C.B. 4 rejects Seminary’s tower proposal

Volume One, Issue 20, February 9- 15, 2007

By Chris Lombardi

Community Board 4’s full-board meeting on Wednesday night at the Fulton Senior Center was loud, passionate and, to some, very familiar.

A casual observer might have been forgiven for thinking time had gone backward — back to the numerous public hearings, most recently on January 22, on the General Theological Seminary’s proposed 15-story brick-and-glass luxury residential tower on Ninth Ave.

Making another appearance were the infamous “Save the Seminary” stickers, worn by a quarter of the more than 200 people attending the meeting, along with the “75 feet is the Limit” tags passed out by Save the Chelsea Historic District, which was organized last year to oppose the project.

And back again, for two full hours before the full board meeting, were people determined to reiterate their positions, before the full board voted on the joint resolution of C.B. 4’s Landmarks Task Force and Chelsea Preservation and Planning Committee, which voted last Wednesday to reject G.T.S.’s proposal.

In the end, the resolution was approved 28–7, after almost four hours of contentious debate.

There was also a lively discussion about a permit application by the Manhattan Music Society for a rock-concert venue, on the grounds of the former Exit Club, and Alvin Ailey Dance Company representatives gracefully asked that their “Alvin Ailey Way” sign follow them to their new location in Hell’s Kitchen.

But the heart of the meeting was G.T.S.’s long-simmering proposal.

The controversy has been raging for a year and a half. Seminary officials say the building represents the best hope for generating the $15 million to $20 million needed to stabilize many of G.T.S.’s historic buildings, which have fallen into disrepair because of years of deferred maintenance. Replacement of Sherill Hall would bring another $20 to 25 million from the seminary’s developing partner, the Brodsky Organization. In return for bearing the cost of construction for the newly designed Ninth Ave. building, Brodsky would get a 99-year ground lease and would sell or lease approximately 75 condos in the top floors of the tower for a profit of nearly $100 million. The seminary would get a portion of this revenue.

Opponents reiterated that by violating the 75-foot limit of the Chelsea Plan, which some called “already a compromise,” the proposed development would threaten the low-rise, historic character of the neighborhood.

Both sides parsed the meaning of Section 74-711 of the 1970 Zoning Resolution, which allows owners of designated landmarks to apply for variances “if they present a plan to use all the revenue derived from the variance to preserve the property.” The disagreement: whether the Brodsky development constituted an “appropriate and contextual plan,” as GTS contends, or a step backwards for G.T.S.’s neighbors, who fought hard to have the core of Chelsea designated as a historic district.

“Every religious organization in the city has financial problems,” said Steve Shore, a founding member of Save the Chelsea Historic District. Shore recited a long list of other nonprofits who have applied for 74-11 exemption: Sheareth Israel, the New-York Historical Society, West Presbyterian Church, a synagogue on the Upper West Side. “If we agree to this, if we set this precedent –— the city is going to be unrecognizable.”

G.T.S. also reiterated its recent commitment to tap its unused development rights to build affordable housing in Chelsea. That, too, became a burning issue at Wednesday’s meeting, where both sides claimed the high ground on the issue.

Opponents, saying “Until something’s on paper, this is all a vapor,” were suspicious of promises that still felt far too informal, while the plan for the tower’s 80 high-priced condos was painfully specific.

Maureen Burnley, the seminary’s executive vice president for finance and operations, by contrast, called G.T.S.’s commitment to affordable housing both “real” and “deep.” She cited the seminary’s plan to transfer its 55,000 square feet of unused development rights to promote affordable housing, and about recent “very encouraging” meetings with the New York City Housing Authority and the Department of Housing Preservation and Development about a viable site on which to build, in a NYCHA parking lot on the north side of 19th St. between Ninth and Tenth Aves., behind the G.T.S.’s 422 W. 20th St. building.

As the discussion, which began at 8 p.m., wore on, efforts were made to shorten it. At about 8:45, G.T.S. representatives agreed to forgo any further comments, allowing them to be put into the record instead, and C.B. 4 District Manager Bob Benfatto began to call out the names of all who had signed up to speak.

But numerous opponents still asked to give longer statements, until some seminary supporters tried to retract their earlier agreement, making the whole session sound like a Congressional hearing. With each retort, their raised voices escalated, some amplified by the microphone:

“I was on the list to speak!”

“You were not – you already had your turn.”

“He did not!”

“He did so!”

Finally, at 9 p.m., the board began formal consideration of the joint-resolution that originally rejected the seminary’s plan. The discussion then went another two hours.

The final vote, at 11:00 p.m., was well-earned.