BSA hears NYU mega-dorm challenge

Today the Board of Standards and Appeals heard a challenge filed against the Department of Buildings’ approval of an air rights transfer that will allow Hudson Companies and New York University to build the tallest building in the East Village. The proposed university dorm, which would rise 26 stories at 110 East 12th Street, would be allowed to rise 55 percent higher than local zoning allows because the air rights being transferred are from an adjacent post office, which is immune from local zoning. The challenge heard by the BSA, therefore, calls into question why a private developer would be able to acquire zoning exemptions applicable to a federally owned post office. more By Gabby Warshawer