Chelsea community wants in on plans for Farley post office

Empire State Development issued request for proposals last month

Farley Post Office
Farley Post Office

Neighbors of the James A. Farley post office are furious with New York State’s primary public benefits corporation for offering up the building’s air rights.

At a Wednesday Community Board 4 meeting, Chelsea and Hell’s Kitchen residents and business owners said they planned to “write a letter of outrage” to state officials for offering up the 1.5 million square feet of development rights at 421 Eighth Avenue.

Empire State Development, a state-subsidized building firm in New York City, issued a request for proposals last month on the expansion of New York Penn Station into the post office. The money garnered from the air rights sale would be used for the project, as The Real Deal previously reported.

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The members have called the request for proposals “premature” and will ask state officials to include the community more in planning development for the site, Curbed reported.

The state picked up the property, most of which is vacant, in 2007 and has since spent roughly $267 million in state funds improving the building’s infrastructure, according to previous reports. [Curbed]Angela Hunt