Developer, Preservation Groups Strike Agreement On UWS Tower

UPPER WEST SIDE, NY — Groups challenging a planned 668-foot tower at 200 Amsterdam Ave. on the Upper West Side claimed a legal victory after striking a settlement with the tower's developers.

The Municipal Art Society of New York and the Committee for Environmentally Sound Development settled with developer SJP Properties that would require the developer to notify the groups 10 days before foundation work is complete, Scott Mollen — a lawyer representing SJP Properties in a lawsuit — said.

SJP Properties also agreed not to cite constructions costs incurred between the settlement and a decision by the Board of Standards and Appeals as evidence of the developer's stake in the project. The settlement does not prevent SJP properties from continuing work on either the foundation or tower portion of the project, Mollen said.

The groups cited the settlement as a major victory against 200 Amsterdam and initially claimed that the settlement prevented SJP Properties from conducting any construction beyond foundation work.

Mollen said that the group's description of the settlement was "absolutely incorrect" and that SJP Properties is "fully confident" that the development will continue and win an ongoing challenge in the Board of Standards and Appeals.

A follow up inquiry with the Municipal Art Society of New York was not immediately returned.

The settlement was secured in relation to a lawsuit filed on April 25 seeking to block the development, the preservation groups said in a statement.

"We hope this lawsuit will be a signal to future builders that they will be required to respect the character of the neighboring communities as set forth in the New York City Zoning Resolution," Olive Freud, President of the Committee for Environmentally Sound Development, said in a statement. "We know there is going to be a 200 Amsterdam, but we expect it to conform to the rules."

The Committee for Environmentally Sound Development has been fighting 200 Amsterdam since late 2017 when it filed a challenge against the development with the Department of Buildings. The group has accused developers of gerrymandering 200 Amsterdam's zoning lot to obtain out-of-scale building rights. The 200 Amsterdam lot is combined with parts of five other tax lots, which should violate a Zoning Resolution condition determining what makes an appropriate zoning lot, the group argues.

"This building is an affront to the intention of zoning," Elizabeth Goldstein, President of Municipal Art Society of New York. "It uses obscure gerrymandering tactics to increase the height of the residential development by more than 400 feet. If that wasn’t enough, it also flouts the definition of open space by counting inaccessible parking lots and driveways toward those zoning requirements."

City Councilwoman Helen Rosenthal has backed the group's challenges against the building.

When 200 Amsterdam Ave. was first proposed by SJP Properties it was set to become the tallest building on the Upper West Side. Extell Development's recently proposed 15 W. 65th St. — which would rise 775-feet-tall — has since taken that title. Neighborhood groups and politicians are also fighting that development.

Correction: This article initially stated that the settlement prohibits SJP Properties from conducting construction work above 200 Amsterdam Ave.'s foundation. Patch regrets this error.

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