The City Planning Commission approved an application to amend the zoning for two city blocks bounded by Broadway, Walker, Lafayette and White Streets in the Borough of Manhattan from manufacturing to residential and commercial. With the support of the Borough President and Community Board #1, the Commission allowed rezoning which changes the current M1-5 zone to a C6-2A zone, a medium-density, contextual commercial zone allowing for a range of commercial, residential, retail and community facility uses. Final approval was given by the New York City Council on June 29.
While highly unusual for the City Planning Commission to allow an application to progress so quickly and to approve a rezoning which impacts such a sizeable area, Riker Danzig partner Juan Reyes III, who submitted the application on behalf of developer 84 White Street LLC, explains that the rezoning is the best option for the whole neighborhood. “Vacant and underutilized properties will now be permitted to be developed in a manner consistent with the development trends of the area.” Reyes noted that only a few such significant approvals are made by the Commission each year. He also added, “84 White Street is committed to building in a way that will better reflect the historical character of nearby buildings, and minimize adverse effects on all buildings in the adjacent historic Tribeca East Historic District.” 84 White Street plans to construct a 9-story primarily residential building with ground-floor retail space on a lot that is currently a public parking lot.
The Commission had noted that the neighborhood had been gradually changing from a predominantly manufacturing area to one with a mix of commercial and legal non-conforming residential uses and that, in fact, no manufacturing uses remained on the block. Borough President Scott M. Stringer stated in his April 30th Recommendation that “the high number of non-conforming land uses in the proposed action area indicates that a zoning change is appropriate for this area.”
