love thy neighbor. No!
An uncharacteristic tussle is brewing at East 91st Street, where a 12-story building on the East Side’s Redeemer Presbyterian Church is rubbing up against a modest, eight-story brick cooperative building.
Plans call for the church to be built up to the property line—just 3 feet from some cooperative residents’ windows and their fire escapes.
The eight smaller studios in the co-op’s O line — one with a fire-escape window opening as well as a smaller bathroom window — will be most affected.
Residents at 160 E. 91st St. are asking the church to give them another 5 feet — allowing an 8-foot gap between buildings.
“I don’t think there’s 5 feet of space so we can have proper air and light,” said Manny Gordon, a co-op resident.
Last week, the Co-op launched a website, justfivefoot.com, To gain the support of the community. The site notes: “They’d rather turn our apartments into dark, airless death traps than set their project back an average of five feet. . . all so they can make their megachurch even more megachurch! “
Under the current plan, the website says, “occupants of these apartments could be trapped without light, no ventilation, and no way to safely exit the building in the event of a fire.”
The co-op consists of 125 apartments, 24 of which are on the church side. The O-Line Studio comprises a main room of approximately 250 square feet. Units sell for around $300,000.
“Those apartments will be rendered completely uninhabitable,” the co-op’s attorney wrote to the church’s attorney. “All the good deeds being done by the church are cold comfort to the residents of O Line.”
The church says that its plans for its East Side outpost are perfectly legal, and that its property has no zoning or easement restrictions. The controversial 5 feet account for 10% of the space for the new “worship and ministry center”, which is 50 feet wide.
According to a lawsuit filed by the church against the co-op, removing those 5 feet would mean an additional high monetary cost and derail the church’s plans. Church building-project website, 150e91.comChurch representatives are said to have spent five years looking for a suitable site, considering hundreds of options.
The Carnegie Hill location “meets important criteria for our vision of a sustainable facility,” says the church’s website, “a design plan that allows us to maximize the space to meet the needs of our congregation and to serve the community as a whole.” allows access.” The plans include a ground floor “commons” intended to “welcome and serve our neighbors”.
The site further states, “the vision of the church” is to establish a place that serves the greater good of the entire community.
The co-op next door, however, sees no greater good – residents instead see the destruction of their homes and their investments.
The Co-op, as an “adjacent property”, required the church to provide scaffolding and other safety protections during the years of construction. Co-op is denying access. So the church filed its own lawsuit to force the co-op to comply. Both sides say the other has refused to hold talks and is acting in bad faith.
Resident Diane Forgione is one of the people most likely to be affected. She has occupied her tiny O-Line studio on the ground floor since she was 29. He bought it for $100,000.
“I paid off my mortgage last year,” said Forgione, now 56, who works as an executive assistant. “It sucked all the joy out of paying my mortgage. I thought my future was settled, but it’s not.” He plans to sell his unit at some future date and retire to the country.
“I didn’t get much light, but it wasn’t dark, and if I leaned against the window I could see the sky,” Forgione said. “Now, I can’t tell whether it’s day or night.”
She also wonders whether anyone would buy an apartment with such a depreciated value. And she worries about her escape route in the fire.
A downstairs neighbor, Manny Gordon, would shade his bedroom window. The bedroom would become a “jail cell – a sealed room, like a vault,” said periodontist Gordon. He owns one of several smaller one-bedrooms in the building, which cost in the mid-$500,000s.
Gordon joined his neighbors at a rally last week by distributing fliers and soliciting support for a web petition.
“The Church has rejected all our requests and pleas,” he said. “I am seeking their understanding and compassion. It amazes me that they are treating us in this inhumane manner.”
For more than a century, an 18-foot-wide lightwell separated the cooperative from the adjacent six-story tenement building. It was a garbage field rather than a beautiful courtyard, said Gordon, but it allowed air and light.
Meena Rao, chair of the co-op board, is disappointed that church representatives “didn’t come inside our building to see what the apartments are like and how they would be affected,” she said. One of his bedrooms is on the side away from the construction.
“We are taking every possible step to protect our shareholders,” said Rao, who is director of the Organic Chemistry Laboratory at Barnard College.
Meanwhile, residents grapple with the general construction burden of noise and filth. The Department of Buildings site shows a number of recent complaints of vigorous construction work outside permitted hours and on weekends. “We may not get peace even on Saturday,” Rao said.
The church bought the parcel about three years ago for about $30 million. By that time, the rental building on the site was vacant. It has since been demolished.
In court papers, the church’s attorney says that church representatives met with cooperative representatives “as a courtesy” to preview the project. “This type of initial meeting and level of transparency is not typical and reflects Redeemer’s commitment to having a positive relationship with its neighbors,” he wrote.
However, the design team concluded that “it was not possible to redesign the project as requested” and still achieve the “programmatic goals” of the church, including such things as classroom size and bathrooms.
The church says a shortfall of 5 feet would have a huge impact. And it’s not uncommon, throughout the city, for lot-line or property-line windows — with views — to be lost to construction.
In court documents, lawyers for the church say, “Now they’re forcing us to do things we didn’t want to do, which is make it public, litigate, face the uncertainty of litigation, And possibly face delays.” ,
The cooperative’s counsel retorted: “The complete picture was not given to the DOB for approving the special plans. , , The impact on the O line is significant and catastrophic.
The plans do not violate any building codes. The fire department declined to comment and referred questions to the Department of Buildings.
According to Andrew Rudansky, a spokesman for the Department of Buildings, “There is no legal requirement for the development at 150 East 91 Street to provide side yards, courts or other open space along the shared lot line with 160 East 91 Street.” He declined to comment specifically on litigation between private parties.
there was never an easement agreement between the co-op and its former rental neighbor, which would have allowed for open space living. The easement over the properties remains, even if the properties are sold.
“According to the most recent DOB inspection of both the construction site and the cooperative building in late January, the side fire escape located at 160 East 91st Street was found to be adequate and unblocked,” Rudansky wrote in a statement. “The side fire escape discharges the occupants of the building through a passageway in the basement, which leads them to the front of the building.”
In a statement, a spokesperson for Redeemer East Side said the allegations against the church are “unwarranted and misleading.”
“While certainly garnering headlines, there is no applicable law that they can indicate that these units will be uninhabitable due to low or insufficient lighting, nor do they cite any expert reports or studies to support their claims. Are.”
As for the safety of the fire escape, “these allegations are completely unsupported by any law or expert opinion,” the spokesperson wrote. “The Redeemer’s new building complies with all legal requirements regarding fire code and separation of buildings.”
The co-op is seeking support from City Councilwoman Julie Menin and Community Board 8. The parties are at loggerheads.
Forgione said, “The encountering point is the aspect of difficulty and the harm it is doing to our lives.”