Work on Upper East Side Tower Stopped Cold
The site at Third Avenue and East 88th Street where a condo tower was supposed to rise
May 30, 2015 — Controversial luxury condo used loophole to bypass zoning laws.
Concrete was being poured. Apartments were on the market for $15 million and up. But in a stinging rebuke to aggressive developers who are redrawing the New York City skyline, the Department of Buildings has put a halt to construction of a controversial 521-foot-tall condo tower on the Upper East Side.
The developer, DDG Partners, created a miniscule four-foot-wide lot on the site at Third Avenue and 88th Street, which allowed the developer to avoid zoning laws and build a taller structure, the New York Times reports.
George M. Janes, a planning expert hired by opponents to the tower, which would have been one of the tallest on the Upper East Side, concluded that the tiny lot allowed the developer to skirt regulations and add several floors of valuable apartments atop the building.
Along with the stop-work order, the DOB announced it intends to revoke the approval and permits for the tower. The developer will have to submit new plans.