535 West End Avenue (86th and WEA)

The issue is traffic on the eastbound lanes of 86th Street between Riverside and West End. Garage entrances do create congestion and occasional accidents. I don't know whether it's a major concern on 86th, where flow is usually pretty smooth. It would be a huge issue on 79th, which is chronically jammed with cars coming off the highway.

Generally, you don't want garage access/egress on a major thoroughfare, and the bigger the garage, the bigger the problem. The Community Board may just be squeezing Extell for concessions on other fronts, but I wouldn't discount their objections completely.

Mispoke in my earlier email they have 9 as of right parking spots versus the total of 20 requested.

I agree if this garage were on 79th it would be another ball of wax. However, have a tough time seeing how an additional 11 cars coming in and out of a garage on 86th will materially affect traffic on 86th when it dead ends into Riverside Drive anyway.

I basically agree. Somebody may just be trying to extort something out of Extell that isn't really connected with the garage at all.

You're right about the building too. If the project goes forward as planned/reported (architecturally consistent with WEA, one unit per floor, geared toward ultra-rich, religiously observant families) you probably couldn't hope for a better use of that corner.