Extell, Riverside Center and the Restrictive Declaration

Gary Barnett's Extell Development and their financial partners for Riverside South, the Carlyle Group, are proposing a development they call Riverside Center (sites L, M and N of Riverside South) that exceeds the limits set by the Restrictive Declaration governing development on the property. In total, they are asking for more than a 30% increase in the already-too-large limits they have.

Community Board 7 has done an analysis of the differences and made them available. The full document is on-line.

The first and most important number is Total Square Footage.

• Original: 2.37 million Square Feet
• Proposed: 3.1 million Square Feet
• Difference: + 730,000 Square Feet

One of the most interesting things we have learned recently, from the Coalition for a Livable West Side, is that space was "borrowed" from the allocations for sites L, M and N and used for other buildings in Riverside South! This is a legitimate practice, but only if you subtract the space you've used from the original allocation, which does not appear to have been done in this case.We hope to make this analysis available soon.

The other dramatic change is in Residential Square Footage.

• Original: 572,192 Square Feet
• Proposed: 2.55 million Square Feet
• Difference: + 1,977,808 Square Feet

What this amounts to that they want to build about 2,500 condos in the small two block area, using a design from a famous architect but a design that is nonetheless seriously flawed. In addition, they want to build a hotel, a car dealership and 1,057 more parking spaces than were originally allotted. Too much!

Comments

[The 10WEA Riverside Center Committee]

David, thanks for your post. We too are concerned about Extell’s breaking the deal with the community as laid out in the 1992 Restrictive Declaration. Extell needs to be stopped from developing the massive project that it is proposing that will only add to even more overcrowding in our schools and will take away the last chance we have to build a neighborhood. We are for more modest residential development on the site that incorporates schools, a neighborhood retail center, and a public park, and are against the massive hotel/convention center and car dealership that Extell proposes.

Please sign our petition and help us win this battle for the benefit of all Upper West Siders. You can conveniently sign the petition online by going to the following link:

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/riverside-center-needs-schools-neighborhood-retail-center-and-a-public-park-not-more-residential

Or you can just log on to www.thepetitionsite.com and search for “Riverside Center,” and our petition will come up. Please sign the petition, and please forward it to as many of your friends and neighbors as possible to sign it as well. We only have power with numbers, so we urge you to sign the petition. Your signature is critical to the success of our fight!

Thank you for your support!
The 10WEA Riverside Center Committee
10weariversideproject@gmail.com

[p]

So you don't get into trouble with your forthcoming calculation, you should know that the zoning for site L/M/N allows 3.56 million sq. ft. of building floor area. That's from an FAR of 10 applied to the site area of 356,182 sq. ft. The amount to be transferred to other sites was 525,989 sq. ft., leaving 3.04 million sq. ft. The EIS scope of work states that the EIS will cover a maximum of 3.14 million sq. ft., but 100,000 of that is for a school, leaving 3.04 million sq. ft. for Extell. (There is a small excess in the third decimal place.)

Extell proposed slightly less floor area than the EIS will cover, 3.03 million sq. ft. So Extell's proposal fits within the zoning maximum, even after the transfer to other sites is made. Again, the problem here is not that Extell is violating some zoning rule, but rather that Extell wants to rewrite a political decision limiting the development of the site that was reached after years of vigorous debate among the developer, the civic groups, the community, and the city administration.

The only explanation that Extell has provided is that more floor area is "needed to support the high cost of construction, which has continued to escalate, of a project as large and complex as Riverside Center." See http://www.nyc.gov/html/mancb7/downloads/pdf/rss_extell_letter.pdf If that is their explanation, they should provide their cost and income projections. And they might try to simplify the project to reduce its complexity, for example by not digging a down fifty feet below the water table just to provide more parking than they are entitled to.

[David B. Black]

p, thanks for your comment. I agree with you -- Extell is not violating some zoning rule (to my knowledge). They are violating the "political decision," as you say very well: "a political decision limiting the development of the site that was reached after years of vigorous debate among the developer, the civic groups, the community, and the city administration." This was embodied in the Restrictive Declaration and a couple associated documents.

Having bought the property and complying with the terms of the RD for awhile, they then decided they'd rather not comply with it, which is where we are today. I also agree with your last paragraph concerning their explanation, or lack thereof.