East Village Tech Hub Moves Forward In Public Review Process

EAST VILLAGE, NY — The East Village community board voted on Tuesday to approve a plan to bring a massive new "tech hub" to the Union Square area, provided that the city begin a process to rezone the surrounding neighborhood to restrict new development.

The vote will launch a viable path for zoning changes in the East Village, a step that preservationists and housing activists have long sought. Amid a citywide affordable housing crisis, activists throughout the city have pressed local leaders for regulations that would require new developments to include more affordable housing and to discourage non-residential construction.

Plans for the tech hub, proposed for the plot of land at 124 E. 14th St., were announced by Mayor Bill de Blasio last year as a two-fold community benefit. First, the hub would lease out several floors of its space to Civic Hall, a nonprofit that supports and trains social entrepreneurs. Civic Hall and its partners have proposed offering dozens of free or low-cost tech trainings that could allow low-income New Yorkers to qualify for better, higher-paying jobs. The hub would also include an incubator space where new businesses could launch their companies.

The tech hub has been proposed for a city-owned plot of land, meaning that it must go through a lengthy public approval process before construction can start. Activist groups including the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation and the Cooper Square Committee pressed local leaders to only approve the tech hub's plan if city leaders agree to also enact protections for the neighborhood.

Tuesday's vote means that the proposal for the tech hub will move forward to Manhattan borough president Gale Brewer for approval, accompanied by the community's request the city begin the process to change the area's zoning independently.

The community board’s vote is not binding, but will serve as an advisory for elected officials including Brewer and Council Member Carlina Rivera, who represents the East Village in City Hall.

Rivera spoke at Tuesday’s meeting before the vote, and said she would "heavily weigh" whatever resolutions Community Board 3 approved.

"I honestly think that we could use both," Rivera, a newly-elected Democrat, said. "The tech center has the potential to be something great, but we both know that this kind of tech center has the potential to incentivize large scale buildings and things that we maybe don’t necessarily think are priorities."

The resolution approved on Tuesday night called for the city to review plans to rezone stretches of Third and Fourth avenues near Union Square to prevent or discourage new hotels and office buildings and to promote affordable housing in any new development. In its vote, the community board urged the city "to commence the process of rezoning this area as well as incentivize affordable housing and exclude certain use groups such as hotels and big box stores," according to the text of the resolution.

Additional resolutions were approved to accompany the tech hub plan.

Andrew Berman, the executive director of GVSHP and a longtime champion of the zoning restrictions, said Tuesday's vote sent an "important message" to de Blasio, whose approval is the last step the tech hub's approval process.

"What we are proposing is a win-win – the Tech Hub proceeds on 14th Street, and the Mayor lives up to his rhetoric about preserving and promoting affordable housing by advancing this rezoning for the surrounding area that would prevent out of scale development and encourage affordable housing development and preservation," Berman said in a statement. "So far he has adamantly refused, only supporting the zoning changes for the Tech Hub, which is to be developed by his campaign donors. We hope he will now listen."

Editor's note: This post has been updated to more accurately reflect the community board's vote.

Image credit: Rendering of the tech hub via NYC ED