Riverside Center Clears Hurdle

By [Dan Rivoli] Extell Development Co. cleared the last major hurdle in approval of its Riverside Center development after two days of intense negotiations with Council Member Gale Brewer, Community Board 7 staff and the Speaker's staff. The City's Land Use Committee, at Brewer's urging, unanimously supported Riverside Center Dec. 8, after Extell and the community leaders reached an agreement at 4:30 p.m. The details of the compromise touch on nearly every major aspect of the five-building, 3-million-square-foot residential and commercial development planned for West 59th Street to West 72nd Street from West End Avenue to the river. "I think the community did well for those issues we need most: the school, affordable housing and the open space," Brewer said. Brewer, however, would prefer that Extell adhere to the 1992 blueprint drafted for the site, known as a "restrictive declaration," that limited development to 2.4 million square feet. "It's still too big," Brewer said. The two sides had differed on the details of the school planned for the development through the approval process. According to the agreement between Brewer and Extell, the company will provide 100,000 square feet of the school's core and the shell. Of that space, the School Construction Authority will construct 85,000 square feet of the school's interior-"built to the crayons," Brewer said. The remaining square footage will be used in the future for expansion. The affordable housing component-originally 12 percent of units lasting 20 years-has ballooned to 20 percent of the residential floor area, nearly half a million square feet. The affordable housing will be permanent and a portion-135,000 or about 200 units-will be included in the development. Most of the development's open space has been brought down to street level to increase accessibility to the public. Extell will also kick in $20 million to the Parks Department for Riverside Park South and finishing renovations to the West 59th Street Recreation Center. "There is no doubt going by what happened that the community did extraordinarily well," said George Arzt, Extell's spokesperson. "And I believe it's a better project coming out of the negotiations." Extell won some concessions as well. The development got a bump in parking spots to 1,500 from the 1,260 spaces the City Planning Commission allocated to the project. Along West End Avenue, Extell agreed to an increase in retail space, which will contain the auto-dealership the developer needs for the project. "It was a win-win for both sides," Arzt said. Mel Wymore, Community Board 7's chair that helped draft a 42-plus page vision for the development, believes the neighborhood's concerns about Extell's proposal were addressed. "In the end, this development went from a very private enclave... to something that's open to the public," Wymore said, "and will have some concrete amenities that will benefit the public." Wymore was less enthused about the increase in parking and the auto showroom, but liked the block and a half of added retail space on West End Avenue from West 61st Street to West 59th Street. In the end, Wymore believes the project came out of the public review process as better for the surrounding neighborhood. "The public and community played an active role in the process all the way through," Wymore said. "I feel like our recommendations were sincerely considered." The full City Council still has to ultimately approve Riverside Center at a meeting scheduled for Dec. 20. Until then, Brewer wants to further negotiate details on the retail space, such as ensuring small businesses set up shop.