City Rejects Challenge Against Controversial UES Tower Block

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — A controversial planned development on the Upper East Side is one step closer to construction after the city Department of Buildings denied a community group's challenge of its building permit.

The city Department of Buildings ruled that a large mechanical void in the middle of the planned 510-foot development at 249 E. 62nd St. — located between Second and Third avenues — is not excessive and does not violate the city's zoning resolution, a department spokesman said. The zoning resolution does not govern the height of mechanical floors.

As a result of the ruling, the void does not count against the development's floor area. The 152-foot-tall space will contain three stories of "mechanical rooms" and "structural support" as well as a one story of building amenities, according to building plans filed with the city.

Neighborhood preservation group the Friends of the Upper East Side Historic Districts filed a zoning challenge against the building in November. The community group claimed that the 152-foot-tall void in the center of the building allows the tower to reach unprecedented heights.

"The void is vastly larger than necessary for any possible mechanical use, and the space is entirely deducted from the building's floor area calculation, making it a particularly egregious example of zoning loopholes in action," the Friends of the Upper East Side Historic Districts said in a press release when it filed its challenge.

The Department of Buildings did accept two parts of the group's challenge: That building plans included errors in the application paperwork and errors in the proposed zoning lot coverage. Developers will have to revise their current plans to fix these errors to continue with the project, a DOB spokesman said.

The DOB has only awarded permits for the development's foundation work, not the tower, a department spokesman said. If developers do not fix errors in their building plans, they will lose the foundation permits.

The Rafael Viñoly Architects-designed building will rise 510 feet and contain just 83 apartment units, according to plans filed with the DOB. All of the 98,526 square feet of residential space will be located on the building's first 12 stories or the 11 stories that are stacked on top of the 152-foot-tall mechanical section of the building, according to development plans. Plans also call for an addition three stories of mechanical rooms starting on the tower's 30th floor.

Photo courtesy Friends of the Upper East Side Historic Districts