CB1 Slams Seaport Developer's Bid to 'Legalize What's Never Been Permitted'

A still from animated renderings shows view of the proposed tower at 250 Water Street as seen from Peck Slip. Howard Hughes Corp./SOM

Community Board 1 assailed what it called the “extremely complex and convoluted package” of land use actions before the city that would allow the Howard Hughes Corp. [1] to build its controversial tower in the South Street Seaport Historic District. 

The board’s six-page resolution opposing the project, passed overwhelmingly last week, is part of a city-mandated Uniform Land Use Procedure (ULURP) for allowing the proposed 345-foot residential building at 250 Water Street.

To exceed the historic district’s current—and far more restrictive— bulk and 120-foot height limits, the developer is seeking a bundle of modifications to current zoning and other city regulations, including the now prohibited transfer of 256,914 square feet of development air rights to 250 Water Street from Pier 17 and the Tin Building, which it leases from the city. In its attempt to make that legal, the developer wants the city to define the two sites and the pedestrian streets that connect them as a single, contiguous lot.

The board calls the move an unprecedented tactic meant to skirt current protections against out-of-scale development in the low-rise historic district, including a downzoning of the district that CB1 led the fight for, and won, in 2003.

“Here we are today, faced with a ULURP that would basically legalize everything that has never been permitted in the past,” said board member Paul Goldstein, the former long-time CB1 district manager who was closely involved in the downzoning battle.

The developer argues that the building site, a full-block parking lot at the western end of the district, should be viewed in the context of the tall buildings just outside the historic neighborhood. And they, along with many of the project’s supporters, contend that the promised (and yet to be determined) endowment by Hughes Corp. to the struggling South Street Seaport Museum, and the inclusion of 70 “deeply affordable” apartments in the 300-unit tower make the project worthy of support.

“The parking lot at 250 Water Street has been an unsightly gap in the urban fabric for over five decades,” said Saul Scherl, the Howard Hughes executive who is leading the proposal through the lengthy approval process. The project, he added, would “transform the parking lot into a mixed-use development that will enhance the neighborhood, and create a welcoming gateway to the South Street Seaport Historic District.” 

Despite CB1’s overwhelming opposition, the project so far has the key support of Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer, and Councilwoman Margaret Chin. Brewer’s office and the City Council will hold hearings on the application as part of the land use review before the Council votes on it later this year. Citing their support for the museum, both officials gave their blessing to the even bigger original design, twin 470-foot towers, that was later rejected [2] as overly masive by the Landmarks Preservation Commission. 

The Seaport Coalition [3], a group opposing the project, is suing [4] the city over the Landmarks Commission’s approval of the current revised design, challenging its decision to “grant such a grossly out of scale and clearly inappropriate project an LPC Certificate of Appropriateness.” In a statement, the Hughes Corp. called the suit “deeply out of touch” and “a stunt.”

Hughes Corp. bought 250 Water Street for $180 million from Milstein Properties, a developer that had failed over the years to win LPC approvals for a tall building on the site. The one proposal that was approved, for a 10-story building, was never built. Opponents say this project should be treated no differently, even though it would finally fill in the full-block “gap” in the historic district. 

“That’s not the alternative. The parking lot is there because various property owners have chosen not to build what they’re allowed to build,” said CB1 member Jeff Galloway. “It’s a false dichotomy.”

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