FINANCIAL DISTRICT — In a last-minute switch, a city agency that signed off on the much maligned Rivington House condo deal is pulling out of a plan to relocate to a FiDi office tower that's involved in its own controversial push for a deed modification.
As DNAinfo New York reported Wednesday, the Mayor's Office of Contract Services (MOCS) — an agency criticized for rubber stamping a deed lift that allows for the Rivington House nursing home conversion to luxury condos — was planning to move into 28 Liberty, a building whose owners have sought a deed modification to build contested glass, Apple store cube-like pavilions on its landmarked plaza.
MOCS had submitted a letter of intent to Community Board 1 for its relocation — which would take up 35,000 square feet of space at 28 Liberty — for review before the board Wednesday evening.
But just several hours before Wednesday's meeting — a necessary step in the review process for the move, before City Planning approval — MOCS withdrew its application.
Cathy Hanson, spokeswoman for the Department of Citywide Administrative Services, which manages city-owned properties and oversees deed changes told DNAinfo New York of the late-change said, "We are withdrawing our application at this time, while we consider if the space still meets the operational needs of MOCS."
DCAS said that MOCS merged with HSS Accelerator, an agency that streamlines city contracts, in October, and they are still working out details of the merger and whether the space will work for two agencies.
► READ MORE: Agency That Approved Rivington House Deed Lift Plans Move to 28 Liberty
