The judge said she understood the concerns of the plaintiffs, but concluded that the city sufficiently accounted for displacement threats in the land use analyses it conducted for these two proposals. | BFC properties City wins legal challenge to development projects in East Harlem, Crown Heights

The de Blasio administration won a legal victory Thursday when a judge shut down a lawsuit seeking to block two real estate projects on the grounds that the city used erroneous methodology for calculating tenant displacement.

Judge Carmen Victoria St. George's ruling allows the city and the private developers it has partnered with to proceed with plans to build a sprawling, mixed-use development on the site of the vacant Bedford-Union Armory in Crown Heights. She also sided with the de Blasio administration in the plaintiff's suit against the East Harlem rezoning — one of four neighborhoods the mayor's team has altered to allow more residential construction.


The case was brought last November by the Legal Aid Society, on behalf of two residents living near the developments, and the advocacy group Tenants and Neighbors. In the suit, filed in state Supreme Court in Manhattan, the plaintiffs argued that the city's calculation of potential displacement is flawed because it excludes rent-regulated apartments.

"The price difference between market-rate and existing rents for long-time tenants creates an incentive for unscrupulous landlords. Getting existing tenants out of their leases means bringing in new market-rate tenants — often tenants who don't know or care about the rent-stabilization law," the plaintiffs wrote in the suit. "In some cases landlords know that kicking out existing tenants means selling their building at a much higher value to potential developers. These pressures are rampant throughout the city and are contributing to a stressful, unstable housing market for tenants — even those supposedly protected by rent-regulation."

The judge said she understood the concerns of the plaintiffs, but concluded that the city sufficiently accounted for displacement threats in the land use analyses it conducted for these two proposals.

"The court is sympathetic to petitioners who aim to protect those who are not members of community boards, are not elected officials, and often do not express their positions at public hearings," she wrote. "It also recognizes the important role respondents play in the evolution of this city and the laudable aim of including affordable housing in residential developments."

"The goal of the city, and of the projects at hand, is to balance the interests of the communities, including those of their more impoverished members, against the interest in promoting progress, beautification and increasing hospitals, shops, recreation centers and other facilities which benefit neighborhoods even while gentrifying them," she added. "This court's role, in turn, is not to question the way in which the city, entrusted with these projects, draws the balance."

She concluded that the city agencies working on these projects satisfied their obligation to "consider all relevant areas of environmental concern and examine them rationally."

The East Harlem rezoning will enable the construction of an estimated 3,500 units of housing by 2027, while the block-long armory proposal includes 390 homes.

A staff attorney at Legal Aid, Kat Meyers, said in a prepared statement that the organization is considering an appeal or legislation.

"We are deeply disappointed with the court's decision today ruling against the best interests of the East Harlem and Crown Heights communities," she added. "We still maintain that the methodology the city employs to measure tenant displacement is fundamentally flawed, and that it ignores obvious realities and the consequences of land use decisions on rents and livelihoods."

City officials applauded the judge's ruling.

"We are thrilled to see these transformational projects move forward for the benefit of New Yorkers both today and in the future," said Ryan Birchmeier, a spokesman for the Economic Development Corporation, which oversaw the armory project.

“We are pleased that the court recognized that the city conducted very thorough and proper environmental reviews for these initiatives,” said law department spokesman Nicholas Paolucci. “The Bedford Union Armory redevelopment project and the East Harlem Rezoning mean thousands of permanently affordable homes for neighborhood families, jobs for local residents, and more community spaces, investments in parks, schools, and roads.”

Sam Spokony, a spokesman for BFC Partners, which is redeveloping the armory, said the project "will deliver a state-of-the-art recreation center, affordable office space for non-profits and affordable housing for the residents of Crown Heights. Our pre-development work at the armory is nearly concluded and we look forward to commencing work onsite this fall."