Malpractice claim advances

Lawyer allegedly failed to cite in opinion letter newly proposed zoning law changes. Santo Nostrand LLC contacted an attorney at Cozen O’Connor to advise on whether it could build a Walgreens store and parking lot on a specified parcel of land in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. The attorney issued an opinion letter on May 24, 2007, which stated that Santo could construct the store and parking lot in conformity with current zoning laws. The Department of City … <Read More>


TransGas still pursuing Greenpoint power plant

TransGas seeks to construct a 1,100 megawatt generating facility on land that the City intends to convert to a public park. In October 1999, Brooklyn Community Board 1 submitted plans to the Department of City Planning to rezone the Brooklyn East River waterfront in Greenpoint and Williamsburg. The rezoning was in response to the decline in manufacturing activity and the increase in residential demand in the area. The rezoning also envisioned a 28-acre park on … <Read More>


Appellate Division Provides Major Win for Two Bridges Developers

Two Bridges development gets Appellate Division ruling but two lawsuits remain pending. On August 27, 2020, the First Department’s Appellate Division unanimously ruled in favor of a Lower East Side development that would consist of four towers, 11,000 square feet of retail, and over 2,700 residential units. Of the 2,700 residential units, approximately 700 units will be dedicated to affordable housing and 200 units will be set aside for senior housing. The project’s development group … <Read More>


Appellate Court Upholds Council’s Special Permit Denial

City Planning Commission had approved the permit to operate a Bronx homeless shelter.  Liska NY, Inc. had constructed an eight-story homeless shelter at 731 Southern Boulevard in the Longwood area of the Bronx.  The shelter exceeded the height, setback, and floor area ratio limits for the site and on August 21, 2013 the City Planning Commission approved Liska’s request for a special permit to legalize the building.  On October 9, 2013 the City Council voted … <Read More>


Appellate Court Upholds Decision In Favor Of Adult Entertainment Stores

Court found amendments expanding reach of the adult use zoning resolution to be unconstitutional.  In 2002, For the People Theaters and JGJ Merchandise Corp. filed suit to declare the 2001 Amendments to City’s adult use zoning resolution unconstitutional as a violation of the First Amendment.  The amendments broadened the resolution to cover any establishment regularly featuring live performances emphasizing specified anatomical areas or sexual activities and restricting or excluding minors.  Prior to the 2001 Amendments, … <Read More>


Court Dismisses Suit in Opposition to Hospital Development

Upper East Side community group did not meet burden of proof that City acted arbitrarily.  On July 28, 2014, the New York Supreme Court in Manhattan denied petitions for declarative and injunctive relief against the proposed expansion of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Hospital.  The petitions were brought by the Residents for Reasonable Development and several Upper East Side residents acting individually.  The petitioners argued that the institutional uses of the project were incompatible with the largely … <Read More>