CitizenVectron Posted February 18, 2020 Share Posted February 18, 2020 https://www.cnn.com/2020/02/15/us/200-amsterdam-tower/index.html Quote A Manhattan developer must lop off floors from its Upper West Side construction project, a New York Supreme Court judge ruled Thursday. The 55-story building would have towered over a busy residential and commercial neighborhood close to Lincoln Center and Central Park. The building currently under construction stands at 668 feet and 51 stories, according to the Municipal Art Society, one of the plaintiffs in the case. Quote Community organizations argued that the project's developer had abused the city's zoning code by cobbling together an odd assortment of lots to gain additional height. "They created a 39-sided zoning lot," Goldstein said. "You would expect to see a rectangle of some kind. You might expect it to be bigger, you might expect smaller. But you wouldn't expect it to snake across the whole block." Basically, they abused the zoning code to be approved for more units than they should have been allowed. They did it by snaking together a "lot" in this manner: Good. Punish the developer for doing something like this. Corporations shouldn't be allowed to get around the rules. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuperSpreader Posted February 18, 2020 Share Posted February 18, 2020 17 minutes ago, CitizenVectron said: https://www.cnn.com/2020/02/15/us/200-amsterdam-tower/index.html Basically, they abused the zoning code to be approved for more units than they should have been allowed. They did it by snaking together a "lot" in this manner: Good. Punish the developer for doing something like this. Corporations shouldn't be allowed to get around the rules. Neither should Congress Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
b_m_b_m_b_m Posted February 18, 2020 Share Posted February 18, 2020 What if I told you the rules were probably bullshit and we need more units not less (but mostly need more at the low end of the spectrum) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kal-El814 Posted February 18, 2020 Share Posted February 18, 2020 Sink Manhattan; problem solved. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CitizenVectron Posted February 18, 2020 Author Share Posted February 18, 2020 17 minutes ago, b_m_b_m_b_m said: What if I told you the rules were probably bullshit and we need more units not less (but mostly need more at the low end of the spectrum) One suggestion is to allow the building to be completed as planned, but use the extra floors as low-income housing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Posted February 18, 2020 Share Posted February 18, 2020 4 hours ago, b_m_b_m_b_m said: What if I told you the rules were probably bullshit and we need more units not less (but mostly need more at the low end of the spectrum) "Why does housing in new developments cost so much?", ask people pushing for retroactive unapproval of housing developments, as though the risk of such doesn't get priced into the rents. In Los Angeles there was even an instance where tenants had already fucking moved in; those people were forced out and had to find new housing on short notice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Posted February 18, 2020 Share Posted February 18, 2020 Also housing was never built at the low end, new housing was always built at the high end, but the distortions in the market today probably push things from high-end to ultra-high-end. You're supposed to get cheap housing from old housing filtering down market the same way you get good deals on used cars, but we've throttled housing construction so much that can't really happen any more. Instead we now have the housing equivalent of the Cuba situation where even ancient pre-embargo cars are valuable because it's so hard to get anything newer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
b_m_b_m_b_m Posted February 18, 2020 Share Posted February 18, 2020 6 hours ago, Jason said: Also housing was never built at the low end, new housing was always built at the high end, but the distortions in the market today probably push things from high-end to ultra-high-end. You're supposed to get cheap housing from old housing filtering down market the same way you get good deals on used cars, but we've throttled housing construction so much that can't really happen any more. Instead we now have the housing equivalent of the Cuba situation where even ancient pre-embargo cars are valuable because it's so hard to get anything newer. I'm addition, there was a building slowdown that never recovered, and also a rapid change in housing preferences Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TwinIon Posted February 18, 2020 Share Posted February 18, 2020 My understanding is that this is basically how all new skyscrapers in Manhattan have been built for decades. The gerrymandered lot for this particular tower is a bit ungainly, but the basic practice has been standard since they introduced the concept of floor area ratio and air right transfers. I read about a bunch of this stuff when the recent wave of supertalls started getting built. Here's an article on how it has been working. As that article mentions (but incorrectly links to) the Municipal art society has a project where they track the results of these kinds of zoning issues called Accidental Skyline that is worth checking out. Forcing these people to remove 20 completed stories of a building seems kind of insane. They say they'll appeal the decision, but I don't know what I'd expect from an appeal above the state supreme court on this. My initial reaction is also that I don't really want to make it harder to build in NYC (or anywhere for that matter), but the odd specifics of these kinds of things tend to only really affect the very high end of the market. The Times piece on this mentions that nearly half of the new condo units built in Manhattan after 2015 remain unsold. I'm guessing that's because they're all very high end units that do little to change the housing shortage in the city. So while I do think it's kinda crazy to remove 20 stories of a building, I'm not too concerned about how this would affect development at large. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris- Posted February 18, 2020 Share Posted February 18, 2020 16 hours ago, Kal-El814 said: Sink Manhattan; problem solved. And take out the Meadowlands while you’re at it, let’s give everyone a break. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Posted February 18, 2020 Share Posted February 18, 2020 3 minutes ago, TwinIon said: Forcing these people to remove 20 completed stories of a building seems kind of insane. They say they'll appeal the decision, but I don't know what I'd expect from an appeal above the state supreme court on this. New York's supreme court isn't its top court. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TwinIon Posted February 18, 2020 Share Posted February 18, 2020 1 minute ago, Jason said: New York's supreme court isn't its top court. Huh. Today I Learned. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CitizenVectron Posted February 18, 2020 Author Share Posted February 18, 2020 The Tubular Court is, presided over by the Chief Radical Justice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kal-El814 Posted February 18, 2020 Share Posted February 18, 2020 57 minutes ago, Chris- said: And take out the Meadowlands while you’re at it, let’s give everyone a break. Please and thank you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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