Street view of 118-27 Farmers Boulevard. Image Credit: Google Maps
Board granted the variances despite divided community support. On September 23, 2014, the Board of Standards and Appeals voted to grant five variances to St. Albans Presbyterian Church for the construction of a five-story mixed-use facility at 118-27 Farmers Boulevard. The development site is located in St. Albans, Queens, and bounded by Farmers Boulevard to the west, 119th Avenue to the south, 189th Street to the east, and 118th Avenue to the north. The facility will feature two floors in the cellar for community space and five stories for residential space containing sixty-seven units of affordable housing, as well as seventeen parking spaces, and a thirty-five-foot perimeter wall.
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BSA granted the variances over Community Board and resident opposition. On August 19, 2014 the Board of Standards and Appeals voted unanimously to grant variances to SoBro Development Corporation for the development of a twelve-story mixed-use facility at 1769 Fort George Hill. The development site, at the corner of Nagle Avenue in Washington Heights, Manhattan, is crescent-shaped, measuring 620 feet in length and 46 feet wide at the widest point. The facility will feature two floors of community facility/church space for Movimiento Mundial Church, 125 units of affordable housing, and an underground parking garage. The Church previously owned the site and sold it to SoBro in partial exchange for providing space in the final building. (read more…)
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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Draft rendering of Metropolitan College of New York’s Bronx campus building, viewed from Brook Avenue. Image credit: Metropolitan College of New York
College sited educational facilities in an M1-1 zone. On June 24, 2014, the Board of Standards and Appeals granted a use variance to Metropolitan College of New York, a non-profit educational institution headquartered at 431 Canal Street in Manhattan, to use the entire second floor of a new building at 459 East 149th Street at the corner of Brook Avenue in the Bronx for educational purposes. The site is in the shape of a triangle, bounded by East 149th Street on the west, by Brook Avenue on the east, and by an MTA right-of-way on the north where the 2 and 5 subway lines run aboveground.
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Puglia By the Sea was damaged by Hurricane Sandy. Image Credit: silive.com
BSA granted a use variance to demolish previous restaurant damaged by Hurricane Sandy and permit construction of a one-story restaurant and additional parking spaces. On June 24, 2014, the Board of Standards and Appeals granted a use variance to Puglia by the Sea, a restaurant, located at 750 Barclay Avenue in the Annadale section of Staten Island. BSA approved the application for Puglia to demolish the original restaurant, which was severely damaged by Hurricane Sandy, and construct a new one-story restaurant with additional parking spaces. (read more…)
