21-FEB-08

Community board 4 concerned over subway extension funding

Community Board 4 send a letter February 8 to Elliot G. Sander, the executive director and chief executive officer of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, and Robert C. Lieber, New York City Deputy Mayor for Economic Development, stating that it is "profoundly concerned that the MTA and the City are beginning the first phase of the extension of the No. 7 subway line without having the funding in place for the completion of the project, including the stop at Tenth Avenue and West 41st Street or a provision for cost overruns."

As currently planned, the proposed extension from the Times Square Station at 42nd Street would have one stop at 34th Street and 11th Avenue, close to the Javits Convention Center, whose expansion plans are now uncertain.

The extension was initially planned to facilitate access from midtown to a proposed new football stadium over the MTA's west side rail yards between 31st and 33rd Streets. The city at the time rezoned the area between the rail yards and 42nd Street to accommodate very and very dense substantial new residential and commercial development.

Many local elected officials sent a letter December 20 to then Deputy Mayor for Economic Development Daniel Doctoroff declaring that plans to extend the 7 subway line 1.1 miles from Times Square to Javits Convention Center and the MTA's West Side railyards without creating a station at Tenth Avenue and 41st Street is "a profound mistake, inconsistent with public promises and an invitation to fiscal irresponsibility."

Not building that station, they argued, "would represent a failure to provide for the area's growing residential population" and "would also put at risk several million square feet of potential commercial and residential development, which would generate substantial direct and indirect economic benefits for the City."

The elected officials who signed the letter were Senator Charles E. Schumer, City Controller William C. Thompson Jr., City Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum, Congressmen Jerrold Nadler and Anthony Weiner, Assemblyman Richard Brodsky, State Senator Tom Duane, Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer.

The letter was also signed by Gene Russianoff of the Straphangers Campaign, Kathleen Treat of the Hells Kitchen Neighborhood Association and Christine Berthet of the Clinton/Hells Kitchen Pedestrian Safety Coalition.

The plans for the extension have called for it to be financed by the City with bonds backed by anticipated payments in lieu of taxes from the development of the West Side with a total of $3.1 billion to be issued with $2.1 billion being for the extension and the remainder for infrastructure improvements on the far West Side such as the "profiling of 33rd Street, the reconstruction of the 11th Avenue viaduct, the construction of a mid-block boulevard running from 33rd to 38th Streets and the construction of parks and open space," the letter maintained.

The February letter was signed by Jean-Daniel Noland, chair of Community Board 4 and Jay Marcus and Christine Berthet, co-chairs of its transportation planning committee.

"We believe the change in environment - both in terms of spiraling construction costs threatening MTA projected capital projects and the likely slowing of commercial development during the next several years threatening the already risky HYIC financing scheme the city intended to fund the No. 7 line extension - requires that the MTA and City not proceed with this project until there is an honest plan in place to pay for the entire project. To otherwise risks wasting $1.145 billion on a tunnel that can not be turned into a subway extension because money runs out, or saddling the taxpayers and fare payers with a $1 billion cost overrun. Neither alternative is acceptable," the letter stated.

21-FEB-08

Rally for park at Solow's East River site

Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, City Councilman Dan Garodnick and some civic activists held a press conference today to campaign for a bridged park over the FDR Drive to the east of the huge mixed-use development project planned by the East River Realty Corporation, which is headed by Sheldon H. Solow on sites formerly owned by Con Edison on First Avenue south of the United Nations.

The officials and activists displayed a large rendering of a concept design prepared for the Municipal Art Society and shown at the right for such a park that was created by six landscape architects at a charette last spring. The proposal would require the city to give Mr. Solow an easement to modify his plans to accommodate the park.

A lot of things need to happen to turn the "concept of the park into a reality," according to Frank Sanchez, the vice president of the Municipal Arts Society.

The park design includes a bridge running over the FDR Drive from Mr. Solow's building to the East River. The speakers at today's rally indicated that Mr. Solow would need an easement to modify his building plans to accommodate the park.

An article by Lysandra Ohrstrom in today's online edition of The New York Observer quoted Charles Buchwald, a member of Community Board 6 and the East Midtown Coalition for Sensible Development that "The city has to push to get it done."

"Without the easement," Mr. Buchwald continued, "we wouldn't be able to build the bridge from Solow's property over the FDR. He said he'd be open to it, but that no one from the city has asked him to do anything about it so the state and city need to make this a priority."

The city has funds to renovate the FDR Drive, but lowering the "world's largest exit ramp," Mr. Garodnick was quoted as saying in the article, will require revised funding commitments from all stakeholders.

According to the article, Mr. Sanchez declared that he does not "believe the city is opposed to the park, but Mr. Solow is willing to grant the easement, so they just have to ask him and this is the moment to do that."

The City Council is holding a public hearing on the plan on Monday, February 25th at 3:00 PM in the City Council Chambers.

The recently revised plans of the East River Realty Corporation for the redevelopment of the former Con Edison sites on First Avenue south of the United Nations did not quell many objections from community activists at a recent hearing on the project held by Mr. Stringer.

Elected officials and community leaders announced November 5, 2007 commitments from the corporation for the inclusion of permanently affordable housing as well as dedicated space for a new public school at the project.

The concessions marked a significant breakthrough for the elected officials and community, who put affordable housing and a new school for about 650 students high on their list of conditions before they would begin considering the developer's proposal to rezone his properties from low-scale manufacturing zoning to high-density mixed-use.

Under the revised plans of the East River Realty Company, Mr. Solow's concern for the project, properties being upzoned would become part of a new "inclusionary housing" area, which will require the development to devote 20 percent of its floor area to permanently affordable housing.

The plan by ERRC had previously had no provision for affordable units. The space being provided for a school is large enough to house a K-8 school of some 650 students.

