Dalton School To Begin Controversial Construction Project: ICYMI

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — The Dalton School — an elite Upper East Side private school on East 89th Street between Park and Lexington avenues — is set to begin work on a two-story expansion project that drew the ire of neighborhood residents in a 2014 zoning debate.

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The school sent a letter to residents in January saying that the school was in the "design and planning phase" to build a two-story STEM facility atop its building and to make selective renovations within the existing structure. Days later building plans were submitted to the city Department of Buildings to expand the building height from 144 feet to 171 feet with classrooms and laboratories on the two newly-constructed stories.

"The new STEM space will be designed to help our students develop 21st century skills by facilitating collaborative learning and increasing opportunities for research, exploration, and creativity," read the letter from Dalton Head of School Ellen C. Stein.

Construction on phase one of the project will begin in March and last through the end of summer, school officials said during a Tuesday night presentation. The first phase of the project includes installation of a sidewalk bridge and roof protection as well as some steel beam erection, officials said.

The first phase of the project will include a two-week street closure, officials said. During the street closure pedestrian flow on East 89th Street will not be impeded and emergency vehicles will still have access to the street, officials said.

After a construction hiatus, the second phase of the construction project will begin in June 2018. During this phase scaffolding and a hoist will be installed on the side of the building, which will require the loss of 20 parking spaces directly in front of the building and across the street.

The construction is expected to be completed by 2019, school officials said Tuesday.

The construction would turn the existing 85,670-square-foot building into an 97,042-square-foot building, according to building plans. The project would also include renovations of the existing building, including the transformation of existing labs on the building's fourth floor into library space, according to building plan

In 2014 the city Board of Standards and Appeals voted to approve a zoning variance for the project despite community objections. Following the city ruling, a group of the school's neighbors filed a lawsuit in an attempt to block the expansion, the New York Post reported in 2014. The lawsuit claimed that the construction and reduced sunlight due to the building's new heights would damage property values in the neighborhood, the Post reported.

Photo by Google Maps street view