Trials and Tribulations of Building in New York

Big developments in New York have always been contovercial, and those now approved or already under construction are no exception. Here is a look at of three of the biggest.

Trump in Soho
Donald Trump is at it again! In partnership with the Bayrock Group and Tamir Sapir, he is building a condo-hotel, which will have 411 rooms, at 246 Spring Street, between Varick Street and Sixth Avenue. The luxury hotel, which at 454 feet high would be the tallest structure in SoHo, will be equipped with an outdoor pool, a screening room, restaurant and cocktail lounge, members' library and event space. Envisioned as Manhattan's first ‘condo-hotel,’ every unit in the Handel Architects-designed building will be sold individually to buyers who might live there year-round, from time to time, or seasonally. All owners will be free to offer up their Rockwell Group-designed units as hotel rooms. Supporters maintain that the structure will be a hotel and that it will bring nearly 400 jobs and much needed event space to the community. Trump and his partners claim that the development requires no rezoning or variances.

Opponents claim that the Trump Tower would violate zoning laws by placing permanent residences in an area zoned for manufacturing. Community Board 2's Zoning Committee unanimously rejected the project.

The Department of Buildings approved the structure after the Bloomberg administration negotiated a deal limiting owners of the hotel's units to stays not exceeding 29 consecutive days and 120 total days per year. Opponents called the arrangement unenforceable, and said it relies on the hotel itself to provide honest records. “It's almost entirely self-regulating,” said Andrew Berman, executive director of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, which has led the opposition to the plan.

A Stadium Grows in Brooklyn
No matter how many times Bruce Ratner’s development company has its plans approved, the opposition just won’t take no for an answer. They have filed court cases challenging eminent domain ‘seizures’ and security concerns, calling on Gov. Eliot Spitzer to hold a hearing addressing security concerns connected to the project, citing the recent decision by Newark, NJ officials to close streets abutting a new arena there.

Daniel Goldstein, spokesman for Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn, a group that opposes the project, said the terror risk for the planned arena at the bustling intersection of Flatbush and Atlantic avenues, atop the borough's largest transportation hub, “is potentially far greater than that faced by the Newark arena.”

“The time for a review of the impacts of a terrorist threat against Atlantic Yards and a state hearing on the issue is now,” Goldstein said.

He said Spitzer's homeland security czar, Deputy Secretary for Public Safety Michael Balboni, should testify at such a hearing on Atlantic Yards terrorism security issues. Recently, state officials said Balboni would be happy to meet with the community to go over security concerns.

Additionally, Goldstein said the Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC), the state agency using its eminent domain powers to condemn and seize buildings on the Atlantic Yards site, including Goldstein's co-op, should “learn from Newark's lack of planning and initiate a proper review of Atlantic Yards and terrorism security.”

The ESDC said in a statement that the plans for Atlantic Yards have been thoroughly reviewed by anti-terror experts at the New York Police Department.

Opponents aren’t faring too well on the appelate front, either. The state appellate court in Manhattan has affirmed that a tenant lawsuit challenging proposed Atlantic Yards condemnations should have been filed in the Brooklyn appellate court.

Las Coney
Thor Equities, the real-estate giant that bought the land under the Astroland Amusement Park from owner Carol Albert in 2006 and gave Astroland one final season this summer, announced recently that it had reached an agreement with Albert to keep her park's 35 rides operating for one more season.

“Thor is fully committed to keeping amusements and games as part of the fabric of Coney Island for decades to come, and this agreement—reached after discussions with Albert and the community as a whole—represents the first step in that direction,” said Joe Sitt, Thor's president, who would not reveal the financials of the deal.

Astroland supporters hailed the deal.

“Astroland represents a very tangible link to the 1960s and 1970s,” said Michael Immerso, author of “Coney Island: the People's Playground.”

“It really embodies the old Coney Island.”

Dick Zigun, the de facto Mayor of Coney Island and the founder of the Coney Island Circus Sideshow, called it “terrific news,” particularly because it would save 300 carnival jobs filled by “poor people from the area.”

This marks the latest development in a saga as topsy-turvy as the Cyclone rollercoaster (which Sitt can't touch thanks to its landmark status, by the way).

Sitt has been buying land in and around Astroland for years, and says he wants to turn the People's Playground into a $1.5-billion, Las Vegas style hotel, condo, theme park and retail attraction.