They’re calling it a bait-and-switch.
Community Board members are demanding the city reject a Homecrest building owner’s application to expand a medical building and take away parking. Owner David Marx wants a waiver from the city allowing him to replace a first-floor parking garage with a medical office in an eight-story mixed-use building on Quentin Road and E. Ninth Street. Marx’s attorney conducted a study proving the existing parking is under-used. But the garage was designed to purposely deter people from parking there — so the study is a sham, board members claim.
“It’s hidden for a reason — they’re trying to do away with the parking,” said member Ira Teper. “They are trying to lessen the parking to grab the extra floor for medical usage. It’s a money grab. That’s all it is.”
The garage door is always closed, and it looks more like a commercial storefront than a garage entrance, Teper said. There are no signs advertising parking, photos show.
But the design wasn’t meant to confuse people, according to Marx’s attorney.
“It was built as of right in its current configuration,” said zoning lawyer Eric Palatnik.
The building has 98 parking spaces — and the city would require a total 114 if Marx expanded office space — but the developer wants a pass to offer only 71 spots, Palatnik said.
Parking is already too tough to find in the car-loving neighborhood, another board member said.
“It’s very congested,” said member Maurice Kolodin, who called the developer’s plan a “bait-and-switch.” “If this area were a chest cold, it would need a lot of Mucinex.”
Board members voted 32–3 on March 22 to not support the proposal.
