Long Beach Zoning Board Revokes iStar Permit

In a unanimous decision, Thursday night, the Long Beach Zoning Board sided with residents and revoked the building permits for iStar at the superblock property on the boardwalk.

The permits were initially given to iStar, the company that wants to develop two 15-story apartment buildings on the superblock site, in 2015. However, according to the Long Beach Herald, a resident-led lawsuit claimed the permits were invalid because the variances that were issued to the developer expired in 2014.

The suit also alleged that iStar had not met its obligation by starting construction within the first year of the permits being issued, Newsday reported. Residents near the superblock site have heard noisy construction happening over the last few days, but it has been silent for years until now.

With the permits revoked, iStar has to stop all construction on the site.

“We are obviously disappointed with the decision by the Long Beach Zoning Board of Appeals. We had hoped to continue with moving this project forward in order to benefit to the city and its residents,” Karl Frey, iStar executive vice president, told Newsday. “The City of Long Beach has breached its contract with iStar and iStar will vigorously pursue its remedies.”

Those remedies include a $100 million lawsuit the developer filed against the city earlier this month, alleging that Long Beach was in breach of contract for not supporting iStar's applications for Payments In Lieu Of Taxes (PILOTs) from the Nassau County IDA. iStar has long said that, without those tax breaks, developing the superblock property isn't feasible.

Photo: Patch