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Scott Stringer Fears Riverside Center Will Repeat Past Development Mistakes

By Leslie Albrecht | September 3, 2010 12:11pm

By Leslie Albrecht

DNAinfo Reporter/Producer

UPPER WEST SIDE — Borough President Scott Stringer weighed in on Extell's proposed Riverside Center this week, saying he doesn't want a repeat of past development mistakes.

Stringer released a 22-page analysis of Riverside Center officially disapproving of the project, a five-tower residential and retail complex that could bring as many as 3,000 new housing units to the Upper West Side.

The City Council has the final say on the development. The next step in the review process is a Sept. 15 Planning Commission meeting.

Stringer said Extell Development Company is in danger of going down the same path that resulted in over-crowded schools and congested traffic after the construction of Riverside South, the high-rises that run from West 59th Street to West 72nd Street between West End Avenue and Riverside Boulevard.

"Many of the neighborhood’s negative conditions...can be attributed directly to the Riverside South large-scale development," Stringer said in a statement.

"To replicate the same shortcomings and negative impacts associated with the Riverside South development for the Riverside Center development is unacceptable."

Riverside Center is the final phase of the Riverside South project. It will sit on eight acres between West 59th Street and West 61st Street.

Aside from high-rise apartments, the project will include 1,800 parking spaces, an auto showroom and service center and 135,000 square feet of retail space.

Right now the site is a parking lot. Stringer says there's no question the land needs to be developed, but he doesn't like Extell's plan.

Stringer wants Extell to lessen density at Riverside Center, build "as large of a public school as possible," and make sure open space is accessible to the public.

Those recommendations are in line with other community input on the project.

Community Board 7 in July issued a disapproval of the project and asked Extell for a long list of modifications, including removing one building entirely and boosting the amount of affordable housing.

Extell has bowed to some neighborhood demands during the project's public review process. The developer agreed to reduce the height of the project's tallest buildings and scrap plans for big-box retail.

But Extell argues that if its makes too many concessions, it will be financially impossible to build Riverside Center.

"The proposed reduction in density, along with some of Borough President’s other recommendations, threaten the economic viability of Riverside Center," a spokesman for Extell said in a statement responding to Stringer's suggestions.