A salvo in the fight against the tower planned for Greenwich and Jay has been launched by residents of one of the historic townhouses on Harrison.

The owners of 41 1/2 Harrison first filed a complaint in New York Supreme Court claiming that the development will block the only entrance to their apartment and requesting an easement in the courtyard. That original complaint was dismisssed by the court. But the owners — Mark Felipe and Caroline Baptista, who have owned the property since 2019 — are now asking the court to reverse its decision, which was based on the legal advice of a Vornado vice president.

The legal back and forth is not easy for me to dissect, but the image below shows the problem at its root. Unit 41 1/2 is a completely separate unit from 41 Harrison — they were detached by the original owner in the 1970s, though they are both owned by the Baptistas. Unit 41 1/2, where the Baptistas live, uses a door on the courtyard — on the east-facing side of the townhouse. Number 41 uses a door on Washington Mews, the little north-south street that always has cars parked on it.

The development site boundaries, as illustrated in the developers’ materials presented to the city, go right over that unit.

In addition, the complaint says, when the court heard the case last time, they accepted testimony from a “real estate expert” who was in fact the executive vice president for multifamily development for Vornado Realty Trust. The Baptistas argue in the complaint that the court cannot accept testimony from an expert provided by the defendent.

Caroline Baptista testified at Community Board 1’s Land Use Committee meeting last month, when the committee reviewed the project.

“This project threatens my family’s safety — I will not have an alternate means of egress if this project moves forward,” she said. “We will be trapped inside of our home without any means of escaping.”

She also said she felt threatened by the developers.

“We have people sitting in cars watching our houses every day,” she said. “This statement I make now despite fear of being personally atatcked. I speak for every woman who has ever been made to feel unsafe by a powerful man. It is very hard to share all the bullying — everything that has happened.”