BSA granted four-year extension to complete 63-unit building after City conceded that developer could correct noncompliant plans. In May 2004, Buildings issued developer GRA V LLC excavation and foundation permits for a 63-unit residential building at 3329 Giles Place in the Van Cortlandt Village section of the Bronx. GRA V began excavating the site and pouring the foundation for its proposed six-story building. In September 2004, before GRA V completed the foundation, the City approved the Van Cortlandt Village rezoning plan. 1 CityLand 4 (Oct. 15, 2004). The plan rezoned the project site from R6 to R4A, rendering the proposal out-of-compliance with the zoning resolution.

GRA V applied to BSA to complete the project. Buildings objected, arguing that the foundation permit was invalid because the submitted plans showed the foundation walls penetrating a required1.9- foot setback from the lot line. GRA V claimed that it could amend its plans and build a complying building. BSA agreed with Buildings and denied GRA V’s vested right claim because it lacked a valid permit.  (read more…)

Developer sought variance after Buildings revoked permit for twelvestory project. Wai Sun Realty obtained a permit to build a twelvestory, mixed-use building on a narrow through-block lot at 183 East Broadway in Manhattan’s Lower East Side. The bottleneck-shaped lot has approximately 26 feet of frontage along East Broadway and 44 feet of frontage along Henry Street. The project site is zoned R7-2 with a partial C1-5 commercial overlay.

Wai Sun demolished a five-story building to make way for the proposed twelve-story building. Wai Sun had erected a 91-foot, sevenstory steel and concrete shell when it received a stop work order from Buildings. Buildings revoked the permit after determining that the building would violate the sliver law, which applies in certain zoning districts and limits the height of buildings with widths less than 45 feet.

Wai Sun altered its project and proposed a seven-story building that retained the existing shell. Wai Sun needed a variance from BSA because the proposal would exceed the R7-2 district’s maximum floor area, building height, and lot coverage regulations. During the BSA hearing process, Wai Sun agreed to modify the project by eliminating the seventh floor which reduced the project’s height by ten feet.

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Developer sought to amend previously issued variance for seventeenstory project by increasing number of apartments and parking spaces. In December 2005, BSA granted Boymelgreen Developers’ variance request to build a seventeen-story building enveloping and preserving the landmarked interior of the RKO Keith’s Theater at 135-35 Northern Boulevard in Flushing, Queens. The project would have provided 200 condominiums, a 229-space belowgrade parking garage, and commercial and community facility space. 3 CityLand 11 (Feb. 15, 2006).

Boymelgreen never developed the project, and Patrick Thompson subsequently purchased the property. In November 2009, Thompson applied to BSA seeking to amend the variance. The amended proposal increased the number of apartments to 357, decreased the average apartment size from 1,437 to 787 sq.ft., and marketed the project as rentals rather than condominiums.  (read more…)

HPD claimed site’s former railway use complicated development of seventeen apartment buildings. The Department of Housing Preservation and Development selected the Southern Brooklyn Community Organization to build seventeen, four-story affordable housing buildings on two narrow City-owned parcels on 37th Street in Borough Park, Brooklyn. The block-long parcels are separated by 13th Avenue and were once occupied by the South Brooklyn Railroad and the elevated BMT Culver Shuttle line. The parcel west of 13th Avenue would be developed with nine buildings and a parking lot, and the parcel on the east side of the avenue would be developed with eight buildings and accessory parking spaces.

The City in November 2010 rezoned the project site from M2-1 to M1-2/R6A as part of the Department of City Planning and HPD’s broader Culver El rezoning. 7 CityLand 154 (Nov. 15, 2010). HPD sought BSA variances because the project would violate the zoning resolution’s rearyard requirements and would not provide enough space between windows and lot lines. (read more…)