LOWER EAST SIDE — Developers building a residential tower next to a controversial 80-story luxury high-rise will host a meeting on Wednesday, April 27 with concerned neighbors who fear the combined developments will negatively impact their quality of life.
Two Bridges Neighborhood Council will announce plans for a tower proposed to be built next to the Two Bridges Senior Apartment building at 80 Rutgers Slip, which has already been overshadowed by the 80-story Extell tower rising next door.
Seniors who live in the center and other neighbors have been invited to voice their questions and concerns at the 6:30 p.m. meeting in the center’s community room.
Neighbors are already expressing concern that the new monolith, paired with the Extell tower, will overwhelm longtime residents and seniors in the adjacent building by packing in new dwellings.
“We understand we need more housing, but there is a certain amount of density a neighborhood can absorb,” said Trever Holland, president of the Two Bridges Tower Tenant Association. “For them to say they’re going to build another building of a similar scale is insane to me.”
Though the memo circulated by the realty group was vague, locals suspect they are witnessing the revival of a dormant deal surrounding the old Pathmark Pharmacy site, as was first reported by Bowery Boogie.
Developer Roy Schoenberg had partnered with the neighborhood council and nonprofit developer Settlement Housing Fund to build a 47-story mixed-income tower at 237–247 Cherry St., but the council ended up going back on the deal, resulting in a $50 million lawsuit from Schoenberg.
While the litigation is ongoing, a settlement is reportedly coming in the near future, and development is slated to pick back up.
Meanwhile, Extell Development Co.’s tower — holding more than 800 condominiums — continues to rise at the corner of Cherry and Pike streets. The ongoing construction has been a nuisance to seniors, said Holland, and the additional construction that would come with a new development would be unwelcome.
Holland says that seniors living in his building at 82 Rutgers Slip have expressed fear that the significantly increased density will raise quality of life concerns.
“This building will affect them,” he said. “Not just the construction, but the fact that they’re basically building two towers on top of each other.”
The association has taken to social media to express fears that the proposed project could could dwarf the Extell tower, and to demand a neighborhood rezoning to prevent future towers.
