as completely appropriate for this area, and hoped to see more of it.
That’s right – the Mayor wants to see more high rises of 300 feet or greater in the area, more large office developments on residential blocks, and more hotels with hundreds of rooms replacing residential buildings and affordable housing. And his officials believe that is preferable to our proposed zoning changes, which would reinforce and protect the residential character of the area, place caps on the height of new development (there are currently no height caps for the area west of 4th Avenue), and encourage the preservation and creation of affordable housing.
This unfortunately tells us what we knew all along – this Mayor will not agree to rezone and protect this neighborhood, unless he is forced to as a condition for approval of his Tech Hub on 14th Street by the City Council.
285 ft. tall condo tower nearing completion at University Pl. & 12th St.
HERE’S WHAT YOU CAN DO:
Send a message to the Mayor that our neighborhoods are not meant for high-rise condos or huge office or hotel developments:
Send a message to the Borough President that she MUST condition her support for the Tech Hub on zoning protections for the surrounding neighborhood:
Send a message to Community Board #3, which has STILL not supported zoning protections for the area, and has some members who adamantly support the Tech Hub regardless of whether it accelerates overdevelopment in the surrounding area or if zoning protections to prevent such overdevelopment are included:
Find out more here.
