On Thursday, January 12th, the Seaport Coalition won its lawsuit against the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC). The Coalition took the Commission to court over LPC’s inappropriate approval of the Howard Hughes Corporation’s proposed development project at 250 Water Street in the South Street Seaport District.
HDC filed an amicus brief in support of the Seaport Coalition’s lawsuit against LPC, going on record to call out what we saw as the Landmarks Commission’s inappropriate process and wrong decision at 250 Water Street.
In this case, the LPC ignored its own precedent, considered benefits outside of the agency’s purview in its decision making, and appeared to work too closely with the applicant and city officials throughout the process.
As New York State Supreme Court Judge Arthur F. Engoron, who ruled in the coalition’s favor, found, “LPC repeatedly rejected prior proposals to build high-rise towers at 250 Water Street despite the location being a parking lot,” The Judge further wrote, “If LPC wanted to change its position and determine that a parking lot in a historic district could now be converted into a 324-foot tower, that is LPC’s prerogative, however it had a legal duty to acknowledge the departure and explain its reasoning.”
When it was enacted in 1965, the NYC Landmarks Law entrusted a politically independent city agency with the responsibility to preserve historically and architecturally significant buildings and districts that are valuable and important to the City as a whole. While we support the LPC in its general administration of the Landmarks Law, we believe the agency did not appropriately carry out its mandate. Instead, LPC made a decision that damages the integrity and application of the Landmarks Law and our historic districts.
Judge Engoron agreed. He wrote that LPC approval was likely based on funding the developers promised to the South Street Seaport Museum.
“This argument is supported by the record,” Engoron stated, “which demonstrates extensive coordination, over a period of more than three years, between LPC and Hughes Corp. on how to provide ‘political cover’ for the project.
To read the full decision, click here.