New York Public Library’s $200 million Mid-Manhattan branch renovation project may be held up by a neighboring condo, where residents are demanding the nonprofit pay a fee $15,000 per month during construction—or $450,000 over the renovation timeline, The New York Post reports.
The condo board of 445 Fifth Ave. has asked for the licensing fee to allow construction workers access to hang their safety equipment, a lawsuit filed by the library cited by the Post asserts.
The condo board is also attempting to limit the project’s work hours from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays, even though city code allows for more.
However, in the suit filed in Manhattan Supreme Court, the nonprofit says the “imposition of a license fee is unjustified, not only because it is not required by the law, but because the fee would be required to be paid by a not-for-profit organization whose core mission and purpose is to provide books, education resources and programs for the people of New York City.”
The library branch construction at Fifth Ave. and 40th St. is expected to start this month.
A rendering of the NYPL’s Mid-Manhattan branch renovation.
The library has been designed by Mecanoo and Beyer Blinder Belle.
