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NEW YORK | 221-243 East 94th St | 524 FT | 46 FLOORS

https://patch.com/new-york/upper-eas...lle-plans-show

New UES Rezoning Seeks 46-Story Tower In Yorkville, Plans Show
A developer wants to construct a 500-unit apartment tower on a midblock Yorkville site, potentially triggering another rezoning battle.

https://patch.com/img/cdn20/users/23...jpg?width=1200

By Nick Garber
Sep 19, 2022

Quote:

A developer wants to rezone a low-rise Yorkville block to build a 46-story, midblock apartment tower, according to newly revealed plans — setting the stage for what could be another lengthy land use battle.

The rezoning would center on 221-243 East 94th St.: a site between Second and Third avenues that is currently home to two parking garages, an auto repair shop and a vacant five-story apartment building.

They would be demolished and replaced with a 46-story, 484-foot-tall apartment tower containing roughly 500 apartments, including up to 150 affordable units, according to a document posted on a City Planning website last week.

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To construct the new tower, developers must get permission to change the block's current industrial zoning code to a new scheme that allows for dense residential and commercial use.

That will trigger ULURP review, which entails input from the community board and a final vote by the City Council. The 94th Street rezoning has not yet been certified, so the clock has not begun ticking on the roughly seven-month-long process.

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Spanning a combined 456,000 square feet, the new tower would be enlarged through air rights from a few adjacent lots on the same block, which would also be rezoned, according to the planning document.

Renderings of the tower depict it soaring above Yorkville's other high-rises, including the Ruppert Towers complex a few blocks south. A ground-level image depicts a brick facade and large windows, designed by Hill West Architects — the same firm behind other high-rise towers planned in the neighborhood.

The tower would sit atop a four-story base, rising to six stories along with the upward slope of the block's western side. Its affordable apartments would be open to those making an average of 60 percent of the area median income — or $56,000 for one person — including nearly half listed at 40 percent AMI.

Another 24,700 square feet of space would consist of ground-floor retail and an unspecified "community facility," according to plans.

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Construction of the new tower would take two years and could wrap up by 2024, according to the planning documents.

Its ultimate fate could lie in the hands of Julie Menin, the City Councilmember who represents the project site and could likely influence her colleagues when it comes to a final vote.

Menin strongly opposed the Blood Center rezoning before being elected to the Council. Her office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the 94th Street rezoning.

If built, the 484-foot-tall tower would rank among the tallest buildings on the Upper East Side. Plans for the 94th Street rezoning are emerging just days after Patch reported that the Naftali Group intends to build a 535-foot-tall apartment tower on Second Avenue and East 77th Street — likely setting a record for the neighborhood's tallest building.

https://patch.com/img/cdn20/users/23...jpg?width=1300

The amount of construction near Second Ave has been extraordinary.

Its amazing what fruit will bear from providing rapid transit in the corridor after depriving it for 70 years.

I'm sure the NIMBYS are gathering pitchforks as we speak. This will be a loud one, for sure.

But they need to get over it. This is a large chunk of housing. I like that it would also include some type of crown, unusual for these types.

This thread is confusing. I feel like we're talking about 2 different buildings here... The attractive midblock building on 94 St with the red brick base replacing the old white garages and what appears to be a taller tower still with the interesting crown on 97 St maybe at the NE corner of 97/Second? The mention of the 77/Second project adds to the confusion. So whats the tall tower to the north?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Busy Bee (Post 9735951)

This proposal is the tallest and bulkiest tower in the renderings, with the crown.

https://therealdeal.com/2022/09/20/c...ly-opposition/

Chapman proposes UES rental tower despite likely opposition
Project faces rezoning battle after contentious Blood Center fight

https://s13.therealdeal.com/trd/up/2...r-1090x720.jpg

Sep. 20, 2022
By Kathryn Brenzel

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…. The project likely faces an uphill climb. It requires zoning changes to allow for its size — 457,000 square feet — and residential use; the site is designated for manufacturing. It would also use nearly 162,000 square feet of air rights from neighboring sites.

