Community Forum for Extell's Riverside Center

New York Times & Co Snooze while Extell Advances

A new post has appeared on Marta Hallowell's Huffington Post blog pointing out the massive silence accompanying the massive Riverside South/Riverside Center on Manhattan's West Side. 

A simple layperson might think the subject would merit some interest from the mainstream media. It's got all the elements, including:

• Financing from the Carlyle Group, the prominent private equity firm involved in the New York State Pension Fund influence-buying scandal.
• A developer, Extell Development Corp., which is trying to build way more than the legally binding limits attached to the property permit.
• A plan by a starchitect that violates long-standing City Planning guidelines.

• The opposition of numerous community groups, Community Board 7, and various elected officials.

But what do I know? I'm just a layperson...

UPDATE: Other stories in local on-line media:

dnainfo.com

Curbed

WestSide Independent

West Side Spirit

Green Building NYC

Extell, Riverside Center Revisions and Plumes

As we have heard, Extell is revising their plans to account for the plume of exhaust coming from the adjacent IRT Powerhouse, currently owned and operated by Con Ed as a steam generating plant. But something is wrong. There must be something else going on here. The revisions they made supposedly to account for exhaust plumes don’t make any kind of sense. They don’t avoid the plumes you actually see coming out of the smokestacks.

The Powerhouse has one giant, highly visible exhaust stack. It also has several short exhaust stacks, extending just a story or so above the roof line of the building, which is less than ten stories tall. Here is the problem, which anyone who visits the area can see for themselves:

The giant stack almost never has anything coming out of it, while the short stacks frequently have lots of visible exhaust coming out of them.

Here you can see a picture of the Powerhouse that shows its single massive tower (click on the picture to enlarge it):

If you look at this picture, you will notice nothing coming out of the top of the big smokestack, but if you follow it down to the base of the tower, you will notice a short smokestack silhouetted against it with a clear, wind-driven plume going up and to the left.

There are also a handful of short smokestacks along the valley in the center of the building, not visible in the above picture. They are just past the roof line you can see. They also emit visible exhaust.

If Extell were required to re-design their buildings to account for plumes coming from the Powerhouse, wouldn’t it make sense for the adjustment to account for the smokestacks that actually have smoke coming out of them? Wouldn’t you think they would put a park between the Powerhouse and the new buildings, as RSPC has proposed, or at least a smaller, truly public park next to the Powerhouse as proposed (separately, and with differences) by the Coalition for a Livable West Side and the consultants to CB7? How exactly is making giant buildings immediately next to the short smokestacks of the Powerhouse supposed to be protecting the public?

Do I know exactly what is coming out of those smokestacks? Of course not. It could be anything, including something completely innocent. If you think it's easy to just ask Con Ed and they'll tell you, I suggest you try it and see if you have better luck than I did. It would sure be nice if there were some transparency here, on all fronts.

Extell's Revised Plans for Riverside Center

Extell presented their revised plans for their massive Riverside Center development (on the southern end of the Riverside South development in Manhattan) at yesterday's Community Board 7 meeting.

Extell showed a new model of the planned development. The new plans fail to address any of the outstanding issues with the prior plans. The new model is just as massive as the old one, with the same number of residential units and the same trampling on the legally binding Restrictive Declaration.

As I speculated prior to the plans being unveiled, Extell simply re-arranged the space allocation on the existing footprint, making the buildings more squat (and in the opinion of several attendees, more ugly), reducing the height of the buildings on the riverfront side while increasing the height along West End Avenue.

It was announced that the ULURP process would begin in April.

CB7 has done some more work on this project, and you can see the results on the relevant part of the CB7 website. The key new items (listed on the site) are

• Core Principles and Key Recommendations, Feb 4, 2010.
• Letter to City Planning, Feb 7, 2010.

The recommendations are generally consistent with prior views of CB7, including:

• Reducing overall density by at least 20%
• Reducing the height of the buildings
• Increase public open space
• A variety of suggestions to improve environmental impact and human usability

Councilwoman Gale A. Brewer attended most of the meeting. Thank you for attending, Ms. Brewer.

