Search Results for: Building Demolition

Renovation of Fifth Avenue landmark blocked

Preliminary injunction issued after preservationists claim renovations exceeded proposal approved by Landmarks. In April 2011, Landmarks approved Vornado Realty Trust’s proposal to renovate the Manufacturers Trust Company Building at 510 Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. Landmarks designated the Skidmore, Owens & Merrill-designed, glass and metal building as an individual City landmark in 1997. In February 2011, Landmarks designated the building’s first two floors as an interior landmark.

Shortly after the interior landmarking, Vornado proposed … <Read More>

Court of Appeals upholds restrictive covenant

Language in City approval binds future owners. After foreclosure, the City sold 330 West 86 Street for $340,000 to the tenants under UDAAP, to allow an expedited sale. The deed required the tenants to remove all code violations. Instead, the tenants sold the property for between $1 to $2.25 million. The new owner planned to demolish the building and construct a 15-story residential building. The adjacent co-op sued to stop demolition. A lower court enjoined … <Read More>

One-time party wall must come down

Support wall became ivied backdrop for lavish garden. In 1867, developers built two adjacent Sutton Place buildings, 441 East 57th Street and 447 East 57th Street, with a shared support wall and entered into a party wall agreement. In the 1910s or 1920s, the owners of 447 East 57th Street demolished their three-story building and, years later, a garden for a neighboring coop replaced the site where the building once stood.

The party wall remained … <Read More>

City’s approval ruled not binding on future owners

Five-story row house at 330 West 86th Street to be demolished. Photo: Kevin Schultz.

Restrictions in deed and Council’s approval do not restrict future owners. The City foreclosed on a deteriorated five-story row house at 330 West 86th Street between West End Avenue and Riverside Drive. The City, through HPD, sought to designate the lot as a UDAAP, an Urban Development Action Area Project, to allow for a quick sale without an auction or bidding … <Read More>