Chapman bought the parcel at 231-239 and 241-243 East 94th Street — currently parking garages and a vacant, five-story residential building — in 2016 for $37.5 million, records show.

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Developers often propose large projects knowing they will need to downsize them and make other concessions to gain approval. Once a rezoning application is certified by the Department of City Planning, the public review can take up to seven months. Chapman’s figures to learn its fate in March or April.

Mayor Eric Adams has shown willingness to throw his support behind controversial projects with affordable apartments, recently backing the Bruckner Boulevard rezoning. The mayor’s first management report, released Friday, showed a 45 percent drop in the number of affordable housing units in the pipeline this year compared to last year.

I believe the tallest building is the dormant Avalon Bay proposal across the street from the Hospital. That is on 96th and was proposed to be 700ft.

This site is the smaller building rendered 2 blocks south. The one centered in the renderings.

https://i.imgur.com/z5TljxT.png

Does the AvalonBay tower already have a thread?

The RealDeal article is using the wrong image.

Ah yes the playground tower...its all coming back now.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hudson11 (Post 9736041)

Approvals process will begin soon.

https://a4.pbase.com/o12/06/102706/1...SizeRender.jpg

https://a4.pbase.com/o12/06/102706/1...DA46C037F.jpeg

https://a4.pbase.com/o12/06/102706/1...SizeRender.jpg

Locals pushing back against the NIMBYS.....

https://patch.com/new-york/upper-eas...y-presentation

UES 94th Street Rezone Gets Mixed Review At Community Presentation
Many welcomed the more than 100 affordable units at a proposed mid-block Yorkville tower. Others said it would destroy the neighborhood.

https://patch.com/img/cdn20/users/26...png?width=1200

Peter Senzamici
Oct 26, 2023

Quote:

A proposed mid-block rezoning for a residential tower was met with a mixed response at a Community Board 8 meeting this week.

While some balked at the idea of another mid-block rezone, more were welcoming — and even enthusiastic — over the proposal, which would introduce over 100 permanently affordable units to Yorkville.

The 46-story tower proposed by Friedland Properties and the Chapman Group at 231 East 94th St., between Second and Third avenues, looks to rezone the block's current industrial zoning code to one that allows for dense residential and commercial use.

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Developers are proposing 452 total apartments, including 113 affordable units, to be built on a site which currently includes a pair of parking garages, an auto repair shop and a vacant five-story apartment building. Air rights from other buildings in the rezoning area, under different ownership, were purchased to allow for the proposed increase in height.

The affordable housing component, offered through the city's Mandatory Inclusionary Housing program, would be one of the first to be developed in the Upper East Side, said the land use attorney representing the developers, Jerry Johnson.

"Yorkville itself has recently had a limited stock of income restricted housing, and a lower rate of households and rent stabilized units than the city overall," Johnson said during his presentation to Community Board 8, noting that rents are rising at an overall higher rate in the neighborhood compared to citywide averages.

"We believe that this this will be a nice addition of a number of units — as well as income restricted units — near transit nodes and good for the neighborhood," Johnson said.

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The project was recently certified by the city's planning commission and has officially started the community review phase of the seven-month-long land use review process, known as ULURP.

A handful of residents who said they live on or near the East 94th Street block were quick to say that all they saw was an opportunistic developer looking to make a buck at the expense of longtime residents.

One neighbor at Wednesday's Community Board 8 meeting recounted a past interaction with Friedland Properties that conjured up bad memories.

"We had Freidland come and talk to us years ago about buying our air rights," said Elizabeth Weiss, who lives near the site on East 95th Street.

She said their offer was "below value" and said that the company is "completely self-serving" and the proposal is "an opportunistic development."

"The way Friedland interacted with us as a board, as human beings in the neighborhood, was pretty disgusting and diminishing," Weiss said, adding that she was against the apartment and said that there were "plenty of apartments" in the neighborhood that "people could afford."

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Andrew Wallace, who also lives right behind the development lot, said that it was "shameful" that the developers were "trying to fit this in under the guise of affordable housing."

William Friedland, of Friedland Properties — and a former member of Community Board 8 — said that the project was expected to deliver "mid single-digit returns" of about six or seven percent.

