Among the things being planned for the remakes of the East River waterfront and piers in Lower Manhattan are two new pavilions "underneath the fume-laden F.D.R. Drive near Rutgers Slip." The description comes from the Villager, which describes them as places "where ping-pong, aerobics, tango and karate could become the norm." Unlike some controversial elements of plans, the Villager notes that Community Board 3's Waterfront Subcommittee "overwhelmingly supports using the pavilions for dance, exercise and recreation." The plan is to select a builder by next summer or fall and to have the pavilions open by 2011. In the meantime, everybody's talking about how "community access" gets defined and one local activist says "the devil is in the details," meaning that there could still be some fireworks. Some of the plans from SHoP Architects have previously been called "couch potato" plans.
· Community Doesn't Want to Be Locked Out of Pavilions [Villager]
· East River Waterfront Plan [NYCEDC]
· Meanwhile, on the East River, Another Pier Tale of Woe [Curbed]
What would a humongous $4 billion development plan with 3,000 apartments, a million square feet of commercial space and buildings up to 595 feet all along the East River be without a lawsuit? Absolutely nowhere, of course. And so, developer Sheldon Solow's recently-approved, scaled-down plan is facing a lawsuit from residents of Tudor City. Today's amNY has the rundown, noting that "Fearful that their urban Eden will be buried under darkness and dirt, residents of bucolic Tudor City" announced the suit Wednesday. The suit says the development was approved against the wishes of the local community board. Resident of Tudor City, which runs from 40th Street to 43rd Street and First and Second Avenues say the Planning Commission "arbitrarily and capriciously" disregarded the community's plan for the site. Specifically, the lawyer bringing the suit tells amNY that "The planning department pays lip service to community-based planning and then they spit in the face of community based planning." A Solow spokesperson says he's "confident" the development will go forward.
· Residents fight Tudor City development [amNY]
· Solow's East River Waterfront Gets a Pat on the Behind [Curbed]
The Post's Steve Cuozzo reads the tea leaves on the commercial and residential real estate markets, and he says that we're in for some troubled times. Not a shocking declaration given the level of panic out there concerning the credit crunch and Wall Street layoffs, but Cuozzo does not concern himself with paltry matters of the present. No, the Cuozz has his eye on 2010 as the winter of our discontent, because "an unusually high percentage of office leases will roll and many glamorous new condo projects will open their doors." In the meantime, Cuozzo writes that the current climate will make it difficult for certain far-fetched ideas to get realized, like the office tower that's supposed to sprout from the Port Authority bus terminal or even Sheldon Solow's East River waterfront plan. But all is not doom and gloom. In comes Curbed Network BFF Jonathan Miller to point out that the credit crunch may actually limit future damages to the market, because fewer apartments and buildings will be built due to a lack of financing.
· A Discouraging Word [NYP]
There's a war a brewin' right now, and the battles are being fought not in the trenches, but in poorly-lit meeting rooms during marathon sessions of boring back-and-forth. On one side, you have the community boards and local activists who will stop at nothing to prevent that new restaurant next door or the 12-story building down the street. In the other camp, developers and entrepreneurs and citizens who aren't afraid of the occasional new skyscraper. The former have had their way for a while, but now the other side is striking back via some genuine community board backlash. Fans of Jean Nouvel's 75-story proposed skyscraper near the MoMA have even posted an online petition to gain support. And now, the latest barb, via the Curbed inbox:
First I saw that the Solow development on the East River, a location that was begging for a 21st-century icon, has officially been punched down into a Hartford-within-Midtown. Then I read on Curbed that Community Board 5 has unanimously (!) voted against a transfer of air rights to the MoMA Tower of Awesomeness.
I went to a few CB6 meetings about the Solow development back when it still could've been a slice of Dubai in New York (pathetic we're reduced to saying that, ain't it?). I was the only person under the age of 80 and not in a cruise-ship blazer and bow-tie, and the old-timers lambasted me when I gave one of two speeches in favor of the project. (The other was an architecture professor's speech.)
