Stopping the Four Luxury Towers in Two Bridges
Luxury developer Extell is trying to build 4 luxury mega-towers in Two Bridges, a neighborhood next to Chinatown and the Lower East Side. If built, these towers will raise rent and property taxes, displacing working people in Chinatown and LES. In 2019, Youth Against Displacement, Lower East Side Organized Neighbors (LESON) and other community members sued the City for their illegal approval of four luxury towers in Two Bridges and won, stopping development.
But in 2021, the City and developers filed an appeal that overturned this victory. We filed a second lawsuit to defend the environmental rights of thousands of people in Two Bridges, protecting our right to clean air, light, and water, and ensuring that the structural integrity of low-income buildings in the area are not compromised by these dangerous new developments. Yet the courts sided with the developers, endorsing the displacement of our community.
But we refused to back down. Through uniting the entire community and relentlessly pressuring the developer, in 2024, they dropped the project. For 2 years, the 4 towers were stalled, until a new developer, Sky Equity, picked up the project with the goal of breaking ground in 2026. We demand that the City pass the Chinatown Working Group Plan to protect our community from luxury development and mandate truly affordable housing!
Our community is not for sale!
