New York, NY – Assemblymember Linda B. Rosenthal (D/WF-Manhattan) joined advocates, community members and her colleagues in government to express dismay with the Appellate Division’s determination in the 200 Amsterdam Avenue case.

"The developers of 200 Amsterdam Avenue, SJP Properties, creatively interpreted the City’s zoning laws to create a 668-foot megatower on the Upper West Side. SJP Properties willed 200 Amsterdam Avenue into existence by cobbling together pieces of various tax lots to form one gerrymandered lot and by claiming the neighboring property’s open space as its own.

After witnessing the flagrant abuse of the zoning resolution (ZR) by SJP, the New York City Department of Buildings (DOB) clarified its interpretation of the zoning resolution and declared that it did not intend for the zoning resolution to allow for gerrymandered zoning lots to be used in this way.

The community, led by Olive Freud and the Committee for Environmentally Sound Development (CESD), has spearheaded the battle to stop the construction at 200 Amsterdam Avenue for years, at great personal and financial expense. The parties stipulated that CESD would not seek an injunction to stop the construction and SJP would not use its construction progress as an argument in support of the development being allowed to move forward.

Despite the stipulation, SJP then went back on its word and argued 1) that the building was complete, 2) it cost SJP millions to complete the building, 3) removing the completed floors would be expensive and disturb the community, and 4) that CESD failed to assert its right to appeal, which therefore rendered the case moot.

Once again, we have proof that the word of a wealthy developer is not worth the piece of paper it is written on. From the beginning, SJP, aided by the impotence and solicitousness of the Administration, ran roughshod over the community.

At any point while this case was wending its way through the various stages of review, the City, the Court or the developer itself could have or should have paused construction. DOB reversed its own interpretation of the ZR but refused to pull the developers’ permits. And the fact that the developer spent $50 million to complete the floors in question is cited in the Appellate Division’s decision, as if the developer’s expenditure somehow justifies or excuses its flagrant exploitation of the zoning rules.

Even with the new interpretation, the City Administration has a long history of catering to developers, to the detriment of communities and the people who live in them. From gerrymandered zoning lots to mechanical voids, to zoning plans that have invited overdevelopment without inducing enough affordable housing in exchange, this Administration has proven where its interests lie.

That is why it is vital that the New York State Legislature step in to restore order and balance to the land use process in New York City. I am the sponsor of two bill A.2128 and A.668, which will close the mechanical voids loophole and end the kind of zoning lot mergers that enabled 200 Amsterdam Avenue to be built. I will fight to pass both these pieces of legislation and ensure that our communities are prioritized and not the well-connected developers who exert outsize influence."