The public approval process is strangling the economic development of New York. Or not. Everyone has their own take on this hot topic, but what can't be argued is that community boards and the citizenry are truly flexing their muscles this week. On a plot of land begging for something iconic, developer Sheldon Solow was forced to dramatically scale back his East River waterfront plan because local residents were worried about shadows. He was able to fight to keep the one office building planned, even though locals said it didn't belong in a residential neighborhood. By the way, the plot of land is a stone's throw from the UN, which apparently is an apartment building of some sort? Then, Community Board 5 unanimously voted to deny the air rights transfers needed for Jean Nouvel's dazzling 75-story MoMA skyscraper, with one neighbor calling the building "inappropriate in a low-rise area." Midtown, apparently, being the "low-rise area" discussed. The restaurant scene is also suffering under the grip of community boards, as our friends at Eater have taken the time to point out. Now, though, it may be going too far.
Sometime today, and perhaps as soon as RIGHT NOW, two City Council subcommittees—the Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises and the Subcommittee on Land Use—will vote on wacky developer Sheldon Solow's East River waterfrontproposal just south of the UN. The much-delayed decision will come following weeks of negotiations between Solow and local officials, who are worried about the scale of the six proposed residential towers as well as the giant office building (some would also like a big new park to be part of the plan). The Sun's Peter Kiefer reports via "sources" that a modified version of the plan is expected to be approved. The curveball is that no one seems sure about the concessions that Solow will make to get this pushed through. Reduced building heights? More affordable housing? The world's biggest waterslide? Please please be that last one.
· Sources: Modified Version of Solow Project To Pass Council [Sun]
· Solow's East River Waterfront Gets a Pat on the Behind [Curbed]
· Solow's Eastern Promises: Affordable Housing! Schools! [Curbed]
A group calling itself Rivers Alive has a plan for Pier 13, which juts out into the East River south of the Seaport near Wall Street. Well, jutted is more appropriate, because the pier was demolished last year. Rivers Alive, Downtown Express reports, wants to rebuild Pier 13 as a center of art and education, with one insane twist:
On the proposed Pier 13, people wouldn’t just be able to get near the water — they’d be able to get in it. A wet boardwalk near Wall St. would flood at high tide, allowing visitors to wade down the pier in knee-deep water. Those who prefer to keep their shoes on could stay on the dry boardwalk, which would be separated from the wet one by a long aquarium filled with fish native to New York Harbor. If visitors had questions about the fish or the pier’s history, they could head to glass-enclosed computer kiosks for answers.
There are not enough anti-bacterial wipes in this world to convince us that a stroll through the waters of the East River is a nice idea for a Sunday afternoon, but get this: Community Board 1 approved the proposal. Now comes the hard part, however, because many more approvals from other agencies are needed, and $25 million or so needs to be raised. Maybe they can score a corporate sponsorship from a drug company that manufactures Penicillin?
· Doubles team serves up new idea for old tennis pier [Downtown Express]
· Boat-Free, Yoga Visions for East River Waterfront [Curbed]
A while back, the Municipal Arts Society unveiled its dreamy vision for a waterfront park within developer Sheldon Solow's massive East River project just south of the UN. Yesterday, they went all official with it, as the new Coalition for an East Side Waterfront Park held a press conference to re-unveil the renderings and show off the future site of the proposed park in all of its rubble-strewn, freezing-winds-off-the-river glory.
Given the costs involved, the East Side Waterfront Park is a long shot, but Coalition members were optimistic as they discussed the steps they need to take to make the plan a reality, and positively giddy when bantering about the idea of gearing up and riding bikes together (yeah, we were confused, too). The steps involve getting Solow to grant an easement, raising around $100 million, and working out the simple matter of getting the Department of Transportation to realign the FDR Drive so a big ol' deck can be built over it for optimal frolicking. The Coalition folks seemed pretty confident that Solow would grant the easement, but all seemed wary of the bureaucratic mess inherent in asking the DOT to move a highway.
It's looking like developer/mad man Sheldon Solow's massive $4 billion East River waterfrontproject—a mix of residential and commercial highrises on nine acres of land just south of the United Nations—is a go. The city's Planning Commission is expected to give the plan its blessing today, the Sun reports, as long as Solow agrees to some height and density reductions and commits to including affordable housing. Next up, the City Council will have its say, but the council is also expected to approve the project. They may require Solow to make some more concessions in terms of affordable housing, but he's already proven that he'll do whatever it takes to reshape the former Con Ed land. And so, progress at Ground Zero North! In fact, this is the closest progress has come to the UN in some 48 years.
