Rendering of proposed tower at 871 7th Avenue. Credit: NYC CPC
Extell Development last week secured a zoning bonus from the city required for the firm’s proposed 1,130-foot-tall tower at the site of Midtown’s former Wellington Hotel. The City Planning Commission last week granted the project at 871 7th Avenue a nearly 120,000-square-foot density bonus; in exchange, Extell will upgrade the nearby 50th Street subway station to be fully accessible. The approval allows for the project to expand by 20 percent, transforming it from a 27-story hotel into a 71-story mixed-use tower with 130 residential units and 156 hotel rooms. As first reported by Crain’s, the expansion utilizes the city’s Zoning for Accessibility (ZFA) program, which offers density bonuses to developers in exchange for transit improvements.
Established in 2021, the ZFA program provides developers with density bonuses of up to 20 percent, or easements that can also increase the size of their projects, in exchange for committing to fund accessibility upgrades at nearby transit stations. The project at 871 Seventh Avenue marks the fifth bonus granted under the program, alongside eight prior easements, according to Crain’s.
It also complements the MTA’s 2022 commitment to make at least 95 percent of its subway stations fully accessible to riders with disabilities by 2055. For this project, Extell said it will add elevators at the northbound and southbound platforms at the 50th Street 1 train station, as well as add a stairway and fare control area at the northbound platform.
Miriam Harris, senior vice president of transit-oriented development at the MTA, told Crain’s that Extell’s investment will free up funds for station upgrades in other parts of the city where the zoning bonus is not yet desirable.
In 2022, Extell purchased the 26-story Wellington Hotel from Richard Born’s BD Hotels for $94.5 million. It was among the many hotels that shuttered during the COVID-19 pandemic, as 6sqft previously reported. The structure will be demolished to make way for the new tower.
The following year, Extell filed plans for a 27-story hotel at the site, spanning roughly 336,000 square feet and including 208 rooms, 35 parking spaces, a restaurant, office space, a lecture hall, and ground-floor retail.
In October, the firm filed a zoning application to secure a transit improvement bonus of 118,796 square feet of floor area.
The breakdown of the project is over 712,000 zoning square feet, with roughly 460,700 square feet for residential and 252,000 square feet for commercial, which includes 156 hotel rooms, office space, and retail.
While the CPC has approved the project, it has not been without opposition. In May, Manhattan Community Board 5 passed a conditionally unfavorable resolution, 21 in favor, eight against, with one abstention, recommending denial of the application.
The board expressed concerns about the lack of affordable housing, disruptive construction plans, and the impact of additional curb cuts on pedestrian safety.
During the June 17 CPC public meeting, Commissioner Leah Goodridge said Manhattan CB5 called Extell “a bad neighbor” and accused the developer of treating the property as a “dumping site” that it only cleaned up after applying for rezoning.
Commissioner Gail Benjamin also echoed concerns over the project’s lack of affordable housing. She said that because the approved zoning change is not a map change, the city’s Mandatory Inclusionary Housing zoning tool—which requires developers to include a certain number of affordable units in new projects—does not apply.
Benjamin continued, recommending that the CPC “take a look” at policies surrounding affordable housing requirements for these types of projects. Despite her concerns, she voted in favor of the proposal.
“In Manhattan, if we are going to get more affordable housing through our programs, it is probably going to be on these types of special permits and authorizations,” she said. “It would be great if we could take a look towards finding a way to make that requirement more Manhattan-centric.”
Extell has led a similar project at 655 Madison Avenue. Originally planned as a 37-story mixed-use tower, the firm now seeks to build a 74-story tower in exchange for improvements to the Fifth Avenue–59th Street subway station.
It also joins a slew of other ongoing projects Extell has initiated in recent years. In April, the firm filed plans for an 86-story residential tower on the Upper West Side, which would become the tallest in the neighborhood and surpass its existing tower across the street at 55 West 66th Street on the former Disney campus.
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