Judge temporarily halts Gansevoort project

Appellate judges will decide whether or not the project should be further held up

70-74 Gansevoort Street (Credit: Aurora Capital Associates)
70-74 Gansevoort Street (Credit: Aurora Capital Associates)

After last week’s victory, Aurora Capital Associates and William Gottlieb Real Estate’s controversial Meatpacking District project has hit another speed bump.

Save Gansevoort, a group of community activists opposed to the project at 46-74 Gansevoort Street, won an emergency stay from an appellate court to temporarily halt the commercial development. The order comes a little over a week after a New York State Supreme Court judge threw out the group’s lawsuit against the developers and the Landmarks Preservation Commission. The judge found that Landmarks didn’t approve the project “irrationally,” but the group disagrees, and is now seeking to reverse the decision in the state appellate division.

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The appellate judge granted the stay until a full bench of the appellate court decides whether it should remain in place throughout the appealing process. The stay prevents the developers from moving forward with demolishing two buildings included in the project.

Save Gansevoort filed a lawsuit in October, taking issue with, among other things, the project’s proposed height. The developers are turning five buildings on the strip into 111,000 square feet of commercial space. Representatives for the developers didn’t respond to requests seeking comment. Aurora and Gottlieb have until April 21 to respond to the appeal.