HEY! WE STILL LIVE HERE

O put up its glamorous new office tower on Eighth Avenue between 54th and 55th streets, Mort Zuckerman's Boston Properties might have to build on top of a tiny tenement at 261 W. 54th St., which is still home to two residential tenants.

That did not thrill Community Board 5 at a meeting earlier this month. When John Mills, CB 5's land-use committee chair, asked, "With the tenants still in it?" a Boston rep said the company would try to relocate them first.

The matter of 261 W. 54th St. - in the middle of the south side of the project, known as 250 W. 55th St. - is one of several puzzles regarding the development.

Last week, Boston filed plans with the Buildings Dept. for a 25-story tower at 250 W. 55th, even though it has widely been described as having 39 stories - suggesting that uncertainty over the tenement or air rights-transfer issues might force Boston to develop the project in two stages.

The Buildings Dept. filing called for a mere 609,188 square feet. Even if that swells to a larger "rentable" square-footage figure, it would barely be big enough even for law firms Proskauer, Rose and Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, which Boston hopes to soon sign.

Even as Boston and its partner, Gladden Properties, try to nail down 700,000 square feet of leases with the law firms, they're also battling for 160,000 square feet of air rights they need to buy from two Broadway theaters nearby.

At a meeting last Thursday, CB 5's land use committee recommended approval for Boston to transfer 109,432 square feet of air rights it would buy from the theater owners.

But the panel took no action on Boston's request to buy an additional 48,204 square feet of air rights from the Booth and Shubert theaters. That needs authorization by the Planning Dept., and requires Boston to provide a theater-related amenity.

The second set of development rights also require the OK of Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer and the local City Council member, who happens to be Speaker Christine Quinn.

So far, Boston has offered what some CB 5 members regard as a puny 3,000 square-foot theater space on the 54th Street side. CB5 wants Boston to "explore" coming up with a bigger space, among other things.

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source: nypost.com