Ascend / Optimum's Alternate FAQs

On Monday, November 21st the co-op board forwarded a document named "Building Plans and Information" from the developer, without board comment or annotation. There are several misleading statements in this document:

• Page 1: "The total area of this as-of-right development is approximately 115,000 square feet."
  • While technically true (the total as-or-right project area is indeed 115,000 sq ft), this includes the 44,000 Bialystoker building which is already built. and landmarked, so they can not tear it down and re-build it. The Bialystoker uses up more than the air rights allotment for that lot, so the developer can use only the air rights for the other two lots.
  • According to the board presentation of 12/14/2016, that totals 71,000 square feet, not 115,000 square feet;
  • That is less than one-third the size of the proposed 'with air rights' project (239,100 square feet discounting the Bialystoker).
• Page 2: "Ascend/Optimum is considering building, as-of-right, a 20-story building (239 feet high) and a 17-story building (186 feet high)"
  • The operative word is 'considering', but we say "unlikely": 77,188 divided by a combined 37 floors is about 2,086 square feet a floor; that is approximately the size of the 06 and 07 lines together. Every additional floor will have precious revenue-generating space used for elevators and fire stairs;
  • Shorter buildings with more floor space are more likely;
• Page 4: "Ascend/Optimum are the only potential purchasers of the Coop’s air rights. This is the Coop’s only opportunity to sell some of their air rights."
  • For the moment, yes, but the developer paid $45M for the Bialystoker property which has sold for just $15M three years previous.
  • Without the air rights, the project may not economically feasible (see http://www.spbuzz.org/electioncorner/ec2017/ar_14.php) ;
  • The land could end up in the hands of another developer down the line who offers us a better deal.