![]() ![]() ![]() “This rezoning is a land grab by big developers disguised as redistribution of wealth,” attorney Lester said. It’s estimated that the rezoning, which would allow high-rise towers up to 27 stories tall in some spots, would add a total of about 2 million square feet of new development to the area. ![]() Over all, the lawsuit charges that the developer-friendly rezoning threatens to transform a historic community revived by artists in the 1960s into “a high-density enclave of luxury high-rise apartments and big-box department stores under the false promise of creating affordable housing and racial equity.” The rezoning legalizes straight residential use in formerly manufacturing-zoned Soho and Noho, plus upzones the two districts, as well as a neighboring section of Chinatown, allowing for taller and bulkier buildings. 14, Mayor Adams vetoed a separate bill by former Councilmember Margaret Chin that, on top of the flip tax, would also have imposed steep fines on nonartists living in Joint Live-Work Quarters for Artists units. To many Soho and Noho residents’ relief, on Jan. The effect of these prohibitive costs would be “a virtual governmental taking of property without just compensation,” a violation of constitutional rights, the plaintiffs allege. “For the first time in 50 years, the rezoning would mandate previously condoned, but out-of-compliance residential units, either conform to the rezoning or face punitive fees and prohibitive, and in many cases, impossible construction costs …. ![]() “At its core the rezoning undermines reasonable investments that petitioners relied upon, and upsets settled expectations resulting from six decades of governmental policy,” the suit states. Although today many residents of Soho and Noho are not artists, the city has allowed this situation to exist for decades, which has caused people to invest in property with certain expectations, according to the plaintiffs. These charges are retroactive, the suit further stresses, and would cause widespread “residential instability” in the rezoning area. These costs would cause crushing financial hardships, loss of financing and difficulty obtaining mortgages, the suit states. According to an architect’s affidavit in the lawsuit, average conversion costs, including the flip tax, plus compulsory construction upgrades for the area’s old repurposed manufacturing buildings, would be a staggering $1 million per unit. The complaint says the rezoning imposes “unconstitutionally retroactive fines and confiscatory fees” on longtime residents, including a new mandatory $100 per square foot tax - the so-called “flip tax” - for required conversions of artist-zoned lofts to residential use. The Village Sun first reported last month that the litigation was in the works. The suit was brought by attorney Jack Lester. On Thursday, the nonprofit Coalition for Fairness in Soho and Noho, along with 10 individual resident plaintiffs, filed suit in New York State Supreme Court against the Department of City Planning, the City Planning Commission, the City Council and Mayor Eric Adams over the rezoning, which became law in December. BY LINCOLN ANDERSON | A lawsuit seeking to “annul and vacate” the Soho/Noho/Chinatown rezoning charges that the scheme would cause “mass displacement” of thousands of current neighborhood residents, as well as violate both the U.S. ![]()
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