One year ago, in January 2020, the Expert Panel assigned by Mayor Bill de Blasio to study the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway issued its Final Report. Mayor de Blasio in 2019 appointed the seventeen-person Expert Panel* of which I was a member, following the angry rejection of New York City DOT’s plan for reconstructing the section of the BQE adjacent to Brooklyn Heights, Dumbo and Downtown Brooklyn. City DOT presented its plan publicly September 2019. The … <Read More>
Search Results for: Williamsburg, Brooklyn
Court affirms Pfizer rezoning
Old Pfizer Facility Rezoned for mixed uses. The pharmaceutical company Pfizer operated out of a modest red-brick building located at the intersection of Harrison Avenue and Bartlett Street in the Broadway Triangle neighborhood of Williamsburg, Brooklyn until Pfizer relocated in 2007. In 2012, Harrison Realty, LLC. purchased Pfizer’s Brooklyn real estate for $12,750,000. Since purchasing the Pfizer Site, the building has been demolished and the site officially designated a ‘brownfield.’ Harrison rented the site out … <Read More>
FDNY’s actions established duty
Williamsburg warehouse burned to the ground just minutes after FDNY left the scene. A Williamsburg warehouse owned by Recall Corporation and located on the Brooklyn waterfront at 5 North 11th Street burned to the ground in the early hours of the morning on January 31, 2015. The New York City Fire Department had responded to a fire alarm at approximately 4:36 a.m. and found a fire ablaze on storage shelves inside the warehouse. The FDNY, … <Read More>
City Supports Shared Living Housing
HPD launches ShareNYC, a pilot program to help developers finance affordable co-living housing. Co-living housing units supported by the City are headed for New York. On November 1, 2018, the City’s Department of Housing and Preservation and Development announced ShareNYC, an initiative to encourage the development of affordable, shared housing units on privately owned sites with the support of City funds. Developers will be permitted to enter bids for financing which will be provided through … <Read More>
Occasional Profiles of Former City Law Fellows: Frank St. Jacques ‘11
While in college at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Frank St. Jacques dreamed that one day he would live in New York City. He did not know then that it would ultimately lead him to becoming a land use attorney at a national law firm, Akerman LLP.
421-a Property Tax Process Renewed
The revised Section 421-a offers new opportunities for affordable housing. The 421-a property tax exemption began in 1971 as an incentive for developers to develop badly needed housing in New York City. When the real estate market rebounded in the 80s, the program was amended to condition tax abatements on the construction of affordable housing units. The program expired in June 2016. In its place, the State Legislature passed the “Affordable New York” program in … <Read More>