RSPC: Great New Info about Riverside South and Extell

We have written about the Riverside South Planning Corporation before, most recently about how the courts have recently upheld their role (or at least someone's role) in overseeing the Riverside South Development, and assuring that the developer meets its obligations.

They have made excellent proposals about developing the site. Here's a sample:

Now, they have dramatically enhanced their site, putting up a real treasure trove of relevant documents about the whole project. This is a real public service!

The current developer, Extell, is simply ignoring the relevant legal agreements. Now anyone can see the history for themselves, thanks to RSPC. There is no excuse for this project proceeding unchecked. Where are the public agencies and officials who are supposed to protect our interests, not to mention enforce the law? I can only hope that they are waiting for the right time, before the project gets underway.

Extell's Partner Carlyle Group Part of $120M of I'm Sorry to NY

The guilty pleas continue to dribble out about influence peddling at the $129 Billion New York State Pension Fund. You remember -- that's the scandal in which "Investment companies, including prominent firms like the Carlyle Group, have paid $120 million in settlements with Mr. Cuomo’s office and agreed to change their practices."

"In State Supreme Court in Manhattan, Mr. Loglisci described a “culture of corruption”...

"When Mr. Morris and Mr. Loglisci were indicted nearly a year ago, Mr. Cuomo’s office accused Mr. Morris of having positioned himself as a gatekeeper, controlling access to about $10 billion in pension assets that were to be invested in hedge funds and private equity firms. Mr. Loglisci said Wednesday in court that Mr. Morris used his control over the pension fund to secure campaign contributions from investment firms."

The story is simple: private equity funds, Carlyle Group among them, made campaign contributions in exchange for the State Pension Fund making investments in the funds, investments which are lucrative to the funds regardless of how things turn out for the State of New York and its pensioners.

That's the way the Carlyle Group acted, and the tens of millions they paid to say "I'm sorry" confirms their role in what a participant described as a "culture of corruption." They get what they want, and they're used to paying for it.

Extell isn't exactly shy about getting what it wants either. It has quite a staff of lobbyists and others to help clear the way for them. Is everything on the up-and-up about Riverside Center?

• Why are things going ahead when Extell is being probed over their conduct at other buildings in the same Riverside South development?
• Why is Extell being permitted to proceed with plans that so clearly violate earlier legal agreements, agreements whose validity has been upheld by the courts and affirmed by public officials?
• Why is Extell being permitted to proceed with plans that are clearly in violation of City policies and based on bogus calculations?

While it's nice that the buildings may be a little less high, it really is a minor accommodation. It doesn't make a dent in the potential huge profits, or constitute a real re-design.

Extell Revises Plans for Riverside Center

We had heard rumors for some time that Extell's plans for gigantic buildings in its planned Riverside Center development were threatened by the plumes from the Con Edison steam plant that is adjacent to the site. Now we know that there was something to the rumors.

I'm no expert in building, but anyone who looks at the site with the tall smokestack right next door ... why would you even think of building really tall buildings right next to the smoke stack of a working power plant? I guess that's what happens when you're Extell and used to getting your way, and you're backed by the Carlyle Group's billions of dollars. You just plow ahead and assume that the "common people" will make way; after all, they usually do.

The wonderful people at the Coalition for a Livable West Side put out a notice saying that, prodded by the Coalition, City Planning talked with Extell about the plume problem, and Extell has actually responded by revising their plans, reducing (so it is said) the planned height of some of the buildings!

Based on Extell's track record of building as much as they possibly can, it's hard to believe that they will actually reduce the total planned floor space. The space chopped off from the tops of buildings may well show up again lower down.

That is the purpose of a meeting at 6:30pm on Wednesday March 17 at Community Board 7, 250 West 87th St (between Broadway and WEA). Extell will be there, and will show its revised plan. The public (that means you!) is welcome to attend. Please do, and post your reactions as comments.