By N. Clark Judd

Developers of the controversial 11-story apartment building going up in Kingsbridge have long said their project won’t be profitable unless they are allowed special permission to build a parking garage inside it.

But at a Sept. 16 Community Board 8 land use committee meeting, a lawyer for the developers admitted that his clients don’t have evidence that there’s even a demand for parking that the garage will fill.

Developer North Manhattan Construction Corporation is seeking special permission to build a 150-space parking garage in the structure’s bottom three floors, with 110 spaces going to a public parking facility. But while North Manhattan has an economic study outlining how much money a garage could make, the company’s lawyer, Joshua Rinesmith, admitted his clients haven’t studied whether or not there’s a market for the parking spaces.

“I don’t have that study,” he said.

Local zoning laws only permit a maximum of 83 parking spaces in a building on the lot, where a retaining wall holding up Riverdale Avenue collapsed in 2002. Board 8 continues to oppose an exception to the rules, called a variance, which North Manhattan is seeking from the Board of Standards and Appeals.

“We are absolutely convinced that there is absolutely no need for this additional parking and that a covert purpose of the increase is to provide a vehicle — legitimate or otherwise — for the parking of taxis, limousines or other commercial mass users,” Board 8 Chairman Damian McShane wrote in a Sept. 18 letter opposing the variance.

Parking is a constant problem on Johnson Avenue, about a 10-minute walk away, but spots are usually available on side streets just around the corner from the bustling commercial corridor. It isn’t hard at all to find a parking place on Irwin Avenue itself, residents say.