Fordham Plans $1 Billion Lincoln Center Expansion

Fordham University announced plans to add 1.5 million sq. ft. of space at its Manhattan campus adjacent to Lincoln Center. Portions of the $1 billion multiyear project, designed by Cooper Robertson & Partners of New York, would involve private developers.

The master plan for the seven-acre site between Columbus and Amsterdam avenues and 60th and 62nd streets would add seven new buildings around a 1.5-acre courtyard, said Brian Byrne, vice president for administration at the university. The plan, in design since 1996, envisions a privately developed 47-story apartment and a 26-story dormitory at 60th Street, as well as a privately developed 57-story residential building at 62nd Street. The courtyard would be a green space accessible to both the student body and the public.

The first five-year $300 million phase includes an academic component - a new 16-story building for the Fordham University School of Law, a new five-story campus center, additional parking, and the expansion of the Quinn Library - currently underground - to eight stories.

Fordham plans to fund the project partly through the sale of two land parcels for the residential towers at 60th and 62nd streets on Amsterdam Avenue, which total 14,000 sq. ft.

Under the second phase, the university would replace the existing law school building with a 21-story dormitory. It would also add two more buildings, one 35 stories and the other 36 stories, flanking the new campus entrance on Columbus Avenue.

The university's Lincoln Center campus, originally built to accommodate 3,500 students, today has more than 8,000 enrolled. To compensate, Fordham rents 90,000 sq. ft. of space in Manhattan off the campus.

North Brooklyn Rezoning Approved

The New York City Planning Commission voted to approve a rezoning plan for the Greenpoint and Williamsburg neighborhoods of Brooklyn presented by the administration of Mayor Michael Bloomberg, bringing a final decision about the zoning for approximately 175 blocks to the City Council. The council was expected to vote on the issue this spring.

The plan would rezone the current mixed-use areas to allow for residential and retail development, but excludes several blocks with predominantly industrial use. Along the 2-mi. East River waterfront, currently littered with vacant lots and abandoned industrial sites, the rezoning calls for building a 28-acre park between N. 9th Street and Bushwick Inlet, as well as a continuous public walkway. To address public access to the riverfront, which has been a contentious issue in the community, the plan would offer several entrance routes and side streets, as well as design restrictions to prevent new towers, some as high as 400 ft., from becoming visual barriers. In addition, the plan would enable owners of about 100 illegally converted loft buildings to bring their properties into compliance with residential codes.

Addressing vociferous opposition from some members of the community during the formal review process, including a resolution against the plan on all but one of the rezoning proposals by Community Board 1, the much-modified plan calls for approximately 2,300 units of affordable housing out of a projected 10,000 new units. It also calls for public oversight and maintenance of the 49 acres of new open space and waterfront, and a reduction in the permissible height and bulk of certain structures.

The plan allows a floor area bonus for waterfront developments that provide affordable housing, in addition to financial incentive programs under Bloomberg's $3 billion New Housing Marketplace Plan. Further incentives are available to developers willing to purchase existing buildings but keep the existing rent levels for tenants. But opponents of the plan say that such voluntary incentives do not guarantee an increase in affordable housing.

Jets Win Stadium Bid

The rapidly moving events surrounding the proposed New York Sports and Convention Center continued on pace in recent months, showing both positive signs and potential trouble for the $2.2 billion stadium.

The proposed future home of the New York Jets got several boosts, most prominently in the 17-0 vote by the board of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to award development rights for the space over its Far West Side rail yards to the team. The 75,000-seat stadium later won approval, as expected, from the Empire State Development Corp.

The project, strongly backed by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, won the MTA's approval after a contentious bidding phase spawned by a surprise offer for the site by Madison Square Garden, whose owners strongly oppose the new stadium because it could compete with the famous arena. The MTA opened up a bidding process in which the Jets proffered $210 million up front, the Garden proffered $400 million up front, and TransGas Energy Systems bid about $1 billion in a proposal that would have required the agency to buy energy from the company. According to the board, the Jets proposal was the most viable of the three.

That victory quickly prompted two lawsuits. First, Madison Square Garden filed suit in state court against the MTA, contending that the agency erred in rejecting the Garden's bid for the site. Afterwards, a coalition of the NYPIRG Straphangers Campaign, Common Cause-NY, the Transport Workers Union Local 100, and the Tri-State Transportation Campaign also sued the MTA in state court to force it to seek the highest possible bid for its rail yard site. The Jets, in turn, sued Madison Square Garden's owner, Cablevision Systems, in federal court, contending that the company has unfairly tried to stifle competition for event venues in Manhattan.

Meanwhile, several City Council members have introduced legislation seeking to limit Bloomberg's ability to spend the city's half of the $600 million that the city and state have committed to the project in order to build a platform over the yards and a retractable roof.

The stadium, scheduled to open in 2009, would host 10 games per year and an estimated 35 conventions and trade shows. It would offer an estimated 200,000 sq. ft. of column-free space, 30,000 sq. ft. of meeting rooms, 12 loading docks, and a number of restaurants on the site bordered by W. 30th and W. 33rd streets and 11th and 12th avenues.

The project's biggest hurdle besides the lawsuits is winning the approval of the Public Authorities Control Board, which consists of Gov. George Pataki, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, and Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno. Only Pataki had indicated his support for the project as of mid-spring.