The Greenwich Village Block Associations (GVBA) is a community wide coalition of neighborhood organizations dedicated to preserving and improving the quality of life for residents of our historic neighborhood. We understand that the Related Companies is planning a 20-story residential tower for the Superior Ink factory site on the Greenwich Village waterfront across the street from the Westbeth artists’ residential complex.  We request that you consider our comments on the Superior Ink Building variance as requested by the developer.

The variance submittal requests two separate changes by the Board of Standards and Appeals.  The first is for a use group change to allow residential development in a M1-5 zone and the second requests an appreciable increase in bulk from the currently allowable 5 FAR.

While the character of the area seems to be changing from a manufacturing to residential, the GVBA wants to be certain that this seemingly new orientation is not the sole reason for granting a use group change. If the findings required by the variance protocol are not met clearly and unambiguously, it would set a bad precedent for future variance requests.  This should weigh heavily in your considerations.

We believe that as-of-right alternatives (a hotel for instance) can be shown to be economically viable, and we, therefore, do not believe that any variance should be granted on any account and certainly not simply to increase the return of a developer at the expense of the community.  In this instance, we believe this to be the case.

As for the increase in FAR request, the GVBA believes that the as-of-right 5 FAR, is sufficient and should be respected at all costs.  An increase in FAR, unless it can also be proven to be completely economically unviable —which we believe not to be the case — must absolutely not be varied. The character of the neighborhood will be adversely affected by the height and bulk that any additional FAR will insure.

We request a rigorous review of the findings and a denial if, in fact, the findings fail to satisfy the requirements for any changes.   Thank you.