· $4B Solow Development Faces Panel Vote [Sun]
· Solow's Eastern Promises: Affordable Housing! Schools! [Curbed]
· Solow's East River Waterfront Moves Forward [Curbed]
Developer Sheldon Solow's vision for seven new gigantic mixed-use towers along the East River waterfront near the United Nations is gaining steam. The latest, reported by Charles Bagli in the Times today, is an agreement between Solow and officials to set aside 20% of the planned apartments for affordable housing. With over 4,000 apartments planned, thats a fairly sizable chunk, especially when those low-income units will be in buildings designed by starchitects like Richard Meier and the gang at Skidmore, Owings and Merrill. Solow is also working with the city to figure out how to stick a new school on the property, adding to the feelings of goodwill now suddenly directed straight him. Say what you will about the litigious Sheldon Solow and his First Avenue crazytown, but he is playing this thing like Mozart tickling the ivory. What's next, promising that the skyscrapers will suck up all the pollution from the East River and turn it into five-course meals for the homeless?
· Developer Would Include Low-Cost Units in East Side Towers [NYT]
· Solow's East River Waterfront Moves Forward [Curbed]
· East River Waterfront Dreaming in Midtown [Curbed]
Having looked at the wild visions for Hudson Square earlier and at the mindfucking one for the Battery Maritime Building as well, we now move on to the SHoP vision for Pier 15 and environs. New renderings were shown earlier this week and greeted with the Manhattan waterfront equivalent of Bronx Cheers. Downtown Express has more renderings as well as more detail on Pier 15, which is a maritime education facility whose current iteration doesn't allow for boats. Go figure. These are "schematic" designs, though, and the "design development phase" will include "more technical details" and, possibly, boats at Pier 15. In the meantime, they're hoping for a 2008 start to construction using $150 million the project got from the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation. We think that means the "technical details" need to be ironed out fast. The good news is that the "schematic" makes it look like a great spot for yoga.
Now that the Con Ed buildings are gone and the activists have had their fun, it's time for developer Sheldon Solow to get down to the nitty gritty of getting his massive East River hole-in-the-ground filled with the mixed-use towers we all know and love. The Sun reports that a Community Board hearing is scheduled tomorrow for the First Avenue development plans, and it's no surprise that since this is what could be the biggest privately owned piece of developable land in Manhattan, there may be some hang-ups in the public approval process. Some officials believe the six buildings and 5 million square feet of development are too dense for the UN-dominated neighborhood. The above image comes from the environmental impact statement (warning: PDF), and while this does look like the biggest set of dominoes ever constructed, a Curbed reader did randomly email us saying that Whole Foods wants to stick a store somewhere in the complex, so hey, that's something.
· The New Gold Coast [NYSun]
· East River Waterfront Dreaming in Midtown [Curbed]
What would a humongous $4 billion development plan with 3,000 apartments, a million square feet of commercial space and buildings up to 595 feet all along the East River be without a lawsuit? Absolutely nowhere, of course. And so, developer Sheldon Solow's 
The Post's Steve Cuozzo reads the tea leaves on the commercial and residential real estate markets, and he says that we're in for some troubled times. Not a shocking declaration given the level of panic out there concerning the credit crunch and Wall Street layoffs, but Cuozzo does not concern himself with paltry matters of the present. No, the Cuozz has his eye on 2010 as the winter of our discontent, because "an unusually high percentage of office leases will roll and many glamorous new condo projects will open their doors." In the meantime, Cuozzo writes that the current climate will make it difficult for certain far-fetched ideas to get realized, like the 
There's a war a brewin' right now, and the battles are being fought not in the trenches, but in poorly-lit meeting rooms during marathon sessions of boring back-and-forth. On one side, you have the community boards and local activists who will stop at nothing to prevent that new restaurant next door or the 12-story building down the street. In the other camp, developers and entrepreneurs and citizens who aren't afraid of the occasional new skyscraper. The former have had their way for a while, but now the other side is striking back via some genuine 
The public approval process is strangling the economic development of New York. Or not. Everyone has their own take on this hot topic, but what can't be argued is that community boards and the citizenry are truly flexing their muscles this week. On a plot of land begging for something iconic, developer Sheldon Solow was forced to dramatically scale back his 
Developer Sheldon Solow's 
