Variance Granted for Ten-Story Development Adjacent to High Line

After consistent objections from community board and former City Council Speaker, developer drops controversial FAR request and is approved. William Gottlieb Real Estate can now move forward with development of Studio Gang Architects’ “Solar Carve” Tower, a ten-story structure that will occupy 40-56 Tenth Avenue, the full block between West 13th and 14th streets in Manhattan. William Gottlieb originally sought additional floor area to offset prohibitive construction costs resulting from poor subsurface conditions … <Read More>


Harlem Mixed-Use Project Approved Despite Community Board Disapproval

BSA granted use, area, and parking variances to permit construction of 13-story residential, commercial, and community facility building. Nicholas Parking Corporation and Ladera, LLC, owners of adjacent properties at 223-237 St. Nicholas Avenue, applied for building permits to develop a 169,192-square-foot, mixed-use building on St. Nicholas Avenue between West 121st and West 122nd Streets in Harlem. The project would include a FRESH program food store on the first floor and cellar, a preschool … <Read More>


BSA grants Red Hook developer time extension for warehouse conversion

BSA, which had granted variance to developer in 2003, grants time extension due to five-year court battle. In 2003, the Board of Standards & Appeals granted a use variance to 160 Imlay Street Real Estate LLC to allow for the residential conversion of a six-story warehouse at 160 Imlay Street in Red Hook, Brooklyn. 160 Imlay Street LLC had claimed that it could not earn a reasonable rate of return with a complying use … <Read More>


Trevor Day’s new school building approved

Twelve-story, 101,243 sq.ft. East 95th Street school required BSA approval. Trevor Day School, a private school with four Manhattan locations, applied to BSA for a special permit and variance to construct a 12-story combined middle and high school at 312 East 95th Street. The building design called for a four-story, 84-foot tall base with 10,300 sq.ft. floor plates. It would rise an additional eight stories, each with 6,200 sq.ft. floor plates, to a total height … <Read More>


Dispute over synagogue’s condo development

Congregation Shearith Israel seeks a variance from BSA to construct a nine-story, mixed-use building in the Central Park West Historic District. Image: Platt Byard Dovell White Architects LLP.

Neighbors claim congregation’s program needs could be accommodated by an as-of-right building. The Congregation Shearith Israel Synagogue, a City landmark located at 8 West 70th Street within the Central Park West Historic District, sought a variance from lot coverage, yard, height and setback zoning regulations in order … <Read More>


BSA finds hardship for new synagogue

BSA allows three-story synagogue in Midwood. Merkaz, a nonprofit religious institution, sought a variance from yard, FAR, lot coverage, height and setback zoning regulations in order to construct a three-story synagogue with an accessory pre-school at 1739 Ocean Avenue in the Midwood neighborhood of Brooklyn. The synagogue would serve a 20- family congregation, while the school would offer religious education for children and adults.

Citing concerns over the impact the development would have on neighborhood … <Read More>