Murray Hill Neighborhood Association

News from MECA

Feb 21, 2001

Consolidated Edison?’s activities are the important aspect of this report. While there is nothing new to report about its application to repower the 14th Street Plant, the repowering process is proceeding. Meanwhile, the Fisher real estate family has signed a contract for up to $680 million for the Con Ed waterside sites and the power company plans to transfer those parcels to the developers within two years. Both entities agreed to hire the TRC Companies to begin a $103.5 million environmental cleanup. To ensure that the process is environmentally sound, the Public Safety and Environment Committee of CB6 (of which I am chairperson) will monitor the process.

Con Ed has begun a reachout to MECA and East Midtown Coalition for Sensible Development, among others, to discuss what will be built on the 9.2 acres of waterfront property. We will be involved in the selection of the winning proposal from design competition proposals submitted by architects and urban planners. Please give us your input.

Would you prefer:

1 Tall slimmer buildings that allow for more open space or lower bulkier buildings?
2 Reopening the ?“demapped?” 39th Street to River Drive? (The land belongs to Con Ed but we could strive to bring it back into the public domain.)
3 Residential or office buildings, hotel, retail store complex, cultural center, public high school or a combination?

If you have other ideas for the use of these sites please forward them to me and/or complete the survey left in most buildings (call me at 855-2390 if you did not get one.)

Other news: the application for our annual Labor Day Street Fair has been approved, so save the date. Also, we lost our case trying to limit the height of the Donald Trump tall residential tower, the highest one ever built.

All the best
Fred Arcaro,
President MECA