Metro

Shelter plan hid shady business

A controversial bid to open a shelter in Chelsea for 328 drug-addicted and mentally ill homeless won initial city approval based on plans that hid key elements that violated regulations, while likening the project to Donald Trump’s luxury hotel in SoHo, The Post has learned.

In its application to the Buildings Department, the Bowery Residents Committee omitted nursing stations, exam rooms and doctors’ offices from the project’s building plans — which are not permitted under local zoning rules.

But in a funding application filed with the state Department of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse, the group’s architect included plans that were significantly different, including the full range of medical services.

The Buildings Department confirmed that the application didn’t show any medical services slated for the former factory building at 127 W. 25th St., which is in a manufacturing zone.

“In light of public statements and filings with other city and state agencies, the department is reviewing the proposal to determine if the project fully complies with the applicable laws and regulations,” said spokeswoman Jennifer Gilbert.

The project has drawn the ire of local residents, who only found out about the proposed shelter this summer after renovation work had already begun.

Bowery Residents Committee signed a 33-year lease for the building and committed to roughly $12 million in renovations before it signed a contract with the city’s Department of Homeless Services. Lawyers for the BRC even cited Donald Trump’s luxury hotel at 246 Spring St., also in a manufacturing zone, as a precedent for their project.

Asked about conflicting plans filed to the city and state, BRC’s director, Muzzy Rosenblatt, a former city Homeless Services Commissioner, would say only that the shelter would move forward and insisted, “the project is complying and will comply with zoning and all other legal requirements.”