Riverside Center garners unanimous City Council approval

From left: Christine Quinn, Gary Barnett and Riverside Center

The New York City Council voted unanimously today to approve Extell Development’s controversial Riverside Center, a planned mixed-use complex slated for a swath of land extending between West End Avenue and Riverside Boulevard and between 59th and 61st streets, according to a spokesperson for the developer, Gary Barnett. Riverside Center is expected to include 2,500 apartments, a 250-room hotel, 104,000 square feet of office space and a kindergarten-through-eighth grade school. The development has garnered both supporters and detractors during its planning stages, with Community Board 7 and Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer among those demanding more units of affordable housing. Right now, roughly 20 percent of the development’s total residential space has been allocated for affordable housing apartments. Extell, Stringer, Community Board 7 and City Council spokespeople all did not respond to requests for comment. TRD