The Board of Directors of the Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation voted unanimously Wednesday morning to give "final designation" status to The Related Companies and the Hudson Companies as joint developers of the area from just north of the Tram station to just south of Rivercross.

Though some items remain matters of negotiation between the developers and RIOC, and some design specifics are to be considered by the RIOC Board's Capital Planning and Development Committee, construction is expected to begin soon - possibly before year's end.  Hudson/Related has a tenant for the first building - employees of a thus-far-unnamed "major eastside medical institution."

The RIOC Board resolution (full text) authorizes expenditure of $4.56 million on infrastructure - extension of utilities, the AVAC refuse removal system, roads, and a soccer field - but limits the pay-out to $725,000 for engineering work until after RIOC has received reimbursement from the City for "certain seawall costs" associated with the construction of City Water Tunnel #3.  That $3 million payment is expected within 6-8 weeks, according to RIOC President Robert Ryan.  Overall, $1.16 million in RIOC funds are to be added to the seawall reimbursement to cover infrastructure costs.  The Board resolution authorizes higher infrastructure expenditures, but only if the funds become available from private sources.

The RIOC vote approved "the Plan and Project for approximately 2000 units submitted to the Board dated April 20, 1999", which appears to lock in the locations and heights of the buildings, subject to future reconsideration.

Layout approved Wednesday for Southtown by the RIOC Board of Directors includes nine residential buildings. The first phase of construction will include the two buildings at upper right.   Dotted lines running west to east (from top to bottom of plot) indicate the "line of influence" of subway tunnels, an area which must be avoided in construction.

Chira

Although Chira had to leave the meeting, Assistant Commissioner Steven Hicks of the State Department of Housing and Community Renewal, who chaired it, later responded by pointing out that no objection had been heard to the placement of the building in several community meetings held over the last two years, before calling for the vote that approved final designation status.

The Board resolution provides that Southtown "shall maintain some form of mixed market rate affordable housing substantially consistent with the General Development Plan (GDP) as amended on May 10, 1990."  This appears to provide for "affordable" housing in some form.  At the Board meeting, Tony Morenzi, an aide to Assemblymember Pete Grannis, expressed Grannis's concern that dedication of the first building to "medical professionals" aroused a concern that lower-income residents might ultimately be segregated in a separate building, as they are at Manhattan Park, in 2-4 River Road - a practice now largely discredited, and abandoned State-wide after construction of Manhattan Park.

A statement read for City Councilmember Gifford Miller by his aide, Jessica Lappin, called for the Board to work with the community to minimize the adverse effects of construction on existing residents.  At the Board meeting, no information was presented on how Hudson/Related plans to deliver construction equipment and mateials to the site, but it is widely expected that Capobianco Field, just north of Eastwood, will become the site of a ramp, since construction vehicles would be unable to negotiate the spiral ramp leading down from the 36th Avenue Bridge.

Miller's statement also said, "...should this Board decide to move forward on this project in any way that is inconsistent with the spirit or letter of the GDP, the Board must seek an amendment of the GDP from the City in the appropriate fashion."

Two buildings will be constructed in the first phase.