Demolition work has revved up in September after permits were filed with the city for work at the former ABC campus site, now owned by Extell Development. The site covers the square block of West 66th to 67th streets between Columbus Avenue and Central Park West.
While no plans have been sent to the city by Extell regarding what it will build there once the existing structures are demolished, the developer’s founder, Gary Barnett, has told the Upper West Side Community Board 7 that it hopes to construct two properties on the site, including a 1,200-foot-tall luxury residential building that would also feature an unspecified number of affordable units.
If built, the project would be roughly the same height as the Empire State Building.
In the past two weeks, West Side Rag has received multiple emails from local residents expressing worry about both the height of the building and the conditions in areas around the demolition work.
“People on West 68th Street are very concerned about what they’re breathing in, and no one seems to care,” wrote one resident, who asked to remain anonymous.
Another resident of the area expressed similar worries.
“I’m concerned it’s giving off harmful fumes as the construction workers are wearing full PPE [personal protective equipment] and respirator masks,” the resident, who also wished to remain anonymous, wrote in an email. “I’ve noticed the windows in my apartment get covered in soot and also the cars on the street. There is constantly broken glass and fragments of other materials all over the sidewalk and road.”
On Monday, Upper West Side City Councilmember Gale Brewer sent a letter to the New York City Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), expressing the concerns of residents of West 66th and 67th streets, and requesting that city agents perform an inspection of the site to “determine if all air, noise, and other laws are being followed.”
“Residents point out that their eyes and throats are burning,” wrote Brewer. “They are correctly concerned about what they are breathing. Residents complain to my office that there is a sharp smell of burning plastic coming from 67th and Columbus.” Brewer’s office confirmed that inspectors from the city visited the site on Monday.
WSR also visited on Monday and observed multiple doormen along West 67th Street, between Columbus and Central Park West, wearing face masks.
“Keep the door closed or the smell will get in,” one resident told a doorman on the way out of his building on the block, but neither wanted to speak further on the record.
In the 10 minutes this Rag reporter observed the site on 67th Street, I experienced both the smell of burning rubber and the watering eyes that came with it.
Extell Development did not reply to the Rag’s request for comment on the community concerns.
