Three projects planned for Two Bridges have narrowly dodged a lengthy land use procedure.
The Department of City Planning rejected a request to require three massive towers to go through the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP), which would have required the projects to get approval from the community board, the borough president and the City Council. In a letter dated Aug. 11, Carl Weisbrod wrote that while the changes to the neighborhood were significant, they did not “require any new waivers or zoning actions,” the Lo-Down reported.
This means JDS Development Group’s [TRDataCustom] 247 Cherry Street, L+M Development and CIM Group’s 260 South Street and the Starrett Corporation’s 271-283 South Street won’t have to go through the land use process.
In June, City Council member Margaret Chin and others urged the city to create a master plan for the neighborhood, in light of several projects planned for the area. In July, the Lo-Down reported that preliminary plans for the two South Street projects would bring more than 2,100 new residential units to the neighborhood and would together span 1.7 million square feet, nearly the same size as the Essex Crossing project.
Meanwhile, JDS plans to build a 900-foot rental tower on Cherry Street, which will be next to Extell Development’s 80-story One Manhattan Square. [Lo-Down] — Kathryn Brenzel