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INTRO: In Manhattan, undeveloped land is scarce. For the areas that are ripe for development, many times builders often have one vision and community members have a quite a different one. Elsa Heidorn reports on the second-largest development site in Manhattan.
SOUND UP AND UNDER: construction
NARR: On the East Side, a block away from the UN secretariat building, a long-necked mechanical pincher is taking bites out of the old Con Edison steam-generation plant.
SOUND UP: crashing and crumbling noises
NARR: The brick derelict has a great view of the East river. That's probably why developer Sheldon Solow was willing to pay six hundred thirty million dollars for it. Not just for this plot, though - he bought a total of nine acres on four parcels of land in the neighborhood. His plan is to build seven towers - with apartments and commercial space. The tallest would be 864 feet tall, which is almost twice as tall as the apartment buildings around it.
UNTERMAN: This building that we're looking at here is about thirty-five stories. The buildings that are proposed are 65, up to 85 stories.
NARR: Edan Unterman is pointing to the cluster of residential buildings outside his apartment in Tudor City. That's an upscale 1930's development that has unusual Victorian architecture. It's also right next to where Solow's new buildings would go. Unterman is a member of the East Midtown Coalition for Sensible Development. His group objects to the height of the proposed buildings.
UNTERMAN: You can see that from out here, a building of 60 or 65 stories would throw an enormous shadow over the Tudor City parks. And frankly, it will kill the parks.
NARR: The Tudor City park is one of the few green spaces in the neighborhood. Community district six has the least open space per capita of all the community districts in Manhattan. Sheldon Solow's firm declined an interview, but his architects have said they're planning a public park that would span one entire block on First Avenue and additional open space among the towers on the other four blocks. Beyond good will, the parks would generate another benefit for Solow. Commerical zoning laws allow him to build buildings bigger -- in this case taller -- than are normally allowed, in exchange for creating what they call "bonus plazas."
UNTERMAN: This is an example of a bonus plaza.
NARR: We're at the corner of 35th Street and First Avenue in front of an apartment tower. There's marble fountain with seating around it - but it's hard to imagine anyone lingering here. It's very windy.
UNTERMAN: And it's just plain noisy from the street, it's not in any way inviting, it really sets off the developer's building, which it does very nicely. But to get more square footage and say that this is a public amenity, is something else.
NARR: Much of the developer's open space would be similar - plazas in front of tall buildings on First Avenue. Solow says he'll put in a pond that kids can play in during the summer and skate on in the winter. But five blocks away, the apartment building called Rivergate once had a small skating rink. Now it's closed and the area is a maze of brick walls on different levels, centered around - a row of bushes. Like the abandoned skating rink, Solow's park would be nestled among many tall buildings. Edward Rubin, the chair of community board six's land use committee says that's a problem.
RUBIN: Surrounding a park with towers privatizes it. When you go to central park, you're in a large park and a background is Central Park West or Fifth Avenue. If you are surrounded by Central Park West you feel intimidated.
NARR: Rubin says the community board has a better plan. Put the park on the waterfront, instead. That would add a piece to what is intended to be a green necklace of waterfront parks encircling Manhattan.
RUBIN: That's where we think the open space should be. We think that open space on First Avenue is inappropriate. That it should develop a street wall and have some street life.
Narr: That ground-floor "street wall" would have shops and restaurants. Community board six put these ideas and many others - including limiting the size of the buildings --into an official zoning proposal. The've raised and spent over a hundred thousand dollars on lawyers, engineers and architects to help them draft their alternative plan. The two plans will go head-to-head in the coming months at the Department of City Planning. At the next public meeting on March 28th, public officials and the developer will discuss the Solow project's environmental issues. Even if the developer passes the City Planning Department, city council has the power to veto the decision. Rubin says he already has several city council members on his side, and he'll urge them to stop Solow's plan. Elsa Heidorn, Columbia Radio News.