Edward
January 8th, 2002, 05:15 PM
From New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com)
January 6, 2002
Lehman Bros. Grapples With Arts Zoning Rules
By KELLY CROW
There exists in the theater district a careful mishmash of commerce and culture, and a complex set of zoning rules governs them both. These rules are also meant to protect the needs of residents. Such equilibrium is easily unsettled.
Most recently, a debate has surfaced over a plan by Lehman Brothers to alter the area's zoning so the company can move its investment bankers into a new 32-story office tower at 745 Seventh Avenue (http://www.wirednewyork.com/morgan_stanley_plaza.htm) and 49th Street.
Current zoning rules demand that any new office tower near Times Square set aside 5 percent of its space for entertainment-related purposes, like a theater, record store or theme restaurant. Corporations may sidestep this requirement by helping to build an entertainment entity anywhere in the area bounded by West 43rd and 50th Streets and the Avenue of the Americas and Eighth Avenue.
But construction space in that core area has grown too small and expensive, said Bill Ahearn, a Lehman spokesman. So, the company wants to expand the entertainment zoning to the area from 34th to 59th Streets between the Avenue of the Americas and 10th Avenue, an addition of about 100 blocks. The company could then donate the financial equivalent of its 5 percent of space, about $5 million, to the Alvin Ailey Foundation, which is building a new headquarters on Ninth Avenue at West 55th Street.
"We're not looking to change the structure of a community," Mr. Ahearn said. "This just seems like a win-win-win situation. We get our space, Alvin Ailey gets a new building, and the community gets more of the arts."
But the proposal, which is before the City Planning Commission, has unnerved residents of Clinton. Many say the expanded zoning would encroach on their blocks and create zoning loopholes for unwanted entertainment, like nightclubs.
"By creating such a huge receiving area, you're giving corporations an incentive to change Clinton into an entertainment zone," said John Fisher, president of the Clinton Special District Coalition. "We don't hate Alvin Ailey, but we're a neighborhood, and it's a dangerous precedent."
Alvin Ailey Foundation is building a new headquarters on Ninth Avenue at West 55th Street.
http://www.wirednewyork.com/images/alvin_ailey_w55th.jpg
January 6, 2002
Lehman Bros. Grapples With Arts Zoning Rules
By KELLY CROW
There exists in the theater district a careful mishmash of commerce and culture, and a complex set of zoning rules governs them both. These rules are also meant to protect the needs of residents. Such equilibrium is easily unsettled.
Most recently, a debate has surfaced over a plan by Lehman Brothers to alter the area's zoning so the company can move its investment bankers into a new 32-story office tower at 745 Seventh Avenue (http://www.wirednewyork.com/morgan_stanley_plaza.htm) and 49th Street.
Current zoning rules demand that any new office tower near Times Square set aside 5 percent of its space for entertainment-related purposes, like a theater, record store or theme restaurant. Corporations may sidestep this requirement by helping to build an entertainment entity anywhere in the area bounded by West 43rd and 50th Streets and the Avenue of the Americas and Eighth Avenue.
But construction space in that core area has grown too small and expensive, said Bill Ahearn, a Lehman spokesman. So, the company wants to expand the entertainment zoning to the area from 34th to 59th Streets between the Avenue of the Americas and 10th Avenue, an addition of about 100 blocks. The company could then donate the financial equivalent of its 5 percent of space, about $5 million, to the Alvin Ailey Foundation, which is building a new headquarters on Ninth Avenue at West 55th Street.
"We're not looking to change the structure of a community," Mr. Ahearn said. "This just seems like a win-win-win situation. We get our space, Alvin Ailey gets a new building, and the community gets more of the arts."
But the proposal, which is before the City Planning Commission, has unnerved residents of Clinton. Many say the expanded zoning would encroach on their blocks and create zoning loopholes for unwanted entertainment, like nightclubs.
"By creating such a huge receiving area, you're giving corporations an incentive to change Clinton into an entertainment zone," said John Fisher, president of the Clinton Special District Coalition. "We don't hate Alvin Ailey, but we're a neighborhood, and it's a dangerous precedent."
Alvin Ailey Foundation is building a new headquarters on Ninth Avenue at West 55th Street.
http://www.wirednewyork.com/images/alvin_ailey_w55th.jpg