New UES Rezoning Seeks 46-Story Tower In Yorkville, Plans Show

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — 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.

The developers are listed only as "LM East 94 LLC," but appear to be linked to the Chapman Group, a family-run real estate firm that owns parking garages around the city. Chapman bought the two East 94th Street garages for $37.5 million in 2016, while the apartment building that covers a sliver of the development site has been owned since 2016 by Norvin Partners, a real estate investment firm.

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.

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.

The new rezoning comes less than a year after the City Council approved the New York Blood Center's rezoning for a new East 67th Street headquarters, which faced months of heated opposition in the neighborhood — largely due to the precedent set by "upzoning" a midblock site, which has traditionally been reserved for low-rise construction.

Concerns also focused on new shadows that the Blood Center tower would cast on adjacent St. Catherine's Park.

For the 94th Street rezoning, an analysis of shadows included in a required environmental study found that the tower would cast new shade on three nearby playgrounds and a slice of the East River Esplanade, but would not cause any "significant adverse impacts" on the green spaces.

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.

The Chapman Group's other properties include parking garages on East 82nd, 63rd, and 64th streets — the latter of which it is now leasing to the private Browning School, which plans to renovate it and for use as a gymnasium.

The company's website says it is actively seeking tenants for its eight buildings and two development sites around Manhattan, and renderings of its other East Side garages appear to show potential renovations for use as offices or schools.

Chapman did not respond to a request for comment about the rezoning.

Have an Upper East Side news tip? Contact reporter Nick Garber at nick.garber@patch.com.