NEW YORK CITY-The Riverside Center passed another hurdle today, garnering a unanimous vote from the New York City Council. The three-million-square-foot project being developed by Extell Development Co. has a proposed construction site of West 59^th Street to West 61^st Street and ranging from West End Avenue to Riverside Boulevard. The Riverside Center will be part of the Riverside South development owned by Extell and The Carlyle Group.

The development faced opposition, recently from Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, who indicated concerns regarding the density of the 2,500 apartment complex. The implication was that this would create an unmanageable amount of traffic on the Upper West Side.

The development will replace an eight-acre parking lot, bringing a 250-room hotel in addition to the complex. There are numerous other pieces to the project, including a K-8 public school, for which Extell will foot the bill for the 100,000 square feet with the School Construction Authority completing 85,000 of it. There will be 140,000 square feet of retail and service space and 140,000 square feet of office, a movie theater, 1,500-car parking and 20% of the housing will be designated affordable. Extell, as part of this project, will construct a 2.76-acre public park, as well as renovate parts of Riverside Park South and the West 59^th Street Recreation Center.