By Stephen Stirling
Some confusion over whether federal authorities had approved the Sky View Parc’s 14-story residential towers near LaGuardia International Airport was cleared up this week and Muss Development said it was moving ahead with plans to open the first of the buildings this fall.
Muss Development is currently seeking a variance on its massive Sky View Parc development in Flushing near the corner of College Point Boulevard and Roosevelt Avenue. Three of the projects’ six residential towers are already built, but the developer now needs a variance from the city Board of Standards & Appeals because the 14-story buildings pierce height restrictions set by the Federal Aviation Administration to protect flight paths of aircraft entering and leaving LaGuardia Airport.
Confusion arose at Community Board 7 last week when an e-mail miscommunication led board members to believe the FAA had taken issue with the construction after approving it in 2005. According to Jim Whelan, an attorney with Muss, the Port Authority had mistakenly provided information on another planned project located across the street from Sky View Parc.
“The e-mail that was sent to the board is not talking about our project. Evidently the community board just provided the Port Authority with an intersection rather than an exact address,” Whelan said. “There’s a guy looking to develop a property across the street and he’s currently going through the approval process right now.”
Both the FAA and the Port Authority signed off on the Muss project in 2005, but changes in city regulations required the Forest Hills-based developer to seek a variance from the BSA this year.
“This whole experience has been incredibly frustrating,” Whelan said. “We got the approvals they asked for in 2006, we go merrily building along and then at the beginning of the year the city tells us, ‘Well, the process is changing.’ I mean, we’re literally spending hundreds of thousands of dollars now to sort this all out.”
Constructed on land Muss purchased in 1983, Sky View Parc will consist of six residential towers comprised of 1,100 housing units all built atop a large retail shopping center. The project is being built in two phases, with the first — consisting of 448 condos and the retail center — expected to be occupied by the end of 2009.
Muss Development said it recently signed a 20-year lease with BJ’s for 121,000 square feet of the 800,000 planned square feet of retail space at Sky View Center, a large shopping center planned for the development.
Reach reporter Stephen Stirling by e-mail at sstirling@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 138.