The development consists of two separated parcels fronting on First Avenue between 35th and 41st Streets. The proposed park along the East River would be next to the larger and northern parcel.

15-FEB-08

Hearing scheduled on expansion plans for Javits center

New York State Senator John J. Flanagan has scheduled a public hearing February 28 at 10 AM to study plans for the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center.

Mr. Flanagan is chairman of the Senate Committee on Corporations, Authorities and Commissions and the hearing will be held in the Senate Hearing Room, Room 1920, at 250 Broadway.

In a press release today, Mr. Flanagan said that the hearing was "to protect the interests of all New York State residents and the financial future of the tourism, hotel, restaurant, entertainment, and trade show industries of our region."

The Spitzer administration has stated that a significant expansion on the site does not make economic sense, and that a ideal expansion would cost would cost around $5 billion, compared with the $1.68 billion approved in 2006 for expansion.

"A main focus of the hearing," his statement maintained, "will be the status of the expansion and renovation of the center and will probe into the future prospects of this vital exposition center. Specifically, the committee will look into the recent proposal by Governor Eliot Spitzer's administration to sell state-owned land that would have been the grounds for the expansion of the center. Any sale of the two parcels of land that border the current center on the north and south would render any future expansion of the convention center, which currently ranks as the 16th in size in the nation, nearly impossible."

The proposed sale of this state-owned property is in contrast to Governor Spitzer's 2007 call to make the Javits Center the "thoroughbred" of convention centers. Senator Flanagan and the committee will be examining the rationale of selling the land and the impact that the sale would have on the future of any development at convention center.

The committee will also look into the question of where the revenue from the sale would be targeted.

"The reality is that the sale of this land," Senator Flanagan declared, "will basically eliminate any chance of future expansion of this important tourism hub and the administration needs to proceed with caution and with full disclosure."

The Javits centered opened in 1986 and was designed by James Ingo Freed of I. M. Pei & Partners. The "crystal palace" design was then widely praised. In 1989, Paul Goldberger, then architecture critic of The New York Times, described it as a "stunning palace of glass that has spectacular lobby spaces and public areas, but exhibition spaces and meeting rooms that are no more appealing to spend time in than those of its lesser competitors."

In 2005, the state selected Renzo Piano in 2005 to design an expansion that would significantly alter its front and press reports have recently documented its leaking roof. Construction costs for the expansion, however, have since soared incredibly.

In their fine book, "The A.I.A. Guide to New York City, Fourth Edition," Eliot Willensky and Norval White wrote that "this shiny black multifaceted set of forms conjures thoughts of geodes, those geological broken remnants that are wondrous but opaque," adding that "at night, glowing lights give a sense of the Center's sometime transparency; by day the building might just as well be a set of opaque obsidian prisms."

When it was built, the major competition for large conventions, the object of great desire by many cities for their economic impact, came primarily from Chicago and Las Vegas.

Mayor Bloomberg has indicated that he is opposed to the Spitzer Administration's plan to sell off the two land parcels as such a sale would preclude significant future expansion of the center, which is at the heart of major development for the Far West Midtown area.

15-FEB-08

Marketing starts at 459 West 18th Street

A sales office has opened for the 11-story, 10-unit residential condominium building planned at 459 West 18th Street.

The building has been designed by Della Valle + Bernheimer Design, which has also designe the new building at 245 Tenth Avenue.

This building is just to the west of another new residential condominium development, The Chelsea Modern, designed by Audrey Matlock, which has an angled glass facade and windows that open by extending outwards.

"Rather than look to the past as a reference, Della Valle + Bernheimer chose to respond to the design of an adjacent...building by architect Audrey Matlock...[that is all delicate planes and irregular surfaces," said partner Jared Della Valle. "Ours is about mass, determined by the building's L-shaped plan and setbacks," he continued.

"Severe in its mass, profile, and detail, 459 West 18th street strives to achieve two different experiences. On one hand the project conveys a strong sense of place to would-be home owners in a neighborhood that is both new and constantly evolving and on the other hand possess[es a sense of tranquility and quiet through its careful detail and muted interior palette," according to the architects.

The building's facade is comprised of black composite aluminum panels and fritted glass and the architects note that "punctures through the mass for fenestration are expressed as extruded collars."

The building, which has angled setbacks near the top, will have a part-time doorman, central air-conditioning and heating, and keyed elevator. Most apartments will have 9-foot-4-inch ceilings, recessing ceiling lights, and kitchen fixtures and cabinetry designed by Della Valle Bernheimer for RIFRA, and Bosch dishwashers. The penthouse units will have 10-foot-5-inch ceilings and wood-burning fireplaces and Miele ovens and Ipe wood decking on the terraces.

459 W 18th St. LLC, of which Jared Della Valle is an officer and Robert Ricciardelli is a managing member is the developer.

11-FEB-01

Construction underway at the Mirada at 161 East 110th Street

Construction is underway for the 68-unit residential condominium building at 161 East 110th Street in East Harlem.

The project is known as the Mirada.

Karl Fisher is the architect.

The Denali Construction company of which Shairaz Sanjara is the president is the developer.

The red-brick building has a two-story rusticated base, a 24-hour concierge, a rooftop terrace, a fitness center and parking. It has arched windows on the second, the seventh and the eighth floors.

It is half a block from the 6 subway line and near a post office and a library and it is not far from Central Park.

A studio apartment with 536 square feet is priced at $399,900. A one-bedroom, two-bath apartment with 970 square feet is priced at $659,900. A two-bedroom, two-bath penthouse unit with 1,167 square feet and 55 square feet of terrace is priced at $849,900.

Kitchens have maple cabinetry and GE Profile appliances and Ivory Fantasy granite countertops. Bathrooms have Diano Reale marble walls, and cast-iron tubs.