'Illegal' Upper East Side Tower Blasted As Site Is Sold For $61M

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — A 400-foot luxury tower may soon be built on a rapidly-changing Upper East Side block — despite outcry from a local expert who says its plans flagrantly violate the zoning code.

Plans call for a 33-story, 420-foot-tall tower at 1299 Third Ave., between East 74th and 75th streets. First previewed five years ago, the project has been revived in recent months, coinciding with the site being sold for $61 million to a new developer, the Elad Group.

"I’ve seen a lot of bulls--t out there — this is one where the building is illegal, it’s absolutely illegal," said George Janes, an urban planner who filed a formal zoning challenge against the project on behalf of Friends of the Upper East Side, a preservation group.

Containing 47 apartments, the tower would be built mostly on a now-empty midblock lot on Third Avenue. It would also include a one-story entrance that would be built within the rear yards of the five-story tenements on the block's south corner, which contain the restaurants JG Melon and Mezzaluna. (Both of those buildings will remain standing.)

Rather than the tower itself, it is the one-story entrance that sparked the zoning furor. Facing East 74th Street, the entrance would stand just 14 feet tall — even though the zoning code governing most Upper East Side avenues requires the bases of tall towers to be at least 60 feet high, part of an effort to maintain light and air on the street level by forcing towers to be set back further from the ground.

"Absolutely crazy"

But Janes's challenge, filed in February 2021, was finally rejected last week by the Department of Buildings. Reached for comment, a DOB spokesperson stood by the agency's decision, saying that the 14-foot entrances were legal additions to the next-door tenements that were filed as separate projects.

Janes called that conclusion "absolutely crazy," telling Patch that neighborhood preservationists are considering whether to file any additional challenges to DOB's approval. He conceded that approving the one-story entrance may not have a drastic effect on the streetscape, though he said the zoning precedent would be worrisome.

The tower will be designed by SLCE Architects, whose other major projects include the supertall 432 Park Ave. and the 19-story Beckford House on East 81st Street.

Elad, the developer, is an Israeli-American company that also owns the Plaza Hotel and Metropolitan Life Tower downtown. As The Real Deal first reported, Elad bought the site at 1299 Third Ave. in April from its former owners, a joint team of Premier Equities, Continental Ventures and Thor Equities.

Reached for comment, the company said the building will contain luxury condominiums, with a distinctive limestone facade and "an alluring suite of amenities."

"We are eager to bring a new building to market that not only compliments the heritage of the neighborhood but is also elevated in both architecture and design," Elad president Orly Daniell said in a statement.

Though plans for the initial tower were filed back in 2018, developers began submitting revised plans to the city earlier this year, suggesting it was stirring back to life.

The tower will take up the empty lot and the next-door tenement at 1301 Third Ave., formerly home to Benefit Cosmetics, which would need to be demolished. The tower will also cantilever over the remaining tenements to the south, according to the plans.

Besides the tower and the short entrance, the project would also snake up to the north side of the block, where a five-story building would be built at 204 East 75th St., now home to a four-story brick walkup. That lot was included, along with the vacant tower site, in last month's $61 million purchase.

If the block sounds familiar, there is good reason: the north side of the same block is also set to be transformed by development. That corner, formerly home to low-rise buildings and restaurants like Bistro Le Steak and Candle Cafe, has been cleared by developer EJS Group with plans to construct an 18-story apartment tower, as Patch reported last week.

Related coverage:

• Demolished UES Block Being Replaced By 200-Foot Tower, Plans Show
• 3 Upper East Side Buildings Face Demolition, Permits Show
• Developer Buys Chunk Of Upper East Side Block For $32 Million