Developers SJP Properties and Mitsui Fudosan America may be forced, under a recent New York State Supreme Court ruling, to tear down the top 20 stories of a nearly-completed 56-story luxury residential skyscraper in New York City designed by Elkus Manfredi Architects.
The developer, Amsterdam Avenue Redevelopment Associates, chose to continue to build in the face of this ongoing legal challenge. The building topped out at 204 meter (668 feet) in August 2019. Justice Perry has now ordered the BSA to compel the developer to remove enough floors to bring the building into compliance with the Zoning Resolution.
“We are very gratified that after a long fight, the gerrymandered zoning lot at 200 Amsterdam has been declared illegal. This groundbreaking decision averts a dangerous precedent that would have ultimately affected every corner of the city,” said Elizabeth Goldstein, President of the Municipal Art Society of New York (MAS). “The directive to partially demolish the building is appropriate given the willingness of the developer to ignore every sign that their project was inappropriately scaled for the neighborhood and based on a radical and wildly inaccurate interpretation of the Zoning Resolution.”
Case Background
In March 2019, the advocates secured a major legal victory when the Court determined that the BSA had acted arbitrarily and capriciously in affirming the Department of Buildings’ decision to allow the building’s gerrymandered lot. Justice Perry remanded the matter back to the BSA for reconsideration. However, in June, the BSA issued its amended resolution on the matter, which doubled down on the agency’s prior, unreasonable interpretation of the Zoning Resolution to uphold the legality of the gerrymandered lot. The plaintiffs filed suit again to compel the BSA to abide by Justice Perry’s original decision.
MAS and CFESD were represented in the Article 78 proceeding by Emery Celli Brinckerhoff & Abady LLP, Charles Weinstock, Esq., and Rachel Mazur, Esq. An Article 78 proceeding is the main procedural vehicle by which the public can seek review of agency action in New York.
