Hell's Kitchen Online 4/26/99

[kitchen]

Hell's Kitchen Online                                4/26/99
http://hellskitchen.net "All the News the Times Won't Print"
------------------------------------------------------------
Because New York is worth saving: http://www.RetireRudy.com
------------------------------------------------------------
                  IN THIS ISSUE
------------------------------------------------------------

   1. Columbus Circle Reconfiguration
   2. Candy Factory presents new threat to Clinton Special District
   3. Candy Factory May Turn Residential -- Chelsea-Clinton News
       
------------------------------------------------------------
COLUMBUS CIRCLE RECONFIGURATION -- COMMUNITY BRIEFING
------------------------------------------------------------

The Tri-Board Task Force of Manhattan Community Boards 4, 5 and 7 is pleased to invite you to
attend this comprehensive briefing on Columbus Circle.

THURSDAY, APRIL 29, 1999
7:00 PM
AT ST. PAUL THE APOSTLE CHURCH AUDITORIUM
415 WEST 59TH STREET (COLUMBUS AVENUE)

The agenda includes...  

Summary of the Project and the 6-month Test of the New Configuration NYC Department of City
Planning

Summary of the Data and Results of the Test (July 1998 through January 1999), including vehicular
and pedestrian traffic flow analyses URS Consulting

Interim Design for the Center Space of the Circle
NYC Department of Parks and Recreation

Status of the Final Design Process for the Circle
NYC Department of Design and Construction

Community Questions and Comments 

------------------------------------------------------------
THE CANDY FACTORY -- 321 WEST 54TH STREET
NEW THREAT TO SPECIAL CLINTON DISTRICT
------------------------------------------------------------

The old Candy Factory at 321 West 54th Street, a 200-foot wide lot on the north side of the
street, midway between 8th and 9th Avenues, has recently been demolished and the owner is
proposing to construct a residential building in its place.

The lot is in the Preservation Area of the Special Clinton District (SCD), restricting new
construction to seven stories or 66 feet, whichever is less. Originally, the owner represented
that the new building would be seven stories, meeting the SCD requirements.

But a day after the owner Bettina Equities made this representation to the Chelsea Clinton News
(see below), it filed an application (that had obviously been in the works) to appeal to the New
York City Board of Standards and Appeals (BSA) to construct an eleven story building.

If approved, this would change the character of the neighborhood, adversely impact nearby
residences and further threaten the integrity of the Special District. Based on the owner's
specious arguments (uniqueness and hardship), any developer could come into the Special District
and avoid the restrictions that have kept Clinton a low-rise neighborhood for many years.

We have posted a copy of the BSA application on the web site at
http://hellskitchen.net/issues/321w54/index.html. It is in Adobe Acrobat PDF file format, but you
can obtain a free Adobe plug-in for your browser in order to read the document. Also at this link
are pertinent texts of the Zoning Resolution, City Charter and cited legal cases.

Before the BSA hears the owner's application, it must go through Community Board 4 and the Borough
Board. So far it's not on any official calendar, but CB4 is inviting the owner-developer to appear
at the next Clinton Land Use Committee meeting scheduled for May 19.

The West 55th Street Block Association will discuss this issue tonight at its regular meeting,
(Monday April 26 at 7:30 p.m. in the basement of the Sherwood, 340 West 54th Street) to discuss
specifics of the proposal and ways to organize a community response.

------------------------------------------------------------
OLD CANDY FACTORY MAY TURN RESIDENTIAL -- Chelsea-Clinton News
------------------------------------------------------------

Old Candy Factory May Turn Residential 
Bitter Sweet on 54th Street 
Chelsea Clinton News, April 22, 1999 
By Jill Grossman 

Just after World War II, the Lax brothers transported their candy business from Vienna to Hell's
Kitchen.

More than 50 years later, the two-story building where Marlon Candies produced chocolate-covered
treats from cherries to nuts to raisins, is being demolished, and a seven story residential
building has been proposed to take its place on West 54th Street.

"This has been an area we were looking get into because it has cleaned up and has lots of great
restaurants," said Rose Caiola, a principle in Bettina Equities, which purchased the property at
321 W. 54th St. in January for an undisclosed amount.

Since Rose's father founded the company 22 years ago, Bettina has developed residences along the
East Side and more locally, on West 68th Street between Central Park West and Columbus Avenue.

The old chocolate factory sits within the Clinton Special District, an area established by the
city in 1974 to limit building construction and preserve the neighborhood's mixed-income,
mixed-use and low-rise character. The zone encompasses 41st to 59th streets, roughly from Eighth
to Twelfth avenues.

Stating that the laws governing the area are too often ignored by both landlords and city housing
agencies, community advocates plan to keep a close watch on the construction at 321 W. 54th St.

"We are following this closely because we want to make sure they conform to the Clinton Special
District," said William Kelley, District Manager of Community Board 4 in Clinton, pointing to the
planting of street trees as part of his concern.

Caiola said she is aware of the special district laws, and their plans abide by them -- the
building will not exceed the seven story limit and will provide a 30-foot set back in the rear of
the building for open space for the residents.

Caiola said her company is also considering making the luxury residential building 20 percent
middle income, 80 percent market rate, a split for which developers receive public funding.

Plans have not been introduced to the community residents yet, and Kelley said he plans to invite
them to CB4's May 19 land-use committee meeting.

Some neighbors of the site, which sits across from the new Metropolitan Transportation Authority
garage now under construction, see this pending development as the first real sign of the effects
of the Eighth Avenue/Theater District rezoning proposal passed by the City Council in August. The
rezoning plan allows for an increased sale of air rights to developers by the district's theaters.
The plan faced opposition both locally and from officials and activists in Queens and Brooklyn who
fear the zoning change would only translate to a taller and denser New York.

While Bettina's property lies outside the rezoned area and does not involve air-rights sales, at
least one resident of West 55th Street, Adam Honigman, fears, "This could put pressure on other
buildings to sell to developers." Over the, last couple of weeks, Honigman has papered the block
where Bettina hopes to build with flyers urging his neighbors to get involved and call the
community board and local elected officials.

Since demolition started, employees at the Department of Buildings {DOB) have fielded complaints
from neighboring residents regarding the loud construction, some of which, they complained, was
done early one Sunday morning -- the demolition permit posted at the site allows for work Monday
through Friday, 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. According to West 55th Street Block Association President Bob
Elden, work has stopped on weekends since the complaint was made.

Meanwhile, DOB's engineers are reviewing Bettina's building proposal. Caiola said she expects the
development to be completed by the end of the year.

The former candy factory has stood vacant for the last 20 years while the founder's son, George,
toyed with the idea of building his own residential building on the property. After his father
fell sick in the 1950s, the family rented out the building to movie companies. George stopped
issuing leases to prepare for his own development dreams, but after a dip in the real estate
market in the 1970s and 1980s, he put it on the market.

"Two years ago, the phone started ringing off the hook," he recently told Chelsea Clinton News.

Lax would not disclose the selling price for the property but said he wanted to let a younger
company do what he had dreamed of doing.

Said the attorney, now based in Florida, "I figured I'd let the next guy make the buck."

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
To SUBSCRIBE or UNSUBSCRIBE to this Newsletter, send an
email to kitchen@hellskitchen.net and in the body of the
message indicate:

subscribe (your email address) or
unsubscribe (your email address)