Anti-Extell Rally Planned This Morning to Oppose Gargantuan 56-Story Tower
This image has been archived or removed.
Chinatown and the Lower East Side are basically telling Extell to shove it.
Extell chief Gary Barnett sure knows how to generate controversy. His bridge-eclipsing market-rate monolith at 250 South Street has become a lightning-rod issue among locals, who claim the resultant rush of gentrification will destroy the waterfront community. It’s a two-tower development that offers luxury amenities to the 1% but a separate 13-story “poor door” facility for the low income population.
Despite the recent amendment to reduce overall height of 250 South Street from 71 to 56 stories (approximately 100 feet), advocacy groups, residents, and small businesses remain in opposition to the Extell phallus at the former Pathmark site. A rally is planned for this morning (11am) to call on Mayor de Blasio to “support community-based rezoning to protect the local neighborhood, and especially public housing, which is at risk of being privatized.”
The opposition gathering will happen at the corner of Cherry and Pike Streets. It’s hosted by Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF), Chinatown Tenants Union, Chinese Staff and Workers Association (CSWA), CAAAV Organizing Asian Communities, Good Old Lower East Side (GOLES), Mujeres Y Hombres Luchadoras, National Mobilization Against Sweatshops (NMASS), and Community Development Project, Urban Justice Center.
The twin towers of Extell are still in the pile-driving phase of development. Both are slated for a 2018 completion.
Recent Stories
Out on the Essex Street ‘Fiore Escape’
The fire escape spectacle entertained Essex Street anew. Friday evening, Lower East Sider Jill Fiore again stepped onto her tenement fire escape at 29 Essex for a short concert. Fiore was flanked by bandmates Derek Cruz on lead guitar, Dave Spinley on saxophone, and Joan Chew on bass. Like previous Fiore Escape outings, this one […]
It Was a Deadly Weekend of Shootings and Stabbings on the Lower East Side
This was a deadly weekend of shootings and stabbings on the Lower East Side, with a 16-year-old boy and 51-year-old delivery worker both fatalities. It began Friday evening at around 8:30pm when a 16-year-old boy was shot in the face on Delancey Street, near Suffolk. Six shots had been fired in the incident, which left […]
16-Year-Old Fatally Shot in the Face on Delancey Street Last Night
A 16-year-old boy was shot and killed on Delancey Street last night, near the on-ramp to the Williamsburg Bridge, cops said. The teenager was shot in the face near the corner of Suffolk at about 8:30pm. Right at the foot of Essex Crossing. First responders rushed the boy, who was unconscious, to Bellevue Hospital for […]
CBGB Shut Down 15 Years Ago on the Bowery
Fifteen years ago. This was the night – arguably – that the last breath of punk exhaled on the Bowery. When CBGB concluded its residence at 315 Bowery. And the block could not look any different today. The former venue became, and remains, the upscale John Varvatos boutique; while its old CB’s Gallery space is […]
MOSCOT Launches New Chromeo Collaboration with in-Store Performance
MOSCOT recently launched a new collaboration with popular electro-funk duo Chromeo. To celebrate, the eyewear company is hosting a live performance of the group at its Orchard Street flagship tonight. According to the press release, the new “luxurious capsule collection” features two limited edition frame styles co-designed by David “Dave 1” Macklovitch and Patrick “P-Thugg” […]
