Group Suing To Stop Sutton Place Tower Claims Temporary Victory

SUTTON PLACE, NY — The Sutton Place community group that pushed the City Council to rezone the neighborhood to curb development is claiming a temporary victory over the area's tallest planned residential tower.

Developers behind the Sutton 58 development — which would rise 800 feet tall on East 58th Street between Sutton Place and First Avenue — will not be able to build more than one story until a December 11 court hearing in an ongoing legal fight between developers and opponents, the East River Fifties Alliance announced.

The East River Fifties Alliance and City Councilman Ben Kallos filed an Article 78 lawsuit against Gamma Development in August after the city Board of Standards and Appeals ruled that the development could circumvent newly-passed zoning rules for the Sutton Place neighborhood.

Opponents of Gamma's planned tower are being represented by lawyer Michael Hiller. Even if developers "put on a big show" at the development site, they are currently restricted to following zoning rules passed by the City Council in Nov. of 2017.

"The new building, until further notice, must be compliant with zoning as amended," Hiller said.

City Councilman Ben Kallos believes that the willingness of developers to follow Sutton Place's new zoning regulations is a promising development in the lawsuit. By agreeing to follow the zoning rules they are actively fighting, developers may be signaling that they don't expect to win the lawsuit, Kallos said.

A spokesperson for Gamma Real Estate did not immediately return to Patch's request for comment. This article will be updated if Patch hears back from developers.

The City Council overwhelmingly passed a rezoning in November of 2017 to prevent super-tall developments from rising in the neighborhood that spans East 51st to 59th streets east of First Avenue. When the council passed the plan, it also struck a grandfather clause inserted by the City Planning Commission, which threatened Gamma Real Estate's development plans.

The alliance's plan implements the "tower-on-a-base" development rules in the neighborhood. The rules require that 45 percent of a new development's floor area be contained below a height of 150 feet. Buildings could still rise above 150 feet, but nearly half of the total density would be at heights that wouldn't be uncharacteristic of the existing neighborhood, according to the plan.

Photo courtesy East River Fifties Alliance