Group Challenges 510-Foot-Tall Upper East Side Development

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — The city Department of Buildings is reviewing a citizen-led zoning challenge against a previously approved 510-foot development on the Upper East Side, a department spokesman confirmed.

Neighborhood preservation group the Friends of the Upper East Side Historic Districts filed a zoning challenge against 249 East 62nd Street — located between Second and Third avenues — in November, a DOB spokesman said.

The community group claims that the new development skirts the city Zoning Resolution because a proposed 152-foot-tall void in the center of the building allows the tower to reach unprecedented heights. 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.

"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.

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.

The development does not currently have any active DOB permits, which means construction has not yet started, a DOB spokesman said.

Photo courtesy Friends of the Upper East Side Historic Districts