City pulls permits on tricky tower-boost try
BY GABE HERMAN
Last month, the Department of
Buildings revoked permits for a
condo tower that was set to soar
on W. 66th St.
But this wasn’t your typical tower.
Extell Development Company, which
is constructing the high-rise, at 50 W.
66th St., between Central Park West
and Columbus Ave., was accused by
opponents of exploiting zoning loopholes
to build a “supertall” building
that would rise 775 feet yet have just
40 stories.
A large “void” space in the building
was set be used to save allowable fl oorarea
ratio, or F.A.R., while allowing the
developer to build more units higher up
with better views that would command
higher prices.
D.O.B. said in a statement to this
paper that the planned void is unusual
and also potentially dangerous.
“D.O.B. determined that the 160-
foot void proposed for this building is
not customarily found in residential
buildings, and so is contrary to the
Zoning Resolution,” the statement said.
“In addition, we have raised objections,
which the developer has not addressed,
that occupants of the building may
not be able to get from one emergency
stairway to the other — as is required
— within the proposed void.”
The original approved tower plans
were for a 25-story building, which,
according to D.O.B., Extell still has
the right to continue to construct. But
the department said that the developer
must bring back amended plans that
address the large mechanical space in
the building if it wants to move forward
with the bigger 40-story project.
The “supertall” plan was vehemently
opposed by local activists and offi -
cials, including Councilmember Helen
Rosenthal, the W. 65th and 66th Sts.
Block Association, and Manhattan Borough
President Gale Brewer.
“I applaud the decision by D.O.B. to
revoke the permits for Extell’s proposed
supertall tower on W. 66th St.,” Brewer
said. “From the beginning, I have opposed
the developer’s decision to use a
monstrous 160-foot void to boost the
number of condos with views — and
boost sale prices — while robbing the
community of sunlight and air. By
ruling that a mechanical space with a
fl oor-to-fl oor height of 160 feet is not
an ‘accessory use’ allowed under zoning,
D.O.B. correctly interpreted both
the letter and the intent of the city’s
zoning code.”
By “fl oor-to-fl oor height,” Brewer
was referring to the distance from the
void’s bottom to its top. F.A.R. calculates
a building’s square footage by the
amount of physical fl oor space. So even
if the void is 160 feet tall, it only counts
as one fl oor’s worth of F.A.R., allowing
the developer to add more F.A.R. — as
A rendering of the supertall tower planned at 50 W. 66th St., in the
version that would have exploited a 160-foot-high “void” to allow taller
construction. Rendering courtesy Extell
Work was already underway on the project’s foundation when the permits
were pulled. Photo by Chris Giordano
in, more real fl oors — above it, until
the F.A.R. limit, under the site’s zoning,
is reached.
Chris Giordano is the founder and
president of the W. 65th and 66th Sts.
Block Association.
“Our community is grateful to the
hard work and guidance we’ve received
from community group Landmark
West, zoning lawyer George Janes,
Manhattan Borough President Gale
Brewer and Roberta Semer of Community
Board 7,” Giordano said. “We’re
also pleased that the Department of
Buildings is recognizing that it is not
acceptable for developers to exploit
loopholes like oversized intrabuilding
voids. Our community plans to remain
vigilant.”
Work had already begun on the development
site at 50 W. 66th St. at the
time of the stop-work order.
“They appear to be very close to fi nishing
the excavation phase of the project,”
Giordano noted.
Extell could not be reached for comment
about the permits being revoked.
Several other supertall buildings
have been built or proposed in Lower
and Midtown Manhattan, with voids
being a favored tool of developers to
boost their projects’ height, and “get
around” F.A.R. limits.
“This is a victory not only for the
Upper West Side, but for communities
all over the city that fi nd themselves
outgunned by developers who try to
bend or break zoning rules for massive
private profi t,” Brewer said. “My offi
ce will continue to work with the City
Council to urge the Department of City
Planning to amend the Zoning Resolution
so that communities do not have to
resort to permit challenges every time a
building like this is proposed.”
Brewer also co-signed a Jan. 10 letter
with all 10 Manhattan city councilmembers
that asked City Planning
and D.O.B. to comprehensively address
zoning loopholes that Brewer and the
pols say developers are using in projects.
“The race for the most sweeping
view of New York City and the equally
stratospheric prices those views command,
combined with recent technological
advances in building design,
have far outpaced the expectations of
building scale when the zoning in many
of the areas was adopted,” the joint letter
read. “In these instances, the bulk
regulations are not controlling for
building scale and we are concerned
this is the beginning of the wave of this
kind of development.
“We recognize the need for density
to achieve very important public policy
goals, including housing production,”
the letter continued. “But the loopholes
that are being exploited do not produce
any new housing units. The loopholes
simply put the same number of units
higher in the sky, not only frustrating
communities but also raising safety
concerns from our emergency-service
workers.”
The elected offi cials’ letter urged
that the defi nitions of zoning lots be
tightened up to prevent “gerrymandering”
of lots — when a developer tacks
on the F.A.R. of a lot that can’t be built
on itself but allows for more fl oor area
at the planned building site.
A City Planning spokesperson said
the department had received the letter
and was looking into the request. Subsequently,
later last month, City Planning
proposed a zoning amendment
under which voids more than 25 feet
tall would count toward the building’s
F.A.R.
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