Manhattan Borough President Pens Opposition to Giant Development on the Hudson

WEST VILLAGE, NY — Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer is not ready to support the massive redevelopment plan across from Pier 40 as it currently stands.

Brewer wrote a letter to the City Planning Commission pushing for more affordable housing and public spaces, as well as a "true neighborhood retail plan" in the developer's plan for the redevelopment of the St. John's Terminal site in the West Village.

She wrote in a 23-page letter Tuesday that the developers, Atlas Capital Group and Westbrook Partners, should be denied land use applications and the development rights should not be transferred from the Hudson River Park Trust. The developers were proposing $100 million to buy air rights from the Hudson River Park Trust, which would be used to rebuild Pier 40.

"A worthy plan for the St. John's Terminal site would have more and better affordable units, a true neighborhood retail plan, and accessible public spaces that residents will actually use," Brewer said in a statement Tuesday. "We don't need to choose between a massive project with massive flaws or letting Pier 40 fall into the river — I firmly believe we can do better with this site."

Brewer's formal recommendation was issued as part of the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP) process, which includes the community and local elected officials in the conversation about the development. A public hearing will be held Wednesday morning.

The plan for the site at 550 Washington St. in Hudson Square is to build a 2 million-square-foot complex with retail, condos, 30 percent affordable housing and possibly a hotel.

Brewer took issue with the fact that if the city doesn't approve the existing plan, the developers could build housing with fewer stories and no affordable housing units.

"Here, in order to fund necessary and urgent repairs to Pier 40 and have a real chance to create affordable apartments in this neighborhood, I am told I must accept this project at this height and density. But I believe looking at the project in this manner sets up a false premise which I cannot accept," Brewer wrote in a letter to Carl Weisbrod, chair of the City Planning Commission.

"I do not think the amount, location, and design of the proposed affordable housing is adequate, and I believe significant changes to the site plan in regard to parking, open space, retail, and public access are needed to truly stitch this development into its surrounding neighborhood and to ameliorate the impacts cited above," Brewer wrote.

The development applications will be reviewed, and Brewer will present testimony, at a CPC public hearing on Aug. 24 at 10 a.m. at CPC headquarters on 22 Reade St.

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