Variances granted for three-building HPD project

Proposed ten-story building at 1176 East Tremont Avenue in the Bronx will be part of the Phipps Houses Group’s three-building project. Image: Courtesy Curtis + Ginsberg Architects LLP.

HPD claimed that abandoned railway complicated the development of two lots. The Department of Housing Preservation and Development applied for use variances in order to construct a three-building affordable housing development on two vacant through-block lots zoned for manufacturing in the East Tremont section of the … <Read More>


Two Tribeca variances OK’d: BSA adopts Comm Bd.’s advice

Tribeca residents ask BSA to reduce the size of this development proposed for 415 Washington Street. Image Courtesy of the Office of Joseph Pell Lombardi, Architect.

Two private developers applied to BSA for variances to build residential buildings on manufacturingzoned lots in Tribeca. At 415 Washington Street, Joseph Pell Lombardi applied to construct a nine-story, 56,010-square-foot residential building with a 6.02 FAR, exceeding floor area limits and necessitating a use variance. Located within the Tribeca … <Read More>


Greenwich/Canal Street project gets 5 variances

Luxury apartments approved once developer reduced the height and size. Red Brick Canal LLC sought approval to construct an 11-story, 25,025-square-foot residential and commercial building at 482 Greenwich Street, a lot with frontage along Greenwich and Canal Streets at the border of Tribeca and SoHo in Manhattan. The project site, a 3,136-square-foot, trapezoidshaped lot located in a commercial zone (C6-2A), currently contains an unused gas station which will be demolished. The City had rezoned the … <Read More>


Variances granted for top two floors, denied for bottom two

Building owner sought to legalize 23 residential units. The owner of a four-story 34,500 sq.ft. building in an M1-1 zoned district located at 47 Thames Street in East Williamsburg, sought to legalize 23 existing residential units on its first through fourth floors.

In support of the variance, the applicant argued that the building is one of the few four-story manufacturing buildings in the area, and its lack of access ramps, loading docks and a commercial … <Read More>


BSA Votes To Amend Prior Variance

Subject lot was altered following settlement of an adverse possession claim.  On June 23, 2015 the Board of Standards and Appeals voted to amend a previously-granted variance for construction of a four-story building at 129 Elizabeth Street in the Special Little Italy District of Manhattan.  The proposed building would have retail use on the ground floor, residential use on the upper three floors, and a one-car garage.


BSA Approves Residential Conversion in NoHo Historic District

Board found a hardship caused by the site’s irregular shape.  On April 14, 2015 the Board of Standards and Appeals granted 31 BSP LLC a variance to permit converting an existing six-story mixed-use noncomplying building at 31 Bond Street in the NoHo Historic District of Manhattan into a seven-story Use Group 2 residential building.  The proposal will remove a backshaft from the rear of the existing building, vacant since 2010, and redistribute floor area to … <Read More>