A Brief History of the
JHL/Chetrit Land Swap Deal
September 2008 JHL gains permission from the NY State Department of Health to rebuild on its present West 106th Street location. JHL also receives a zoning carve-out from NYC to allow real estate development on part of its 106th Street site.
August 2009 JHL and megadeveloper Chetrit Group suddenly announce a land swap deal. This deal was for JHL to build a new, 20-story nursing home on West 100th Street in Chetrit-owned Park West Village. In exchange for its PWV land, Chetrit would develop profitable new real estate on JHL’s sizable 106th Street parcel. As part of the swap, JHL would receive an additional $35 million from Chetrit.
November 2010 JHL abandons its intention to build on West 100th Street after learning from the NYC Dept. of City Planning, the NYC Dept. of Parks and the NYC Dept. of Law that 100th Street does not work from a zoning perspective. The specifics behind this decision have never been revealed by JHL or the City.
January - March 2011 JHL now negotiates a new, highly questionable deal to build its nursing home on Park West Village's West 97th Street parking lot – next to a public elementary school on a narrow, heavily congested block of this cross-town street. In addition, Chetrit still plans to build a "community facility" on the West 100th Street PWV lot.
February 7, 2012 Community Board 7 Manhattan Vote: A full board vote by Community Board 7 at Congregation Rodeph Sholom overwhelmingly approved the resolution put forth on January 17 at P.S. 163. At 37-0, the vote reflects CB 7’s support of massive community concerns surrounding every aspect of JHL’s proposed nursing home development on West 97th Street.
March 26, 2012 City Planning Commission Review Meeting: Chair Amanda Burden overrules the recommendation of Community Board 7 for a special permit process, in effect denying the community a Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP) for JHL's proposed West 97th Street development. Without a ULURP, there is no way to determine the proposed building's impact on the community's health, safety and quality of life.
April 5, 2012 Judge grants an injunction that favors tenants' rights to continue parking on the West 97th Street lot that JHL proposes to build its high-rise facility on.