Anti-Extell Rally Planned This Morning to Oppose Gargantuan 56-Story Tower

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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.