Group Asks City Planning to Block Greenwich Village Tower

Village Preservation is continuing its fight to block the construction of a 30-story condo building planned for W. 13th St., this time by arguing that the city’s Department of Buildings has misread the very “City of Yes” zoning rules that are being utilized to build the tower.

It’s either a misinterpretation, the preservationist group’s Andrew Berman argues, or the “City of Yes” is actually a trojan horse for developers eager to build luxury towers—which he says the zoning package’s creators did not mention in advertising for the building. The zoning overhaul, intended to spur a boom in affordable construction citywide, passed into law in late 2024.

In an April 6 letter addressed to the Department of City Planning (DCP), Berman said that the Department of Buildings’ approval of the planned tower at 5 W. 13th St.—which is being pursued by the developers Legion Investment Group and EJS Group—relied on what he believed to be a faulty reading of the “City of Yes” text.

The proposed building is currently slated to contain 36 condominiums, with the lot underneath it purchased by the developers for $57 million in 2024. It will reach a height of 538 feet.

Berman wrote that if City Planning agrees with Village Preservation that the DOB has erred, then they can issue an “administrative correction” to the text of “City of Yes,” which he says would ultimately decide the fate of any building seeking a “final certificate of occupancy.” In other words, it appears that such a correction could derail the entire tower project, at least as it currently exists.

Berman’s argument, which he has been developing since he unsuccessfully asked the DOB to reject the project last year, is a rather technical one.

His latest letter gets into the weeds on specific “continuous streetwall” and “base minimum height” regulations contained in a clause known as “35-631,” which are essentially used to enforce the construction of smaller and architecturally similar buildings, much like others that currently dot the area around W. 13th St.

This “35-61” clause should apply to the project at 5 W. 13th St., Berman wrote, but the DOB essentially decided that it doesn’t meet that criteria. He argues that this contradicts a finding made by Community Board 2 as part of their deliberations during the “City of Yes” approval process, which “found that the new zoning text would NOT allow a building like the one the applicant proposed because of 35-631’s streetwall requirement.”

“A building that complied with ZR [Zoning Rule] 35-631...would disadvantage condominium ownership and encourage a rental building on the site,” Berman wrote.

“That’s the kind of building the community expected, DCP confirmed, and [is] much more in line with what is needed by the city,” he added. “The last thing New York City needs at this location is another luxury tower that makes the city less affordable, especially in a district that the City labeled a ‘limited affordability area.’’

Berman will be holding a press conference on the matter on April 23, where he will be joined by City Council Member Harvey Epstein, who represents the area.