One neighbor named Elisa said that the current proposal, which shows a floor plan of mostly studios and one bedrooms was "a red flag ," and a signal that developers were marketing the building not for "lasting value" for the community, but for "transient type of person who might live here for one or two years."

Johnson later said in the meeting that the apartment layout is not finalized.

Another neighbor, Sacha Sellam, who said she and her family have lived opposite the site on East 95th Street since the 1970's, claimed that the developer's documents contained errors in its environmental assessment — and took issue with the fact that urban renewal sites, like Ruppert Towers, were being used to justify calling the proposal appropriately contextual for the neighborhood.

While she agreed that the current manufacturing zoning should be changed to allow for residential development, Sellam said that "having one urban renewal section be the dictator of what the Upper East side's neighborhood context is incorrect."

"No one is arguing against more affordable housing," another resident said, "we need it. What we're arguing about is the size."

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Despite the misgivings, even more people appeared to be enthused by the prospect of a development with an affordable housing component coming to the neighborhood — including nearly all of the Community Board 8 members.

"I enthusiastically support the proposal," said Charlie Melman, who lives in Yorkville. "I'm in favor of having more neighbors."

One public school teacher who said she lives just four blocks away agreed, adding that she sees the need for affordable housing to be built every day in her classrooms.

"I've seen that among my students," said teacher Marieke Thomas. "I think in our neighborhood especially, it's incredibly important to build as much affordable housing as we possibly can."

Thomas also took issue with earlier comments that were dismissive of studio-apartment dwellers.

"I think that folks who live in studio apartments can add value to the neighborhood," she said, adding that many teachers live in similar apartments.

Another teacher named Crystal, who taught at the Julia Richman Educational Complex in Lenox Hill and was priced out of Yorkville years ago, said that while nobody likes construction or shadows from new buildings, the city is in a housing crisis.

"Let's let's not lose sight of the big picture here," she said. "This is going to be hundreds of new houses for people."

Quote:

Others in support of the new development cited that a low housing supply supply, and a low apartment vacancy rate, is one of the main reasons for skyrocketing rents in the city.

Community Board 8 member Juno Chowla-Song said that she supports the idea, and that the location "is one of the best places to build it" because there isn't much housing on the block compared to nearby ones.

Two board members said that while they supported the proposal, they wanted the developers to try and include as many three-bedroom units as possible, citing high demand in the neighborhood from families.

"It was just a tremendous breath of fresh air to hear actual support of a development project at this committee meeting," said board member Craig Lader.

Despite apprehensions people may have about the proposal, Lader said, " this development here, would be greatly better superior to ... potential developments that we would not want to have in this community."

"In my mind, this isn't even a close call," he said.

Freidland said that once approved, and after a 421a replacement finally happens to help finance the project, construction would take about 36 months.

UES Community Board Says Yes To 94th Street Midblock Tower Rezone

Nov 10, 2023

Quote:

A proposed nearly 500-foot-tall tower on East 94th Street which looks to bring over 100 affordable apartments to Yorkville received an overwhelming approval vote from Community Board 8 this week, allowing the project to move forward to the next stage of the city's land use review process.

That approval vote, which is merely an advisory opinion and has no official weight or enforcement, came with a long list of conditions and recommendations for the project, including increasing the share of affordable housing, reducing the height by over 100 feet, adding underground parking and others.

"I'd vote for this twice if I could," said board member Paul Krikler. "We're in a housing crisis. And this is the only way you address the crisis."

The 46-story tower proposed by Friedland Properties and the Chapman Group at 231 East 94th St., between Second and Third avenues, looks to rezone the block's current industrial zoning code to one that allows for dense residential and commercial use.

Inside the proposed nearly 500-foot-tall building would be 452 total apartments, including 113 affordable units, build atop a current vacant building, a parking garage and an auto mechanic shop in a zoning lot that currently only allows manufacturing uses as-of-right.

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https://patch.com/new-york/upper-eas...k-tower-rezone

Good deal. There is hope for mankind.

wow was that refreshing — a festivus miracle!

but seriously, obviously the lack of affordable housing is making major waves and more and more people are taking notice and speaking up.