0
15465
10500
9
The Paper of Record for Greenwich Village, East Village, Lower East Side, Soho, Union Square, Chinatown and Noho, Since 1933
October 29, 2015 • $1.00 Volume 85 • Number 22
Praise for Stuy Town sale but also concern about massive air rights BY YANNIC RACK
I
STUY TOWN continued on p. 8
Parents and advocates mull admissions options for new Morton St. school BY SARA HENDRICKSON
I
n keeping with the ongoing deep community involvement in the 75 Morton St. middle school, opening in fall 2017, a meeting at P.S. 41 in the Village on Oct. 20, hosted by Community Education Council District 2, was well attended by about 50 parents hoping
PHOTO BY TEQUILA MINSKY
t didn’t take long for the much-heralded multibillion-dollar sale of Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village to raise some official eyebrows. Comptroller Scott Stringer and other local politicians are already probing the “sweetener” of the deal — the right
to sell off the unused air rights of Manhattan’s largest apartment complex — days after it was announced that the Blackstone Group is paying $5.4 billion for the more than 11,000 units spread out across 80 acres east of First Ave., between 14th and 23rd Sts.
to shape the new school’s admissions process. Since District 2 is such a huge school district (running from the southern tip of Manhattan to 59th St. on the West Side and 96th St. on the East Side), C.E.C. 2 is hosting three more meetings on 75 Morton admissions in 75 MORTON continued on p. 27
Kids gleefully did cartwheels on the real grass lawn at the endangered Elizabeth St. Garden last Saturday at its third annual Harvest Fest. For more photos, see Page 15.
Row over Gansevoort Row plan: Community says, No! BY LINCOLN ANDERSON
A
pair of design experts told an audience of 100 concerned Villagers to try looking at Gansevoort St. without the “landmark filter” to appreciate how the “underlying zoning” actually allowed taller buildings. They hearkened all the way back to the 1800s, when the block sported taller buildings, to try to justify the plans of their employers, a development team that
wants to build up the south side of low-scale Gansevoort St., between Greenwich and Washington Sts., in the landmarked Gansevoort Market Historic District. However, the plan, by William Gottlieb Real Estate and Aurora Capital Associates, is facing staunch community opposition. The proposed scheme includes demolishing two buildings, constructing two new ones — one of which would rise 122 feet — plus adding three stories atop a row of historic
two-story buildings, boosting them to 98 feet tall. Yet, the street, along with much of the rest of the Meatpacking District, was landmarked by the city in 2003. Under a restrictive declaration dating back to 1979, the block was limited to meat market and other light-industrial uses. Those restrictions were modified in 2013 to also allow retail and restaurant use, though office and hotel use are still GANSEVOORT continued on p. 6
Dr. Lonnie operates at Village Jazz Alive.......page 10 New M3 bus option is layover due...................page 12 Clemenceau, Trigger and the triangle............page 18 He took me out to the ballgame..page 17
www.TheVillager.com