TenantNet Forum

Where tenants can seek help and help others



high rise hotel in east village

Relating to Department of Buildings, Development and Zoning

Moderator: TenantNet

high rise hotel in east village

Postby zara » Fri Apr 14, 2006 4:45 am

Alot of people are getting concerned about the construction of a 21 story hotel in the vicinity of 3rd avenue between 5th and 6th streets in the East Village. (Most buildings don't go above 5 stories.) Besides completely blocking the views of everyone anywhere near the hotel, it will bring extreme congestion to an area that is already congested. It would also completely change the character of the neighborhood.

Any ideas on what to do about this are welcome.

Thanks.
zara
 
Posts: 26
Joined: Tue Nov 01, 2005 2:01 am
Location: new york city

Re: high rise hotel in east village

Postby Downtown » Fri Apr 14, 2006 8:18 am

The obvious answer is to organize. Go to community board meetings. Contact city council rep....also State reps.
Research the developer. Also why a 21 story building is being allowed.
Downtown
 
Posts: 1386
Joined: Sat Jun 08, 2002 1:01 am
Location: NYC, NY

Re: high rise hotel in east village

Postby HAJ77 » Fri Apr 14, 2006 9:11 am

Sorry I got confused, I mixed it up with a project on Bowery/3rd

<small>[ April 14, 2006, 11:55 AM: Message edited by: HJ ]</small>
HAJ77
 
Posts: 188
Joined: Tue May 07, 2002 1:01 am
Location: NYC

Re: high rise hotel in east village

Postby Anna » Fri Apr 14, 2006 10:51 am

There are 6 lots on the east side of 3rd bet 5th/6th sts: please post BBL or address or post the permits or denials of applications from nyc.gov/dob
(the west side of the avenue is 4th ave; addresses list 'Cooper Square' not 3rd or 4th.
Anna
 
Posts: 2538
Joined: Mon Jul 22, 2002 1:01 am
Location: Manhattan

Re: high rise hotel in east village

Postby dirae » Fri Apr 14, 2006 12:07 pm

Are you talking about the monstrosity that has gone up on 3rd st and Bowery? That started out as an alleged "dorm" and has suddenly morphed into a luxury hotel. Also, down the block at 81 east 3rd st, another developer, using the "community use" provision that allows developers to build above the zoning allowance, claimed he was building a dorm, but had no contract with any school. (NY Law school leased the space after the fact, but the case is still at the BSA).

"Community Use" is basically another loophole scam for developers. They claim something is going to be a community facility, or buy a building that is designated as one (Charas) use all of tax breaks and zoning variances that go with it, and then turn around and make some kind of excuse for having to turn it into luxury housing or a hotel.

Expecting the DOB to monitor them is like asking a sheep to guard a pack of wolves
dirae
 
Posts: 142
Joined: Wed Feb 16, 2005 2:01 am

Re: high rise hotel in east village

Postby zara » Sat Apr 15, 2006 4:34 am

The addresses are 31 and 29 Cooper Square. The permit #'s are 103828850-01-DM and 103828869-01-DM.
zara
 
Posts: 26
Joined: Tue Nov 01, 2005 2:01 am
Location: new york city

Re: high rise hotel in east village

Postby Anna » Sat Apr 15, 2006 11:23 pm

see cover story in Sunday NYTimes Real Estate section:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/16/realestate/16cov.html?

April 16, 2006
How Big Is Too Big?
By WILLIAM NEUMAN

IT is not hard to spot the buildings that Robert M. Scarano Jr., an architect, has designed in New York City: they tend to be a lot bigger than the other buildings around them.

In Williamsburg, Brooklyn, Mr. Scarano's building at 78 Ten Eyck Street is about twice as tall as the modest three-story houses on either side of it. In the East Village, the new building at 4 East Third Street, at the Bowery, rises to 16 stories, far above the other buildings on the block, including a row of 18th-century town houses.
...
Kevin Shea, a lawyer and expediter who helps architects and building owners negotiate the labyrinth of zoning rules and Buildings Department procedures, has been waging a campaign against Mr. Scarano's 16-story building on East Third Street at the Bowery.

Along the way, he said, he has confronted what he contends is a willingness of the Buildings Department to ignore apparent zoning violations or to find creative ways to make zoning rules fit Mr. Scarano's building, rather than the other way around.

Mr. Shea submitted a brief to the city's Board of Standards and Appeals last November detailing numerous objections to the building, which he says has many zoning violations and substantially more square footage than should be allowed. This building is also separate from the city's disciplinary case with Mr. Scarano, and largely involves different zoning issues.

To what degree it may be overbuilt depends partly on what the building is used for. That is because the zoning rules allow different amounts of square footage for apartments, for which it was originally designed, than for hotel rooms, for which it is currently being reconfigured.

Mr. Shea contends that it is too big in any case. "I think four floors should come off the top," he said.

An interest in the building was sold last year to the group of developers that created the fashionable Maritime Hotel on West 16th Street at Ninth Avenue. They hired a new architect and a zoning lawyer, and have been in discussions with Mr. Shea and city officials.

"This doesn't seem to be an egregious violation of the zoning," said Richard Born, one of the new investors in the project. "There are issues, but they seem to be resolvable."

Mr. Shea was reluctant to be quoted as saying anything critical of the Buildings Department, since he works with it on a regular basis, but he said he felt compelled to speak up about Mr. Scarano and what he sees as a willingness of officials to bend the rules.

Mr. Shea said he first notified the Buildings Department in May 2004 that he believed there were problems with the design of the East Third Street building. The department conducted an audit that raised numerous concerns, but after a brief halt, city officials let work proceed, and the building is now largely completed.

In his brief submitted to the Board of Standards and Appeals, Mr. Shea accuses the Buildings Department of coining novel interpretations of its own rules in an effort to let Mr. Scarano's building stand. "If the answer to how big a building is or what you can do in the construction industry is 'whatever you can get away with,' then I'm out of business," Mr. Shea said.

He said the Buildings Department had "lost control" of the honor system that allows architects and engineers to sign off on their own work. "The program rests on a promise and a threat," he said. "The promise is that of the professional, that his plans conform to the code and the zoning resolution. And the threat is that, if the Buildings Department finds out otherwise, they're either going to discipline the architect or order remedial measures to bring the building into compliance.

"Four East Third Street is what happens when an empty promise is met by an empty threat."
Anna
 
Posts: 2538
Joined: Mon Jul 22, 2002 1:01 am
Location: Manhattan

from this week's villager

Postby dirae » Fri Jun 23, 2006 1:50 pm

About the high rise hotel at Cooper Square. More people are making their voices heard in the East Village & Lower East Side communities, let's hope it's not too late

http://www.thevillager.com/villager_164 ... check.html
dirae
 
Posts: 142
Joined: Wed Feb 16, 2005 2:01 am


Return to Building Dept/Zoning Issues - NYC

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 9 guests

cron