Grand Central Owner Suing SL Green And The City For Docs Related To Nearby Rezoning
The owner of New York City's Grand Central Terminal’s air rights, Andrew Penson, is suing SL Green and the city, and asking for documents related to a deal made between the two he claims made an estimated $1.1B of air rights essentially worthless.
Andrew filed suit against the two over the city’s decision to rezone a five-block stretch of Vanderbilt Avenue, paving the way for SL Green's planned, game-changing office tower, One Vanderbilt, to move forward, The Real Deal reports.
SL Green, NYC's biggest landlord, and the city say the deal makes perfect sense: SL Green gets a favorable rezoning and the air rights that come with it, in exchange for significant public improvements included in the project. The developer plans to spend roughly $220M on public improvements as part of the project, which centers around the 1.6M SF, 64-story office skyscraper.
Andrew doesn’t see it that way. He’s arguing the rezoning served solely to increase SL Green’s profits, and make his Grand Central Terminal air rights worthless in the process. SL Green had previously considered purchasing Andrew’s air rights in order to move forward, before the rezoning made that unnecessary.
Marc Wolinsky, an attorney with SL Green, tells The Real Deal it would set a dangerous precedent if every developer who benefited from a rezoning were required to compensate neighbors who were adversely affected by the decision. [TRD]
