Elizabeth Fine became General Counsel and Executive Vice-President of the Empire State Development Corporation in 2014 after a long career of government service. Fine grew up in New Haven, Washington D.C., and Lima, Peru. Her family eventually settled in the Boston area, where Fine graduated Brookline High School. Jonathan Fine, Elizabeth’s father, had worked in Lima for the Agency for International Development while her mother, Edith W. Fine, was an administrator for the Peace Corp. Afterwards Fine’s mother worked as an attorney for Boston’s Corporation Counsel and later became a judge of the Boston Municipal Court, then rising to the Massachusetts Superior Court and the Massachusetts Court of Appeals. Fine’s father eventually became the Boston’s Deputy Commissioner of Health and founded the non-profit “Physicians for Human Rights.” (more…)

The New York State Joint Commission on Public Ethics and the Center for New York City Law at New York Law School are pleased to announce

“Ethics and Innovation in New York State: Navigating Conflicts When Government is A Partner”

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Two sites located at Hudson Yards will be used for future affordable housing development. On April 9, 2018, Housing Preservation and Development Commissioner Maria Torres-Springer announced the release of a Request for Proposals that seeks qualified teams to develop two city-owned sites into mixed-use affordable housing developments. The sites are located in Hudson Yards in the Hell’s Kitchen neighborhoods. (more…)

Conceptual rendering of view of the New York Wheel and New York Harbor. Image Credit: NYCEDC.

Council gives go ahead for world’s largest Ferris wheel and outlet complex.  On October 30, 2013, City Council unanimously voted 45-0 to approve the construction of the largest Ferris Wheel in the western hemisphere, which along with other developments, is intended to transform Staten Island’s St. George Waterfront. The New York Wheel (the Wheel), designed and manufactured by Starneth, will be built just north of the Richmond County Bank Ballpark, and will provide panoramic views of New York Harbor and New York City. The Wheel will be 625-feet tall with a maximum capacity of 1,440 riders, and is projected to attract approximately 4.5 million visitors per year. The project will also include the development of a 95,000 gross sq. ft. Wheel Terminal building and a 340,000 sq. ft. retail complex, Empire Outlets. (more…)

Fran Leadon

Fran Leadon, architect and professor at City College’s Spitzer School of Architecture, coauthored the fifth edition of the American Institute of Architects Guide to New York City along with Norval White, who passed away prior to its publication in 2010. The Guide, published by Oxford University Press, is a comprehensive, and compulsively readable, handbook to the City’s architecturally significant buildings and spaces. It was created in 1968 by former Landmarks Preservation Commission Vice Chair Elliot Willensky, and architect and professor Norval White. The Guide offers opinionated descriptions of important buildings spanning architectural styles, interspersed with historical tidbits, editorials, and advice for the reader. Sitting on the Brooklyn promenade with a view of the Manhattan skyline, Leadon spoke with CityLand about the Guide, historic preservation, and his concerns about development trends in the City.

Involvement with the Guide. Leadon describes the Guide as “taking a snapshot every ten years of what the City is like.” He became involved in the Guide through mutual acquaintances of Norval White at City College, where White had chaired the architecture program, and where Leadon teaches design studio and architectural history. Although White retired two years before Leadon joined the faculty, many of Leadon’s colleagues had been former students of White.  (more…)