Park West Village superblock on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. (808 Columbus Ave, center). Image Credit: Google Maps.
Appellate Division finds that Buildings improperly issued construction permit for nursing home after misinterpreting the zoning resolution. Park West Village is a complex located on a superblock bounded by West 100th Street to the north, West 97th Street to the south, Columbus Avenue to the east, and Amsterdam Avenue to the west on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The complex was built in the 1950s and 1960s as part of a federally subsidized middle-income urban renewal project, and includes residential buildings, a parking lot, a school, a church, a public library, a health center, and commercial buildings. Three original 16-story residential buildings remain on the eastern portion of the superblock at 784, 788, and 792 Columbus Avenue. The Park West Village buildings all exist on the same zoning lot. (read more…)
360 West 43rd Street in Manhattan. Image credit: Google Maps.
The Appellate Division affirmed fines for illegal conversion of residential units as hotel rooms. 360 West 43rd Street is a 28-story, 264 rent-stabilized unit building in Midtown, Manhattan. On June 5, 2015, the owner sent three tenants a letter advising them that their leases would be terminated and they would be evicted if they continued illegally renting out the apartments for hotel use. (read more…)
Department of Sanitation Commissioner Kathryn Garcia at the CityLaw Breakfast on October 5, 2018. Image credit: CityLaw.
Sanitation determined polystyrene foam products were unrecyclable. Sanitation Commissioner Kathryn Garcia’s decision that expanded polystyrene cannot be recycled has been upheld by the Appellate Division. The decision paves the way for the City to ban the use of expanded polystyrene single service articles. (read more…)
475 Kent Avenue in Brooklyn. Image credit: Google Maps.
Loft tenant counted terrace/balcony to reach statutory minimum of 400 square feet. David Coventry rented unit 1109 of a loft building located at 475 Kent Avenue, Brooklyn. Coventry applied for coverage and protection under the Loft Law. The owner of 475 Kent Avenue opposed, arguing that unit 1109 measured less 400 square feet, the minimum size required to be covered by the Loft Law. Coventry responded that unit 1109 would meet the 400 square foot threshold if the exterior terrace/balcony were included in the calculation. The parties stipulated that the interior space was less than 400 square feet and submitted the issue of coverage to OATH. (read more…)
Metropolitan Fine Arts & Antiques at 10 West 57th Street. Image credit: Google Maps.
The owners of a midtown antique shop were convicted of illegally selling $1.5 million worth of elephant ivory, which allowed their landlords to evict them pursuant to New York Property Law. In 2015, an undercover officer entered the Metropolitan Fine Arts & Antiques shop and bought ivory for $2,000. The sale of ivory without a permit became illegal in 2014 in an effort to protect elephant population. The authorities found and seized 126 ivory articles, including tusks valued between $150,000 to $200,000 after a search warrant was issued. (read more…)
