Development Is Destroying Iconic NYC Neighborhoods: Protesters

EAST VILLAGE, NY — Plans to build towering high rises through the East and West Villages brought protesters out in force in St. Marks Place Wednesday.

Locals lambasted Mayor Bill de Blasio for not doing enough to protect longtime residents of the iconic neighborhoods from overdevelopment and gentrification.

"[The mayor has] got to stop thinking of our neighborhood as the next stop on the Silicon Alley express," said Andrew Berman, executive director of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, which organized Wednesday's rally.

Like other New York City neighborhoods, both the East and West Village have seen housing costs soar as longtime residents and businesses are pushed out and replaced by new luxury developments. The rally was held on St. Marks Place and Third Avenue, across the street from the East Village's iconic Continental bar. The bar, and its neighboring buildings, will be demolished next year to make way for a $150 million "boutique office building" on St. Marks Place, an avenue once considered the heart of counterculture in the East Village.

Activist groups and the elected officials who support them are particularly concerned about de Blasio’s plan to create a new “tech hub” on 14th Street, bridging the East and West Village neighborhoods. In February, de Blasio outlined a plan that, if approved by the City Council, would bring a 258,000 square-foot building to 124 E. 14th St. The project, estimated to cost $250 million, would be meant for technology companies to use for training, education and business.

De Blasio's plan has received considerable pushback from locals and even some of de Blasio's fellow Democrats who say the tech offices could exacerbate neighborhoods that have already been subject to overdevelopment.

Activists and officials on Wednesday both demanded zoning protections for the East and West Village before the tech hub moves forward. Speakers on Wednesday called for strict height limits for new developments in both neighborhoods and more incentives for landowners to build and preserve affordable housing.

Elected officials including state senator Brad Hoylman and state assembly member Deborah Glick said additional steps were necessary to prevent the character of both neighborhoods from disappearing entirely.

“We see our neighborhood with a target on it, a target from developers who frankly are getting a pretty sweet deal out of the new tech hub,” Hoylman said.

Outgoing Council Member Rosie Mendez, who represents the East Village in City Council, has said she won't approve the mayor's plan for the tech hub unless he commits to changing the zoning restrictions in both neighborhoods.

“The Administration’s reluctance and failure to act has led many developers to demolish residential or mixed-use buildings after purchasing contiguous buildings and creating an assemblage of multiple lots,” Mendez, a Democrat, said in a statement.

Residents from other local groups, like the East Village Community Coalition, said that the rapid spate of development was "turning the East Village into an extension of Midtown" and contributing to the displacement of seniors in both neighborhoods, most of whom are on fixed incomes and rely on rent-stabilized or -controlled residences.

The mayor’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Patch.

Image credit: Rendering of the 'tech hub' proposal courtesy of the NYC Mayor's Office