BSA approval needed before converting landmarked Times Square office building to a hotel. In September 2010, Highgate Holdings LLP sought an alteration permit to convert the former Knickerbocker Hotel at 1466 Broadway in Times Square to a 395-room hotel. The Knickerbocker Hotel, originally owned by John Jacob Astor IV, operated from 1906 until the prohibition era, when it was converted to office space. In 1979, BSA approved a plan to convert the Knickerbocker into a … <Read More>
Search Results for: Appeal
Trump SoHo defeats new permit challenge
Community group argued developer improperly deducted elevator shafts on mechanical floor from floor area calculations. In May 2007, Buildings issued a building permit to the BayRock/Sapir Organization LLC to build a 42-story condominium hotel, known as Trump SoHo, at 246 Spring Street in Manhattan. The lot’s M1-6 zoning prohibited residential development. Therefore, Buildings’ approval required that the developer file a restrictive declaration prohibiting anyone from living in any of the building’s units for more than … <Read More>
Development grandfathered: foundations 91% complete
- A Portion of a proposed fourteen-home development along Woodrow Road and Turner Street in Staten Island. Image: Courtesy Think Design Architecture.
Developer poured 91 percent of the foundations of fourteen-home development before the City Council approved the Sandy Ground Rezoning. Prior to February 2010, a developer obtained excavation and foundation permits and began work on a fourteen-building development on a 44,069 sq.ft. lot at Woodrow Road and Turner Street in Staten Island. The developer planned … <Read More>
BSA legalizes sixth floor, but not penthouse
BSA had previously revoked permit for buildings’ existing two-story addition. In 2007, the owner of two pre-1948 five-story buildings at 514 and 516 East 6th Street in Manhattan obtained an alteration permit and enlarged the buildings by two stories. The enlarged buildings did not comply with the Multiple Dwelling Law’s fire safety requirements, but Buildings permitted the owner to provide alternative fire safety upgrades. A tenant appealed the decision to BSA, claiming that Buildings was … <Read More>
Seventeen-story, four-unit sliver tower approved
Buildings denied permit after deciding high-rise building would not comply with State law. In 1999, the Department of Housing Preservation and Development designated a five-story townhouse at 330 West 86th Street as an Urban Development Action Area Project (UDAAP). HPD then sold the property through its Asset Sale Program to the building’s tenants. Two years later, Robert Ricciardelli purchased the property with the intention of demolishing the townhouse and building a high-rise apartment building … <Read More>
After judicial remand, special permit granted for residence
Second Department ordered BSA to determine whether special permit findings were met. In 2005, Alexis Lyublinskiy obtained an alteration permit to enlarge his one-story home at 136 Norfolk Street in Manhattan Beach. Initial demolition and construction work did not match building plans, and Lyublinskiy eventually demolished all but one of the original building’s walls and built a two-story house.
Buildings issued a stop-workorder after discovering that the house did not conform to the approved plans. … <Read More>