Speaker Quinn split in Chelsea Market expansion

Plans for the Chelsea Market expansion have pitted New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, who is also a mayoral aspirant, into choosing who to please: constituents in her district or the business community, DNAinfo reported.

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If she wants to win the mayoral race next year, DNAinfo said, then she’ll have to strike a balance between two sides: the business community who supports Jamestown Properties’ upward expansion of Chelsea Market, which will add nine floors of office space and a 90,000-square-foot Hotel On Ninth Avenue, and her constituents who oppose the plan.

However, taking this side could harm Quinn’s reputation in the Chelsea district she represents in the City Council.

“This is going to be Chris the councilor versus Quinn the mayor,” an anonymous source told DNAinfo. “I’m afraid that Quinn the mayor is going to win out on this one.”

A community petition against development that began circulating in February has gained over 1,000 signatures. Two months before, Jamestown unveiled a plan to decrease the planned height of the expansion. [DNAinfo]