Community Board 6 and many elected officials who represent East Midtown presented an alternate scheme for the redevelopment of the Con Ed facilities along the East River south of the United Nations last night at a public meeting.
Sheldon H. Solow, the developer, has submitted plans to the city that call for the erection of a 864-foot-high office and residential tower on the southeast corner of First Avenue and 41st Street, a 528-foot-foot residential tower further east on 41st Street, a 836-foot tower on the west side of First Avenue between 39th and 40th Streets, a 792-foot-high tower on the southeast corner of First Avenue and 39th Street and a 578-foot-high tower further east on 39th Street and calls for two residential towers east of First Avenue between 35th and 36th Streets.
The main group of towers would be clustered around a large ice-skating rink and pavilion and a central, landscaped plaza, all on properties that he has contracted to buy from the utility. The United Nations Secretariat Building, one of the city¿s most important landmarks, is 505 feet tall.
Mr. Solow¿s plans call for several thousand units of housing and several hundred thousand square feet of office space.
The alternate plan was presented by John Pettit West of the land-use committee of Community Board 6 and was enthusiastically endorsed at the meeting by Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney, State Senators Liz Krueger and Thomas K. Duane, City Council Members Rosie Mendez, Jessica Lappin and Daniel R. Garodnick, and Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer. Mr. Garodnick chaired the meeting that was held at the NYU Medical Center at 550 First Avenue.
The alternate plan would permit only residential uses on the sites and limited building heights to 400 feet. It also called for the inclusion of affordable housing, a new public elementary school, the creation of public, not private, streets at 39th and 40th Streets east of First Avenue, the creation of a new waterfront park on land that has been used as a parking lot by the utility, the removal of the elevated exit ramp for the FDR Drive at 42nd Street and the decking over of the drive from 38th to 41st Streets to create new public open space.
Mr. Solow¿s plans are based on the city approving a floor-to-area-ratio (F.A.R.) of 12. The board¿s plan, on the other hand, is based on a F.A.R. of only 6, but with bonuses of 2 F.A.R. each for providing an easement along the FDR drive to facilitate its realignment and eventual decking over and waterfront access, affordable housing, and preservation of some of the existing powerplants.
Several speakers noted, however, that the very recent start of demolition of one of the powerplants, as shown in the photograph at the right, that groups such as the Municipal Arts Society were hoping to save, has removed the possibility of that bonus for the Solow scheme in the board¿s plan.
Mr. Gardonick told the 300 or so people in attendance that the elected representatives ¿are standing solidly together for a reasonable and responsible¿ development and he and the other elected officials urged them to attend a ¿scoping session¿ for the project¿s environmental impact statement that will be held by the City Planning Commission March 28. All the elected officials suggested that the City Planning Commission be urged to specifically include many environmental factors in a new study as the City Council can ultimately act only on factors cited in the study.
Congresswoman Maloney said that the Solow plan to put open space inside a cluster of towers ¿is almost insulting,¿ adding that ¿we¿re so hungry for open space¿ but not ¿behind large, forbidding buildings.¿ She said she and the elected officials at the meeting would draft a letter to various public agencies demanding that they meet quickly to consider ways of creating decks over the drive.
Sheldon H. Solow, the developer, has submitted plans to the city that call for the erection of a 864-foot-high office and residential tower on the southeast corner of First Avenue and 41st Street, a 528-foot-foot residential tower further east on 41st Street, a 836-foot tower on the west side of First Avenue between 39th and 40th Streets, a 792-foot-high tower on the southeast corner of First Avenue and 39th Street and a 578-foot-high tower further east on 39th Street and calls for two residential towers east of First Avenue between 35th and 36th Streets.
The main group of towers would be clustered around a large ice-skating rink and pavilion and a central, landscaped plaza, all on properties that he has contracted to buy from the utility. The United Nations Secretariat Building, one of the city¿s most important landmarks, is 505 feet tall.
Mr. Solow¿s plans call for several thousand units of housing and several hundred thousand square feet of office space.
The alternate plan was presented by John Pettit West of the land-use committee of Community Board 6 and was enthusiastically endorsed at the meeting by Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney, State Senators Liz Krueger and Thomas K. Duane, City Council Members Rosie Mendez, Jessica Lappin and Daniel R. Garodnick, and Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer. Mr. Garodnick chaired the meeting that was held at the NYU Medical Center at 550 First Avenue.
The alternate plan would permit only residential uses on the sites and limited building heights to 400 feet. It also called for the inclusion of affordable housing, a new public elementary school, the creation of public, not private, streets at 39th and 40th Streets east of First Avenue, the creation of a new waterfront park on land that has been used as a parking lot by the utility, the removal of the elevated exit ramp for the FDR Drive at 42nd Street and the decking over of the drive from 38th to 41st Streets to create new public open space.
Mr. Solow¿s plans are based on the city approving a floor-to-area-ratio (F.A.R.) of 12. The board¿s plan, on the other hand, is based on a F.A.R. of only 6, but with bonuses of 2 F.A.R. each for providing an easement along the FDR drive to facilitate its realignment and eventual decking over and waterfront access, affordable housing, and preservation of some of the existing powerplants.
Several speakers noted, however, that the very recent start of demolition of one of the powerplants, as shown in the photograph at the right, that groups such as the Municipal Arts Society were hoping to save, has removed the possibility of that bonus for the Solow scheme in the board¿s plan.
Mr. Gardonick told the 300 or so people in attendance that the elected representatives ¿are standing solidly together for a reasonable and responsible¿ development and he and the other elected officials urged them to attend a ¿scoping session¿ for the project¿s environmental impact statement that will be held by the City Planning Commission March 28. All the elected officials suggested that the City Planning Commission be urged to specifically include many environmental factors in a new study as the City Council can ultimately act only on factors cited in the study.
Congresswoman Maloney said that the Solow plan to put open space inside a cluster of towers ¿is almost insulting,¿ adding that ¿we¿re so hungry for open space¿ but not ¿behind large, forbidding buildings.¿ She said she and the elected officials at the meeting would draft a letter to various public agencies demanding that they meet quickly to consider ways of creating decks over the drive.
Architecture Critic
Carter Horsley
Since 1997, Carter B. Horsley has been the editorial director of CityRealty. He began his journalistic career at The New York Times in 1961 where he spent 26 years as a reporter specializing in real estate & architectural news. In 1987, he became the architecture critic and real estate editor of The New York Post.
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