Controversial UWS Tower Rises Rapidly Despite Legal Challenge

UPPER WEST SIDE, NY — A 668-foot skyscraper already towering above Amsterdam Avenue is going up so fast it could be completed before a legal challenge that claims it violates zoning laws is resolved, opponents say.

Upper West Side politicians and preservationists stood in front of the active construction site at 200 Amsterdam Ave. Tuesday morning and demanded the city's Department of Buildings revoke its construction permits until the city decides if it should be allowed.

Workers affixed panels of the 200 Amsterdam Avenue's facade to the building and the smell of gasoline from construction trucks filled the air as opponents of the planned apartment tower bemoaned the rapid pace of construction at the site. The building has shot up from two or three stories to more than 20 in just two weeks, local City Council Member Helen Rosenthal said.

At the current pace of construction, the building may be complete before opponents are able to make their case against the development during a second appearance with the city Board of Standards and Appeals, Rosenthal said. The city council member added the pace of construction presents concerns about worker safety on the site.

"Given the fact that the Department of Buildings is issuing after hours variances as if it were giving out candy at a candy store, we're going to see within the next three weeks the completion of a 66-story building. That has to raise red flags," Rosenthal said.

While the building will rise more than 660 feet, a spokeswoman for developers said it will only contain 52 total stories.

State Supreme Court Justice W. Franc Perry ruled in March to vacate a 2018 city Board of Standards and Appeals ruling that favored 200 Amsterdam developers SJP Properties and Japanese-based Mitsui Fudosan in a challenge brought by Upper West Side preservation groups.

Attorney Richard Emry — who is representing groups such as the Municipal Arts Society and the Committee For Environmentally Sound Development in their challenge of the project — said that developers are currently "building at their own peril" due to the uncertain legal status of the development.

Should the legal challenge against the building win, developers may be forced to demolish any parts of the structure that are found to violate zoning laws. Manhattan Borough president Gale Brewer cited an Upper East Side development that demolished 12 floors five years after it was built as precedent.

Emry claimed that recent construction progress on 200 Amsterdam should not be considered if developers argue for an unnecessary hardship due to a previous stipulation to discount all progress on the building made after May 2018.

"We have a stipulation that they can't complain the building that occurs after it was out of the ground as basis for hardship," Emry said. "They will try, but we have a stipulation from last May."

A spokeswoman for SJP Properties disputed Emry's claim and said that the stipulation ended on March 14, 2019. The stipulation was contingent on an agreement between developers and opposition groups, which ended when the court vacated the previous Board of Standards and Appeals decision, the spokeswoman said.

Opponents of the building will be back in court at the end of the month to ask for a temporary restraining order that would prevent further construction at the 200 Amsterdam site, Emry said. The lawyer hopes that the Board of Standards and Appeals will schedule its new hearing on the development within the next two months.

Borough President Brewer sent a letter to the city Department of Buildings asking the agency to revoke permits for 200 Amsterdam Avenue until the legal challenge against the building is complete. Brewer said during Tuesday's rally that the department never responded. Rosenthal said that her office contacted the department and was told that it would be against the law for DOB to revoke the permit, but said her office's lawyers disagreed.

Despite the DOB's apparent unwillingness to halt construction at the site, Rosenthal is optimistic that the new Board of Standards and Appeals hearing may work in the favor of the tower's opponents.

"I think once you have a state court judge rule that there should be an injunction on this building, I think we're in a better place," Rosenthal said of the challenge's prospects in front of the board compared to 2018's hearing.

Opponents of 200 Amsterdam Avenue have argued that its "gerrymandered" zoning lot — which stretches far beyond the building site — violates the city's zoning codes. The development's sprawling zoning lot defies both the letter and spirit of the city's regulations, preservation groups argue.

Developers maintain that 200 Amsterdam is in compliance with the city's zoning code. Developers cite previous support from the Department of Buildings and Board of Standards and Appeals as well as previous developments that have used similar zoning lots.

"The opposition has resorted to applying political pressure while overlooking the last 40 years of zoning history, during which several buildings have been built and occupied under the exact same zoning standards. We are confident that New York City's agencies will continue to apply the law in a fair manner that respects the rights of all without seeking to change the rules retroactively, after a project is already underway," developers said Tuesday in a statement.

Developers added that the building is expected to generate $100 million in tax revenue for the city in the next 10 years and create "a significant number of New York City jobs."

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, and a newly-proposed city rule may limit its height.