Good news from NYC - Bloomberg's Midtown East Redevelopment plan defeated by City Council!

[markpkessinger]

Mayor Bloomberg's overly ambitious development plan for Midtown East has been defeated by city council! Bloomberg really wanted to push this through before the end of his term. Bloomberg's plan slated 73 blocks in midtown east for redevelopment. It is true that the area has many aging office buildings, some of which should certainly be replaced. But there were also many historic buildings in that zone that should be protected. Somewhere, from her perch on a cloud, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis smiles!

http://e2.ma/webview/3rtwi/79788ef6f3f205a44b82e1b5ad7731ea

Now if we could only find a way to stop the construction of the seven monstrous towers slated for Central Park South!

[KamaAina]

1. Better still, convert the older buildings to residential use

as has been done in the Financial District. They'd be even more desirable than those in FiDi, being walking distance to both midtown offices and established neighborhoods like Murray Hill and Turtle Bay.

de Blasio's boroughs-first plan would seem to imply that new office space should be built near transit hubs like downtown Brooklyn, Atlantic Terminal, Long Island City and Jamaica, rather than in midtown, anyway.

[Skidmore]

2. Heh heh...Bloomburg must be shaking his fist at the heavens

and cursing. This repudiation of his reign must be painfully traumatic.

[frazzled]

3. I usually try to stay in Midtown East when I'm in NYC

Well, a little south of the area being discussed--in the 30s, not the 40s--but pretty much still the same area. It's not an area I used to frequent much at all when I lived in New York, but I find it relatively quiet and convenient now, and more like the old, undeveloped New York I kind of miss.

Two weeks ago we stayed at a hotel near 31st and Madison that had been a decrepit old building now beautifully rehabbed. I'd stay there again in a heartbeat. Easy access to buses and trains, a walk to the lovely Morgan Library north or to Madison Park south.

I'm glad this plan has not gone through. Time to rethink all this tearing down for glass boxes.