Seaport Zoning Agreement Sought in 11th-Hour Talks

 by Ronald Drenger

The fate of Community Board 1’s long-fought-for proposal to limit the size of new buildings in the South Street Seaport neighborhood was being decided late last month in private negotiations between a powerful real estate developer and the city.


The 250 Water Street site, now a parking lot, was the focus of last-minute negotiations over a proposal to limit building heights in the Seaport neighborhood. Photo by Kira Glassman

With time running out on a public review process, a City Council subcommittee held a hearing on the proposal on March 31. But Milstein Properties, which owns 250 Water Street, the site most affected by the proposal, asked the subcommittee to postpone a vote and let negotiations continue.

Votes by the subcommittee and the full council were set for April 9.

Milstein has staunchly opposed efforts to “downzone” the Seaport area. The developer wants to build a residential complex at 250 Water St. that would be prohibited under the proposed zoning and that CB1 and its supporters say is inappropriately large for the small-scale historic district.

Milstein says it will not build on the site, now a parking lot, if the zoning changes are approved.
But the city is eager to see 250 Water Street developed to help revitalize Downtown. Councilman Alan Gerson, who represents Lower Manhattan, and Councilman Tony Avella, chair of the subcommittee that held the hearing, told the Trib that they believed the negotiations were with Deputy Mayor Daniel Doctoroff’s office and involved a deal in which Milstein would agree either to build within the proposed restrictions or to sell the site, possibly to the city.

The city would give the developer the right to build higher than would otherwise be allowed at another site, possibly in the Financial District.

Supporters of CB1’s rezoning plan said they would probably support a deal if it included a height cap of 120 feet for new buildings in the Seaport historic district, which is bounded by Fulton, Pearl, Dover and South streets.

Earlier last month, the City Planning Commission approved most of CB1’s plan, including a drastic reduction in the overall size of new projects from about 480,000 to 290,000 square feet. But the commission raised the proposed height limit from 120 feet to 170 feet, or about 17 stories.

“It’s a partial victory,” Paul Goldstein, CB1’s district manager, said after the City Planning vote. “But we think that a 170-foot building is not appropriate for the historic district.”

Milstein, which lobbied for outright rejection of CB1’s application, was also displeased. The firm’s design for 250 Water Street calls for 13- and 24-story towers on a five-story base. The developer charges that CB1’s proposal is aimed specifically at that site, and is therefore unconstitutional.

The battle over 250 Water Street has raged on and off since Milstein acquired the site in 1979. The developer has proposed half a dozen buildings, up to 43 stories tall, that were opposed by CB1 and rejected by the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission.

Read "It’s High Noon Over 250 Water Street", posted February XX