The pocket of the Upper West Side bordered by 96th and 100th streets has undergone a major transformation since last spring, and some residents say the feel of the neighborhood has fundamentally changed.
With construction projects nearing completion on every block, new retailers and tenants moving into the neighborhood, and pending development plans stuck at the drawing board, the fate of the local streetscape remains uncertain.
Breaking ground
The influx of chain stores after construction has been a central part of the change.
Urban Outfitters finally found a home near the Columbia student market after a year’s delay, and is planning to open a two-floor store at 99th Street and Broadway this summer. Two blocks south, the reconstructed 96th Street subway station house opened in April, creating a central above-ground entrance for 1 train commuters. This Metropolitan Transportation Authority project, which has been under construction since 2007, will be completed in September.
While many local subway riders appreciated this construction project, which will ultimately make entering the station more efficient, some residents two avenues over are criticizing the nearly complete Columbus Square development, located between 97th and 100th Streets on Columbus Avenue.
Kelly Gedinsky of Winick Realty Group, the company in charge of leasing space in Columbus Square, said in April that a Duane Reade, Crumbs Bake Shop, and Modell’s Sporting Goods are scheduled to open up this summer. A Borders bookstore and a Chase bank are slated to open in the fall, along with two private schools.
Already, Whole Foods Market, T.J. Maxx, makeup chain Sephora, and Michaels craft store have opened outlets in the complex, which also includes five new residential towers. The east side of Columbus remains under construction.
The stores are busy, and many shoppers seemed thrilled to take advantage of bigger stores nearby. “To me, it’s very convenient. I really think this neighborhood needed this,” Alida Glafals, a teacher at a nearby school, told Spectator in April.
Labor pains
As the Columbus Square development nears completion, some local labor advocates have been scrutinizing the developer’s practices amid tough financial times.
In the fall, labor union leaders stood in front of a giant inflatable rat to protest the decision by the site’s developers, Stellar Management and the Chetrit Group, to switch to what is called an “open shop” agreement, in which the developer employs both union and non-union employees. Previously, the project had been entirely unionized, but the developers say that this became too much of a financial burden. According to Andres Puerta, organizer of the New York City District Council of Carpenters and inflatable rat owner, more than 80 workers on the site lost their jobs when the switch was made.
Puerta argued in the fall that without a fully unionized project, construction is not as safe, and an October crane accident, he said, proved his point. Developers maintain that safety standards have not changed.
“They increase profits by destroying labor standards,” Puerta said in the fall. But Kathy Cudahy, a spokesperson for Chetrit, responded by saying that the open-shop workplace was a financial necessity. In a September interview, she said, “This is very simple. It is about cost.”
New crowds
Despite persistent labor protests, construction has continued, and the new stores have brought in significant foot and vehicle traffic, according to nearby residents.
Maggi Peyton, president of the Park West Village Tenants’ Association, expressed frustration with the traffic in January. “We’ve become another shopping mall,” she said. “The congestion is unbelievable. The numbers of people who go in and out of Whole Foods, especially on weekends, are really huge.”
Of the new residential rental buildings, two are open and 85 percent full, according to Columbus Square manager Jeffrey Davis. But as more of the buildings are completed and tenants move in, local schools are concerned that their crowded buildings will be pushed over capacity.
PS 163 on 97th Street sits right next to the new development, and Wendy Clapp-Shapiro, the school’s community liaison, said in November that the school is already operating at 105 percent of its normal capacity, with kindergarten classes being held in trailers.
“We are very concerned that there are 700 apartments in those five new buildings, and over the coming years, we are concerned about having a large influx of students,” Clapp-Shapiro said.
The school could gain more space from a local nursing home, Jewish Home Lifecare, which is seeking to develop a new facility on 100th Street and has offered to allow the elementary school to expand into its new facility.
Land use battle
Whether PS 163 gains more space hinges on JHL’s ability to actually develop on the site. Currently, the nursing home operates in a building on 106th Street, but has a pending land swap deal with New York developer Joseph Chetrit that would allow the two parties to essentially switch properties. This would allow JHL to build a new 22-story facility on 100th Street, and Chetrit, the Columbus Square developer, to build homes on 106th.
This swap originally ignited neighborhood fury when it was first announced in August, since residents feared that Chetrit would use a zoning exemption attached to JHL’s current property to build a tall, out-of-context structure on 106th. JHL has the exemption because it is a nonprofit, and representatives from the nursing home have said that JHL would pay for the costly process of downzoning the 106th Street property—but only once the deal is complete, since the swap is not definite. Some residents who fear a tall Chetrit tower—despite stated commitments by the developer to build contextually—argue that the land must be downzoned immediately.
City Council member Melissa Mark-Viverito announced in October that she would try to make the downzoning happen herself, with the support of Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, even though it could cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Meanwhile, JHL has been negotiating with community groups and lawyers to hammer out a restrictive declaration, which would legally bind Chetrit to build under stricter zoning laws once the deal goes through.
Though Upper West Side Community Board 7 chair Mel Wymore said in March that the agreement was “within days, if not hours” of being completed, CB7 member Miki Fiegel said recently that final negotiations could stretch into the fall.
Fiegel said that lawyers are now reviewing comments on the declaration, but concerns about the impact of construction on neighboring buildings and the ongoing debate about who will pay for the downzoning process have added time to the process.
“All of those issues haven’t been dealt with yet, but I think everyone is negotiating in good faith,” she said.
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