Donald Wins Big Victory

By SALVATORE ARENA

August 4, 2000 Web posted at: 9:38 AM EDT (1338 GMT)

NEW YORK (The New York Daily News) -- A state appeals court ruled yesterday that the world's tallest residential building can continue to rise, while the views of a world-renowned newsman and his wealthy East Side neighbors took a fall.

An artist's image of what the neighborhood would look like with Trump's condominium

In a unanimous decision, the Appellate Division upheld developer Donald Trump's right to finish an 856-foot-tall condominium at First Ave. and 47th St. in Manhattan. Some residents, former CBS News anchorman Walter Cronkite among them, stood to lose views of the United Nations and the East River to the structure Trump calls his World Tower.

"Right now I feel gratified," said The Donald, saying the fight is over for Cronkite and the coalition of well-to-do residents and community groups opposed to his $365 million skyscraper.

Cronkite lent his name to a fight spearheaded by the Coalition for Responsible Development, which consists of nine East Side civic groups. They sued the city, charging it was violating zoning laws by letting the building reach heights that towered over the nearby United Nations and everything else in the tony commercial and residential neighborhood.

Mayor Giuliani stood by Trump, though the city has since moved to revise its rules to prevent more such projects.The failure of Trump's opponents to obtain an injunction allowed him to continue construction throughout the 18-month legal battle.

"We topped out last week at 72 stories," a triumphant Trump said yesterday. "People will start moving in January, or sooner."

Opposition leader Seymour Flug, retired chairman of Diners Club, vowed to take the case to the Court of Appeals in Albany, saying: "We are determined to take it the rest of the way."

The five-judge panel said it agreed with a lower court's conclusion in December that there was nothing unlawful about Trump's project. trump said the unanimous vote means Flug's group does not have an automatic right to appeal.

"On legal grounds, our homework was done upfront," the developer said. "It was done by the best zoning lawyers in the city, approved by the city's Buildings Department and the Board of Standards and Appeals, and affirmed by the state Supreme Court."

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