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NYC's Billionaire's Row gets new neighbors: Plans to build a homeless shelter in elite Manhattan nei
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NYC's Billionaire's Row gets new neighbors: Plans to build a homeless shelter in elite Manhattan neighborhood near luxury Plaza Hotel is given the green light after court dismisses protest lawsuit by residents and business
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...dismissed.html
The homeless shelter will be created inside the former Park Savoy Hotel in New York city's Billionaire's Row
The area includes the most expensive home in the United States - a $238 million penthouse sold in 2019 - and the tallest residential building in the world
Famous faces such as Jennifer Lopez and Alex Rodriguez, Sting and Trudi Styler have all bought property along the streets
The hotel closed in 2018 and locals have been fighting the plan to put a homeless shelter there ever since
They argue bringing 140 men to the 70-room hotel is unsafe, arguing the building does not meet fire regulations owing to its few exits
The shelter will cost $63 million over nine years, or $50,000 per person, according to the West 58th Street Coalition, which is campaigning against the shelter
They argue that the money would be better spent on a bespoke building designed for the needs of the men who will live there
The shelter is part of Mayor Bill de Blasio's 'Turning the Tide' plan to create 90 homeless shelters across the city
By HARRIET ALEXANDER FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
PUBLISHED: 20:35 EDT, 27 May 2021 | UPDATED: 22:08 EDT, 27 May 2021
A homeless shelter is to be created on one of New York City's most expensive streets, after a legal battle to prevent its opening ended in defeat.
A New York state appeals court on Thursday dismissed the concerns voiced by a coalition of residents and businesses from the Manhattan neighborhood by Central Park, nicknamed Billionaire's Row.
Billionaire's Row is not actually one street, or officially defined.
Real estate agents describe it as an area south of Central Park, between 57th Street and 59th Street from north to south, and stretching from 8th Avenue in the west for eight blocks east to 2nd Avenue. Trump Tower is just to the south.
Bill de Blasio, mayor of New York, launched an initiative called Turning the Tide, which aimed to create 90 homeless shelters across the city.
One of the chosen sites was the Park Savoy Hotel, which closed permanently in 2018.
De Blasio intended to house 140 men in the hotel's 70 suites.
Yet the objections were immediate.
A group calling themselves The West 58th Street Coalition sued the city in 2018, describing the building as fundamentally unsuitable for a homeless shelter and arguing it was a fire hazard.
'This plan was never shared with anyone in our neighborhood, and our input not solicited,' the coalition wrote on a Change.org petition against it.
'While we understand the need to shelter the city's homeless, we believe that the Mayor's Turning the Tide plan is deeply flawed.'
They described de Blasio's plan as 'an expensive band-aid, that doesn't come close to addressing the shortage of affordable housing.'
They say it will cost $63 million over nine years - or $50,000 per person - and argue that the money would be better spent on alternatives.
'Putting large groups of men together in shelter situations creates opportunities for conflict and crime, as opposed to an opportunity for men to have a place of their own with privacy and dignity,' they argued.
The shelter's building features just one pathway to enter and exit, according to the coalition's lawsuit. That means, in the event of a fire emergency, both first responders and residents evacuating the building would be forced to use the same staircase, the lawsuit says.
Since 1968, the city's building code has mandated that buildings have at least two ways to enter and exit.
The city has said that compliance with current codes wasn't required because of a grandfather clause in the city's building code that would apply to the former Park Savoy Hotel.
A judge dismissed the lawsuit in April 2019, noting that the issuance of a temporary certificate of occupancy meant the city's Department of Buildings determined the structure was in compliance with local laws.
Isaac McGinn, a spokesman for the city's Department of Homeless Services, said at the time: 'We look forward to opening our doors to hardworking neighbors in need at this location as soon as possible, and will continue to work with the community to ensure our clients are embraced and supported as neighbors.'
Yet in August 2019 an appeals court in Manhattan reinstated the suit and ordered further hearings on whether the use of the building was 'consistent with general safety and welfare standards.'
On Thursday the state's highest court in Albany reversed that decision, and decided that the shelter could go ahead.
The court ruled that the classification of the building on West 58th Street was based on evidence that the residents would occupy units for an average of 30 days.
The court said the Manhattan appeals court went beyond its authority.
'Upon concluding that an authorized agency has reviewed a matter applying the proper legal standard and that its determination has a rational basis, a court cannot second guess that determination by granting a hearing to find additional facts or consider evidence not before the agency when it made its determination,' the Albany court said, according to Bloomberg.
The coalition is yet to respond to DailyMail.com's question about what their next move will be.
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