Upper East Siders sue Dalton School to halt expansion

Neighbors say 12,000-square-foot addition will diminish property values

Dalton School on Upper East Side
Dalton School on Upper East Side

A group of Upper East Side residents has filed suit against pre-eminent place of learning the Dalton School to stop construction of a two-story addition recently approved by the city.

A coalition called the Carnegie Hill Neighbors group, along with residents of 111 East 88th Street and 1105 Park Avenue, told the Manhattan Supreme Court in the suit that the 12,000-square-foot add-on to 108-114 East 89th Street will block sunlight and lower property values.

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The school — whose alumni include Claire Danes and Anderson Cooper — has only grown by 25 students since a 1992 expansion, and the new floors will be used to teach technology and engineering programming, the New York Observer reported.

Locals have been against the project from its beginning; last year they opposed the zoning variance Dalton would need. Other residents have also recently tried to block an expansion of another institution in the nabe, the St. David’s School. [NYP]Angela Hunt