Key City Council vote on Pier 40 air rights set for next week

If zoning subcommittee gives the OK, full Council could vote next month on $100M transfer to St. John’s Terminal

Rendering of St. John's Terminal With Pier 40 Air Rights
Rendering of St. John's Terminal With Pier 40 Air Rights

A key City Council committee is scheduled to vote Monday on a $100 million transfer of air rights from Pier 40 over the Hudson River to the 1.7 million-square-foot redevelopment of the St. John’s Terminal.

Should the zoning subcommittee give the thumbs up, it’s likely the full Council will approve the proposal next month, Crain’s New York reported.

The non-profit entity that manages and operates the pier, the Hudson River Park Trust, is planning to use the money to repair the pilings under the pier.

Westbrook Partners [TRDataCustom] and Atlas Capital Group plan to redevelop the St. John’s Terminal into a mixed-use project.

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Local Council member Corey Johnson, who sits on the subcommittee, is considered essential to getting the transfer approved. He’s asked the Hudson River Park Trust to agree to not transfer any more of the remaining air rights – estimated to be worth about $140 million – to parcels near the St. John’s Terminal at 550 Washington Street in the West Village.

Trust president and CEO Madelyn Wills said she’s concerned that such a condition could make it more difficult for the organization to sell air rights from other piers stretching up and down Hudson River Park, depriving the non-profit of a key source of funding.

She did, say, however, that the trust intended to use the remaining air rights to develop commercial office space on the pier. [Crain’s]Rich Bockmann