Court Rules Hughes' $850M Tower Can Rise Over South Street Seaport

The Hughes Company has prevailed in a court fight with residents of Southbridge Towers, who opposed its $850M multifamily high-rise on a lot next to Manhattan’s landmark South Street Seaport.

Actually, the court fight pitted a group known as the South Street Seaport Coalition against NYC’s Landmark Preservation Commission and Historic Districts Council, which had approved the project.

New York Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron had sided with the petitioners and invalidated the approval of the new residential tower at 250 Water Street, a decision that has now been overturned an appellate court in New York.

Justice Ergoron cited an allegedly “impermissible” relationship between Hughes and the Landmark Preservation Commission, according to a report in the New York Post.

The Supreme Court judge was implying that because the Hughes Corp. operates the Seaport complex on South Street and recently has invested $55M in a 40-eatery empire of the great New York chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten—including The Fulton at the Seaport—that the city’s Landmark Preservation Commission might be inclined to favor its project across the street.

The appeals courts unanimously squashed this suggestion, declaring that the Landmarks Preservation Commission had not acted in an “arbitrary and capricious or irrational” manner in approving the project.

The dispute was fueled by apartment residents in adjacent Southbridge Towers who wanted to block any new buildings from rising at the empty lot at 250 Water Street. The Southbridge residents said the development will block their view of the East River.

The Hughes Corp. project at 250 Water Street envisions a multifamily tower encompassing 399 apartment units, of which 100 will be designated as affordable, along with stores, offices and community space, the Post reported.

The deal requires Hughes to pay $40M for air rights from Pier 17 and the Tin Building, money that will be used to support the non-profit South Street Seaport Museum, a major tourist attraction on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Howard Hughes Corp, has owned the vacant lot—described by the tabloid as an “eyesore”—since 2018.

Hughes’ plan for the site was approved by the City Council in 2021. The project has been delayed for years as neighborhood activists led efforts to block the plan, including one initiative to turn the vacant property into a lot for towed cars.

“The court’s decision confirms what we have maintained all along: The Commission’s approval was proper and made in full compliance with Landmarks Law,” Zach Winick, co-president of Hughes’ New York operations, said in a statement.

Hughes paid $45M to acquire a 25% stake in Jean-Georges Restaurants and $10M for an option to buy to an additional 20% of the company. The restaurant company is preparing to open the Tin Building at the Seaport, a three-level gourmet food hall and restaurant collection spread out over 53K SF feet inside the historic landmark Seaport building,