Court shoots down parking garage owner’s appeal to stop JDS’ Two Bridges tower

Gary Spindler filed a lawsuit in 2014 alleging chicanery from two local nonprofits

Gary Spindler and a rendering of 247 Cherry Street (Credit: SHoP Architects)
Gary Spindler and a rendering of 247 Cherry Street (Credit: SHoP Architects)

Parking garage owner Gary Spindler lost the latest round in his legal battle attempting to thwart JDS Development Group’s plan to build its 79-story apartment tower in the Two Bridges neighborhood on the Lower East Side.

Spindler, a principal behind Park-It Management, filed suit in 2014 against the nonprofits Two Bridges Neighborhood Council and Settlement Housing Fund, which had signed a contract with in 2012 to sell Spindler their property at 82 Rutgers Slip and its air rights for $4 million.

The deal was contingent, however, on the developer receiving approval from the Department of City Planning to construct a building on an adjacent site he controls through a ground lease. Spindler claimed the nonprofits later stonewalled his efforts to gain DCP approval in order to sell the property’s air rights to JDS [TRDataCustom], which is planning to build a 79-story, 660-unit rental building on the site.

A State Supreme Court judge ruled against Spindler in March, and on Jan. 31 a panel of five appellate court judges upheld the decision.

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JDS’ proposed tower is one of several either planned or currently in the works for Two Bridges.

Spindler still has another case pending, which he filed in August against JDS and company principal Michael Stern, claiming the developer interfered with his contract and his rights as the ground lessor.

JDS’ plans for the tower include an expansion of the zoning lot, and Spindler’s representatives claim that as the ground lessor, he is a party-in-interest to the lot, and therefore his consent is required.