Community Board 12 & Locals Give Thumbs Down to Proposed 16-Story Uptown Building

Sept. 8, 2015 — It may seem like a really sketchy, not to mention frustrating, game of bait-and-switch, but it's simply New York City real estate. Yet another developer, after proposing a shorter apartment building, wants to build one twice as tall. Yet again, locals are saying no way. Where's it all going down this time? At 4452 Broadway, reports DNAinfo. HAP Investment Developers presented its revised proposal last Wednesday to Community Board 12's Land Use committee, where, not surprisingly, it was "met with opposition from residents and the local community board." According to DNAinfo, "HAP must get approval from the city’s Board of Standards and Appeals for several zoning changes, including a bid to more than double the building’s height from 80 to 162.5 feet." HAP reportedly insists that the building must be taller, because otherwise they won't make enough of a profit, you see. A representative for the developer, Frank Cheney, cites "unusual features of the lot, which is built into the side of a hill and includes the entrance to the 191st Street 1 train tunnel." Hmm, you'da thunk they would've caught that when they snapped up the property in the first place. So much for "let the buyer beware." Of course Cheney says the taller building would totally not affect the neighborhood's look, insisting that it would be approximately at the same level as the buildings behind it, "referring to some structures higher up on the Fairview Avenue hill that can be seen from Broadway." Funnily enough, the people who live in the neighborhood disagree. The neighborhood, say local opponents, is dominated by six-to-eight-story apartment buildings. You know, closer to the originally proposed seven-story structure. The full board votes on the revised proposal September 29.