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Upper West Siders Say Luxury Tower's Height-Boosting 'Mechanical Void' Is Mostly Empty Space
By
Elizabeth Kim
Published Dec 17, 2019
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By
Elizabeth Kim
Published Dec 17, 2019
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In a challenge that could affect future applications for luxury skyscrapers in New York City, an Upper West Side preservation group is arguing that plans by Billionaires' Row developer Extell to incorporate a "void" -- entire floors intended to house mechanical equipment -- illegally takes up swaths of empty and usable space that should be counted toward the city's calculation of maximum allowable floor area for a building.
According to an engineering analysis commissioned by Landmark West, a group that earlier this year filed a zoning challenge with the city's Board of Standards and Appeals (BSA), less than 22 percent of the void designed for the 775-feet-tall condo project at 50 West 66th Street is actually occupied by mechanical equipment.
"This is an overreach," said Sean Khorsandi, the executive director of Landmark West.
Khorsandi said the group's legal objection will send a message to the development community.
"This will put everyone on notice that you can’t take up entire floors," he said.
In a letter submitted to the BSA, Gale Brewer, the Manhattan Borough President, has also opposed the project's void.
"To permit this development to move forward as proposed sets a dangerous message to other developers who will surely seek similarly unjustified mechanical deductions for their buildings," the statement said.
Back in 2017 when Extell filed its plans, developers were permitted to exploit a loophole in the regulations that allowed them to use a peculiar height-boosting trick: dedicating several tall floors for mechanical equipment. Buildings in New York City are limited by maximum floor area requirements, which measures the usable floor space, but mechanical space had been exempted from that rule, leaving no cap on their size.
In recent years, at least four residential skyscrapers have incorporated mechanical voids spread across more than three floors. They include 220 Central Park West, where a hedge fund magnate paid a record-breaking $238 million for a penthouse, and 432 Park, another supertall for the super rich that has become an emblem of excess in the city.
In May, the City Council passed a new plan backed by the de Blasio administration that would count mechanical space toward a building's allowable floor area once it exceeds a height of 25 feet.
Department of City Planning
According to plans approved by the Department of Buildings in April, Extell's project will have a contiguous mechanical void space that measures a total of 176 feet in height.
But during a more than two-hour hearing before the BSA on Tuesday, David Karnovsky, an attorney at the law firm of Fried Frank that is representing Extell, argued that the latest appeal is baseless, saying that the developer acted in "good faith" prior to the rules being changed.
Extell representatives, along with the city, also maintained that all of the space designated as mechanical void space is in fact necessary, and that the engineer who reviewed the plans failed to include equipment such as the sprinkler system and other kinds of piping. Landmark West's engineer, Michael Ambrosino, maintained that these were not critical to the assessment.
Opponents said that issue boils down to a questionable procedure by the DOB. The department has said that while it does inspect void plans for fire and safety concerns, it does not overly scrutinize the design to determine whether there is too much wasted space.
"Having some sort of guidelines in zoning provides predictability not only to developers but to the larger community," said George Janes, a planning consultant hired by Landmark West. "People are always going to be upset when you try to regulate them. But the DOB has more experience than anyone."
Felicia Miller, general counsel for the DOB, said that although the DOB will question developers for what they deem to be egregious cases, the breadth of designs and evolving technology makes it too difficult for the city to create a set of criteria that determines how much floor space mechanical equipment needs to cover in order to qualify as legal void.
"There are just too many factors right now that we have not been able to come up with standards," she said.
The BSA is set to decide the case at the end of January.
Tagged
Upper West Side
Extell
luxury condos
supertalls
voids
Elizabeth Kim
Elizabeth Kim is a reporter on the People and Power desk who covers mayoral power. She previously covered the pandemic, housing, redevelopment and public spaces. A native of Queens, she speaks fluent Mandarin. Got a tip? Email [email protected]
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