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>


Homeowner denied repair funds

Brooklyn resident sought City funds to repair damages allegedly caused by Super Storm Sandy. Christopher McCollum applied to the Build it Back program through the Mayor’s Office of Housing Recovery Operations for financial help to repair his house at 500 Marlborough Rd in Brooklyn. McCollum claimed that Super Storm Sandy, which hit New York City on October 22, 2012, damaged his home. McCollum claimed funds were needed to repair broken and cracked windows and damage … <Read More>


UPDATED: Work on apartment tower to continue after appeal

NOTE: This article was written for and previously appeared in an issue of CityLaw earlier this year, and was chosen for publication to CityLand prior to the issuance of a recent appeal decision that has now overturned this case. Please wait for future coverage of this issue.

Developer received permit to build record-setting skyscraper on the West Side of Manhattan. In November 2017, Extell Development Company unveiled plans to build a massive residential tower for … <Read More>


Private elevator safety law upheld

Owner of private elevator failed to perform annual safety inspections. Lisa Neuman is the owner of a single-family home located at 84-40 Avon St., Jamaica Estates, New York. A private elevator has been present in Neuman’s home since the 1990s.  Beginning in 2011, Neuman began receiving yearly notices from the Department of Buildings for failing to perform annual elevator safety inspections in violation of §28-304.6.1 of the Administrative Code, which became effective in 2008. Under … <Read More>


Owner fined $60,800 for hotel use

Upper West Side residential building converted to hotel. On May 29, 2014, a Department of Buildings inspector cited the owner of a residential building, located at 258 West 97th Street, Manhattan, with illegally converting the building into a hotel for temporary lodging. The building was originally divided into apartment units for three or more families to live independently from one another. The owner converted the building into temporary one-room and two-room lodging. The Buildings … <Read More>


Building owner fined $2,500

Building façade had delaminated paint, plaster and concrete which posed a threat that severely affected life, health and safety. On April 26, 2019, Department of Buildings Officer J. Williams charged Allison Wren, the owner of a three-story building located at 261 Clifton Place, Brooklyn, with failing to maintain the building’s exterior walls resulting in an immediately hazardous condition. The summons cited peeling paint and plaster delamination on all stories and falling from the façade. Photos … <Read More>