Councilmember Daniel Garodnick delivers the keynote address of the East Midtown Rezoning panel. Image credit: Manhattan Chamber of Commerce
The Councilmember spoke to early details of what’s next after the Vanderbilt Corridor. On July 16, 2015 City Councilmember Daniel Garodnick delivered the keynote address at the Manhattan Chamber of Commerce’s panel discussion on the East Midtown Rezoning. (See CityLand’s complete video of the event here.)
Crave Fishbar, located at 945 Second Ave. in Manhattan. Image courtesy of Crave Fishbar.
Land Use Committee approved zoning text amendment needed to allow restaurant to occupy the second floor of a mixed-use building. On February 13, 2014, the City Council’s Committee on Land Use unanimously approved 17-0 an application filed by 945 Realty Holdings, LLC to modify Section 32-421 of the Zoning Resolution to facilitate the placement of 1,280 sq. ft. of commercial restaurant use on the second story of a four-story building. The restaurant, Crave Fishbar, is located at 945 Second Avenue in the Turtle Bay neighborhood of Manhattan. The building is a 40-ft. tall, four-story mixed-use building, of which the first floor is currently occupied by Crave Fishbar and the second floor is vacant. Crave Fishbar was previously located across the street from its current location until March 2008, when its building was damaged by a construction crane that collapsed on the building. The building has since been demolished. (more…)
Image credit: New York City Council.
On March 19, 2023 the New York City Council adopted Local Law 43 (2023). The measure was originally introduced as Introduction 886 by Council Member Keith Powers in January 2023. The law extends a freeze on issuing penalties to property owners who are in violation of certain rules that govern accessory signage through January 1, 2025. A previous freeze was already put into place via Local Law 28 (2019) which started June of 2019. (more…)
Councilmember Dan Garodnick led the questioning on the One Vanderbilt proposal. Image credit: William Alatriste / New York City Council
Representatives of the project and the Department of City Planning spoke during a four-hour hearing. On April 13, 2015 the City Council Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises held a public hearing on One Vanderbilt, a proposed 1,450-foot commercial tower in East Midtown, as well as an accompanying proposal to rezone five blocks of Vanderbilt Avenue to create the Vanderbilt Corridor. The building will be located adjacent to Grand Central Terminal, bounded by East 42nd Street to the south, East 43rd Street to the north, Madison Avenue to the west, and Vanderbilt Avenue to the east. The rezoning intends to facilitate commercial development on the west side of Vanderbilt Avenue between East 42nd and East 47th Streets, and designate Vanderbilt Avenue between East 42nd and East 43rd Streets as a public pedestrian space. As a part of the overall proposal, project applicant SL Green will invest $210 million in transit and infrastructure improvements to Grand Central.
The Council’s Land Use Committee approved the proposal after the developer agreed to provide permanently affordable on-site housing. On December 14, 2009, the City Council’s Land Use Committee modified and approved Goldman Sachs and Related Companies’ proposal to develop the Western Rail Yard site on the far west side of Midtown, Manhattan. The thirteen-acre site is bounded by West 33rd Street to the north, West 30th Street to the south, Eleventh Avenue to the east, and Twelfth Avenue to the west. The High Line runs along the site’s southern and western edges, but it is not part of the proposed project.
The approved plan will convert the Metropolitan Transit Authority’s open rail storage yard into a 5.7 million sq.ft. development that would include eight mixed-use towers, containing roughly 4,600 – 5,700 dwelling units, 5.4 acres of open space, and a new public school. The proposal included setting aside twenty percent of the project’s rental units as affordable housing. Related submitted applications to rezone the site from an M2-3 to a C6-4 district, obtain special permits to build two parking garages with a maximum of 1,600 combined spaces, and to extend the Special Hudson Yards District to include the site. (more…)
