Locals, Advocates Rally Against W. 13th Street Condo Tower
A luxury building slated to go up at 5 W. 13th St. has drawn the ire of Village Preservation, which views it as a referendum on “City of Yes” zoning rules.
| 27 Apr 2026 | 04:35
Village Preservation is continuing to rail against a planned luxury condo tower at 5 W. 13th St., with the support of a few local residents. (
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Village Preservation Executive Director Andrew Berman (left) and City Council Member Harvey Epstein (right) railed against a proposed tower development at 5 W. 13th St. on April 23. (
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An advocacy group rallied against a luxury condo tower that is slated to be built on W. 13th St. on April 23, alongside dozens of frustrated local residents and City Council Member Harvey Epstein.
As previously reported by Chelsea News, Village Preservation—which is helmed by Andrew Berman—is asking the Planning Commission to take a hard look at zoning provisions that are permitting the project to move forward. They unsuccessfully asked the Department of Buildings to halt the project in its tracks last year.
Specifically, Berman views the planned Greenwich Village tower as a referendum on the “City of Yes” zoning overhaul, which was billed by many of its backers as a means of incentivizing an affordable housing construction boom when it passed into law back in December 2024—rather than more sparse, and supertall, luxury development.
The 30-story condo project at 5 W. 13th St. is being pursued by Legion Investment Group and EJS Group, after they purchased the underlying plot for $57.5 million in 2024. It would be 538 ft. tall and only contain 36 units.
In an April 6 letter to the DCP, Berman wrote that a preexisting zoning provision known as “35-61” should force the project to be far smaller. This was essentially the position of the DCP itself in the summer of 2024, he argued, when an agency official was promoting the not-yet-passed “City of Yes” package at a Community Board 2 meeting.
The “City of Yes” would “disadvantage” the building of condominiums, the agency’s Director of Housing John Mangin said then, and “[push] away” from taller buildings.
The DOB, however, has now disagreed with Village Preservation that the 35-61 provision is applicable to 5 W. 13th St. Therefore, Berman’s letter asked the Planning Commission to essentially clarify whether his understanding of the “City of Yes” rules is indeed accurate, and change the zoning rules to reflect that if so.
This would, Berman made clear, all but halt the W. 13th St. project in its tracks by denying the developers an occupancy permit. Yet if the DCP instead sides with the DOB, he implied, the whole episode will confirm his longstanding position that the “City of Yes” is actually a Trojan Horse of sorts for luxury development.
At the April 23 rally, where he set up a podium on the sidewalk outside of the walled-off construction site that is currently 5 W. 13th St., Berman said that the completed tower would be “ten times the height of many typical buildings in this neighborhood.”
A chorus of boos went up from the crowd, which appeared to number a couple dozen strong, at this point.
“Adding insult to injury, the city told us...when ‘City of Yes’ was being considered to change all zoning rules across the city...that it would produce nice, low, bulky buildings,” he added. “Fast forward to today, and in reality, we’re getting the complete opposite. A tall, block-busting tower that virtually no-one can afford to live in.”
Council Member Epstein, who represents the area, said that the tower would not “deal with our housing crisis.” After drawing attention to an apartment vacancy rate that is still hovering near 1.5 percent, he said that he “maybe understand [building] a bigger building because you want to put more units in it,” before noting that the promised 36-unit tower will do “none of that.”
Neither Legion Investment Group nor EJS Group responded to a request for comment by press time.