#St. Marks office tower likely to expand thanks to pricey air rights transfer

Construction site of a planned office tower at 3 St. Marks Place and Cooper Square.
Helayne Seidman

The City Planning Commission voted unanimously to approve an air-rights transfer from the Hamilton-Holly House, a 1830s federal style building at 4 St. Marks where the family of the founding father resided.

It paves the way for developers to increase the square footage of the planned 10-story office building next door by roughly 20% and comes after they dumped hundreds of thousands of dollars into lobbying campaigns to press their case.

“We think this office tower at this location — already out of place — will be even more out of place by making it 20% larger,” Andrew Berman, director of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, told The Post, saying the proposed building would stick out like “a sore thumb.”

A 10-story tower was originally planned for 3 St. Marks Place. Currently zoning regulations allows for it, but developers at the Real Estate Equities Corp. paid $4 million for the neighboring air rights to grow it.

The Planning Commission vote leaves the future of the project almost entirely in the hands of City Councilwoman Carlina Rivera, who must sign off on the air rights transfer in a council vote to take place by mid-November.

The City Planning Commission voted unanimously last week to approve a zoning variance to transfer air-rights from a landmarked building across the street at 4 St. Marks Place to 3 St. Marks Place.

Helayne Seidman

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In March, Rivera urged the planning commission to reject the proposal, but in a statement to The Post, she left the door ajar to possibly supporting it in the future.

“As of this moment the Councilwoman plans to vote no,” a spokesman for Rivera said. “As with any land use project, we seriously consider all factors involved with the application. The applicant’s lobbying has had no effect on our decision.”

Reps for the Real Estate Equities Corp. did not respond to request for comment from The Post.