We have been informed that the Court of Appeals has denied our motion to appeal the Gansevoort ruling.  The Court, as is customary, provided no explanation for the denial.  The Court also lifted the temporary stay, so Aurora is now free to start demolition of 70-74 Gansevoort Street and initiate work on the addition on top of 60-68 Gansevoort Street.

Although not entirely unexpected, this is very disappointing.   We’ve done our very best to get the Landmarks Preservation Commission’s terrible Gansevoort decision overturned in court, and our lawyer Michael Hiller did a wonderful job. But it was always going to be a heavy lift, and we’ve now reached the end of this particular legal road.

Aurora still has to work within the terms of a Restrictive Declaration on this site which prohibits office use.  Given the changes in the NYC real estate market, this may be a bigger problem for them now than it was back when they started this project in 2015.  We will remain vigilant to make sure that the Restrictive Declaration is properly enforced.