Street view of 95 Grattan Street in Brooklyn. Image credit: Google.

Applicant seeks to build multiple dwellings on M1-1-zoned 25-foot lots.  On June 24, 2014, the Board of Standards and Appeals voted 4-0 to grant a use variance to 95 Grattan Street, LLC and to 97 Grattan Street, LLC allowing them to construct two separate four-story, seven-unit residential buildings.  One building will be located at 95 Grattan Street, the other at 97 Grattan Street.  Each 2,500-square foot lot is located on the north side of Grattan Street, between Knickerbocker Avenue to the west and Porter Avenue to the east, with 25 feet of frontage on Grattan Street.  Both lots are located in a M1-1 zoned district, which limits use to light manufacturing, industrial, retail, and offices.  The LLCs needed a variance to construct residential buildings in the district.

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Sign Painting Shop in East Williamsburg, Brooklyn was granted an appeal to include a caretaker’s apartment within the property. The owners of 1109 Metropolitan Avenue in East Williamsburg, Brooklyn are planning to convert the property into the Sign Painting Shop, which will include a proposed caretaker apartment as an accessory use. On May 4, 2015, Department of Buildings (“Buildings”) determined that the proposed caretaker apartment was not permitted in the manufacturing zoning district. On December 5, 2017, the Board of Standards (“Board”) and Appeals disagreed with Buildings. (more…)

Community group’s appeal seeks to halt construction of the 42story condo-hotel. On February 27, 2008, BSA heard testimony regarding the Department of Buildings’ approval for the Trump SoHo condominium hotel under construction at 246 Spring Street. The SoHo Alliance Community Group appealed, arguing that the condominium hotel contravenes the manufacturing zoning district’s prohibition against residential development.

Buildings approved the plans for the Trump Soho on September 28, 2007 with the condition that the developers file a restriction against the property that prohibits owners of any one of the condominium hotel’s 413 residential units from living there for more than 29 consecutive days in any 36-day period, or a total of about 120 days per calendar year. The rest of the time, owners would put their Trump SoHo units on the market for transient use on a daily or weekly basis. The restriction, according to Buildings, puts the Trump SoHo under the transient hotel exception to the general prohibition against residential developments in the area. Under the restriction, Buildings would conduct audits and/or issue financial penalties to enforce the transient use requirements. (more…)

Two four-story residential buildings approved after reduction in size and addition of commercial space. Southside Realty Holdings LLC, owner of an L-shaped group of eight lots located at 291 Kent Avenue in a Williamsburg manufacturing district, sought a variance in 2003 to construct two 11-story residential towers, totaling 122,905 sq.ft., and underground parking. The Planning Commission and Brooklyn Community Board 1 both opposed the application due to the site’s adjacency to the Domino Sugar Plant, the only remaining industrial use on the East River waterfront.

Supporting its application, Southside submitted studies comparing the 11-story towers to as-of-right office and manufacturing uses, concluding that the lot’s narrow width, odd-shape, and grade slope rendered office and manufacturing developments infeasible. Access to the lot was difficult, Southside argued, due to its frontage on narrow streets. BSA asked Southside to submit supplemental analyses studying whether a smaller residential use, a parking lot, or a mixed residential and commercial use were viable alternatives to the large residential towers. Community opponents submitted a competing analysis, which concluded that a parking lot would yield a reasonable return. (more…)