Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Churches ask higher power

From The New York Post-

Three powerful religious institutions are raising holy hell over the city’s proposed East Midtown Rezoning, claiming the district’s lines unfairly cut them out of selling air rights that could pay for urgently needed maintenance and restoration.

At a public hearing Thursday, reps from the Catholic Archdiocese of New York and St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church say they’ll urge the city to modify the proposal so they could sell air rights to developers seeking to put up larger structures which new rules would allow. And Central Synagogue says it “wholeheartedly” supports the churches’ efforts.

To understand the religious bodies’ ire might first require a refresher course in the rezoning scheme backed by Mayor Bloomberg and Planning Commissioner Amanda Burden.

Generally backed by real estate executives who say it’s overdue, it’s also complicated to the point of exhaustion.

Starting five years from its likely approval in mid-2013, it would allow larger office towers than are currently permitted to rise along and astride the coveted Park Avenue corridor — a 78-block area roughly bounded by Lexington and Fifth avenues and by East 39th and 57th streets, but with different north and south boundaries.


More here-

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/business/realestate/commercial/churches_ask_higher_power_HLImBByjlXrM70Shr4ESZP

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