Planning Commission upheld on finding of commercial non-viability. Broadway Houston Mack Development LLC proposed a seven-story development at at the corner of 610 Broadway East Houston, replacing an existing car-wash, 150-space parking garage, and a gas station. Mack would also dismantle a grandfathered 2,800 sq.ft. free-standing billboard and replace it with three smaller billboards that individually and collectively would conform in size and location with the current signage law.

The seven-story development was permitted as-of-right; the proposal of ground floor and cellar retail space, however, required a special permit from City Planning. In 2002, Mack applied for the special permit and provided documentation to Planning of its attempts in 2001 and 2002 to lease the space for uses permitted in 610 Broadway’s manufacturing zoning. Mack supplied copies of ads in the The New York Times and The Village Voice, as well as listings with brokers and the City’s Economic Development Corporation. (more…)

Environmental study and site choice for Brooklyn garage upheld. The City filed a condemnation action in October 2003 for three lots comprising a 2.46-acre site bounded by Park, Nostrand and Flushing Avenues and Warsoff Place in Clinton Hill, to be used for the eventual construction of a new Sanitation truck storage garage to serve Brooklyn Community District 3.

The site had been subject to a June 2000 application by Sanitation and the Department of Citywide Administrative Services for site selection and acquisition approval for a 70- space Sanitation truck garage, a permitted use in the site’s M1-2 zoning. After receiving the approval of both Community Board 3 and the Borough President, the Planning Commission approved the site selection and acquisition on December 5, 2001. (more…)