Two Bridges Towers Approved By City Planning Commission

LOWER EAST SIDE, NY — After a heated review process, the City Planning Commission voted to approve an application Wednesday that will bring three luxury developments to the Lower East Side.

Ten commissioners voted in favor, and three against, the controversial minor modification, which was filed by four developers to add nearly 3,000 new units and bring a combined $4.5 billion of investment into the neighborhood.

"I’m confident that the seeker and the city planning commission’s oversight created a public review process that has resulted in a better project and one with significant community benefits," said City Planning Commission chairwoman Marisa Lago during a Wednesday hearing.

JDS Development Group plans to erect a 1,008-foot rental tower at 247 Cherry Street, while CIM Group and L+M Development Partners will raise a 798-foot two-tower project on a shared base at 260 South Street. Starrett Development will also construct a 730-foot building at 250 Clinton Street. The developments will house more than 2,700 new units all together.

Twenty-five percent — or 690 — of those units will be affordable and of those, 200 are reserved for seniors — though details of how affordability will be measured have yet to be announced.

The main source of controversy for the project is that the de Blasio administration determined that the massive towers represents only a "minor modification," and therefore do not require an extensive land use review, known as the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure or ULURP.

Lago voted in favor of the application and emphasized that from a legal standpoint the buildings comply with underlying zoning rules.

“As a straight forward legal matter, the commission can’t require a ULURP unless authorized to do so by the city charter and the zoning resolution," she said.

"This is none the less a challenging situation because the proposed buildings aren’t minor in scale and will affect the surrounding neighborhood."

Allen Cappelli, another member of the planning commission who also voted to approve the application, noted his "reluctance" but felt the panel's "hands are tied legally" on the matter.

Fellow commissioner Michelle de la Uz strongly disagreed with Lago's characterization of the minor modification, citing that the actions did not adhere to a 1972 resolution by the commission.

"I do not believe that the actions the commission is being asked to take today with regard to the Two Bridges LSRD are appropriate," she said.

"We are being asked to approve a minor modification that will result in thousands of new residential units, changes in open space and the site plan and multiple unmitigable significant environmental impacts without authorizing such action. This is not consistent with past changes."

De la Uz slammed the process as a blow to the public's faith in local government.

"Public trust in government is at an all time low and it is actions such as these that further erode it," she said.

"What is most distributing to me is the failure of the city to fully acknowledge the extent of the actions and authorizations being sought and accurately calling them authorization and acting appropriately."

Lago stressed the benefits the project would bring to the Lower East Side, including subway upgrades such as two new elevators for the East Broadway station on the F line, the creation of more than an acre of public space and the developers' commitment to contribute $12.5 million toward improving NYCHA housing in the Two Bridges area.

She touted the nearly 700 permanently affordable apartments as the biggest boon for the community.

"In a city at peak population and bursting at the seams, adding significant amounts of housing in Lower Manhattan is surly a rare opportunity," Lago said.

The vote is a major hurdle for the project, which community groups and housing advocates have railed against and have cited a slew of concerns, including impacts on transportation infrastructure, traffic congestion and schools.

Lower Manhattan Councilwoman Margaret Chin and Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer also took issue with the review process and sought to implement a zoning text amendment that would have forced the project to get a special permit, and thus go through the ULURP process.

In a joint statement the pair called the commission's approval "unlawful" and that there is "no universe" where these developments would be considered a minor modification.

“We’re not against any and all development in Two Bridges or anywhere else. But rules either exist or they don’t," Chin and Brewer said in a statement.

"This is a neighborhood rezoning’s worth of housing, and it’s a wild departure from what the current rules allow."

Image courtesy of Handel Architects