Sutton Place Group Sues City To Block Super-Tall Tower

SUTTON PLACE, NY — A group of Sutton Place residents that led a successful effort to rezone the small residential neighborhood have filed suit against the city and the Board of Standards and Appeals in an attempt to block a planned 800-foot residential tower.

The lawsuit, brought by the East River Fifties Alliance, claims that the Board of Standards and Appeals did not perform its due diligence when it ruled in June to allow Gamma Real Estate's proposed tower to be built in accordance with previous zoning laws.

In order to gain permission to build under former zoning laws, developers must prove that the new zoning laws effectively have "sandbagged" a development that is already under construction. The ERFA's lawsuit claims that developers conducted illegal foundation work using "invalid" Department of Buildings permits and "questionable" Department of Transportation permits to misrepresent the development's progress to the Board of Standards and Appeals. The group also claims that developers purchased the lot and performed work while on notice of a potential rezoning change.

"The BSA, in rendering the Determination, committed multiple errors of law, and acted arbitrarily, capriciously and irrationally, requiring prompt vacatur, annulment and reversal of the Determination," the lawsuit reads.

The alliance is asking a judge to halt any current construction on the site and rule that future construction must be done in accordance with the area's new zoning laws.

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.

Gamma Real Estate's Jonathan Kalikow has been one of the most outspoken critics of the plan and called it an "illegal spot zoning" when the City Council passed it. After the Board of Standards and appeals ruling, Gamma was able to resume construction on the development.

Photo courtesy East River Fifties Alliance