Jamestown adjusts Chelsea Market proposal

Jamestown Properties, the development firm behind the controversial expansion of the Chelsea Market, has agreed to amend two aspects of its proposal, according to the Wall Street Journal. Jamestown Properties will not alter certain exterior elements of the 17-building complex between Ninth and Tenth avenues, nor will it change the windows or the facade. Although the precise agreement has yet to be revealed.

Both concessions where being pushed for by City Council Speaker and mayoral hopeful Christine Quinn. Quinn’s vote is critical to approving Jamestown’s plans to build a nine-story office tower atop the converted Nabisco factory, but the Speaker has remained enigmatic about her position on the highly contested development. On Tuesday, Quinn disappointed many by skipping out on a public hearing on the proposal.

The City Council Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises as well as the Committee on Land Use vote, which could allow development to move forward, was scheduled for 9 a.m. this morning but has been postponed until 11 a.m., according to the Greenwich Village Society for Historical Preservation. Typically modifications to development plans are revealed at these votes, according to the Journal.

The full City Council is scheduled to vote next week and it seldom overrules the committee. [WSJ] —Christopher Cameron