Appellate Court Upholds AirBNB Law [UPDATE: Court of Appeals Denies Leave to Appeal]

Court found that DOB letter of objection exception to the Multiple Dwelling law was no longer valid. On March 17, 2016, New York Appellate Court reversed a Lower Court’s Decision and thus denying Grand Imperial LLC’s Petition for a Letter of No Objection to rent its property for shorter than the legally required time period. Grand Imperial LLC owns a Single-Room Occupancy building, located at 307 West 79th Street on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, … <Read More>


Attorney General Settles with Developer for Concealing Prohibited Rent-Controlled Tenant Buyouts

Upper West Side developer must pay $540,000 dollars in settlement costs. On June 6, 2016 New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced reaching a settlement for $540,000 with 165 West 91st Street Holdings, LLC for the loss of two rent-controlled apartments in an Upper West Side building, while it was being converted into a condominium, as a result of prohibited agreements to buy-out tenancy rights. The LLC owns an apartment building at 165 <Read More>


Appellate Division Overturns BSA Denial of Sign Registration

The Board of Standards and Appeals had denied the application based on its finding that the signage was an art installation rather than an “advertising sign,” as defined in the Zoning Resolution. Local Law 31 of 2005 amends the regulations governing the usage of outdoor advertising signs by requiring companies engaged in outdoor advertising to submit to the Department of Buildings an exhaustive list of all of the companies’ “signs, sign structures and sign locations” … <Read More>


Court Rejects Developer’s Attempt to Appeal Denial of Hardship Application

Stahl York Avenue Company is unable to demolish and redevelop two Lenox Hill apartment buildings due to Landmark designation. On January 8, 2016, New York County Supreme Court Justice Michael D. Stallman denied an article 78 petition filed by Stahl York Avenue to allow redevelopment a portion of the site known as the City and Suburban Homes Company, First Avenue Estate. The Landmarks Preservation Commission designated this location in 1990 and amended the … <Read More>


Appellate Division Upholds BSA Permit Denial

Billboard lessee claimed the Board denied its permit arbitrarily.  OTR Media Group leased a billboard on the south wall of an eight-story building at the northeast corner of Tenth Avenue and West 40th Street in the Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood of Manhattan.  In 2012 the Department of Buildings refused OTR’s request for a permit to operate the billboard because it was within view of an arterial highway, the Lincoln Tunnel, in violation of the Zoning Resolution.  … <Read More>


Community Group Renews Suit for Pierhouse Injunction in Brooklyn Bridge Park

Save The View community group argues new evidence shows rooftop bulkheads are not mechanical.  On July 22, 2015, community group Save The View Now filed to renew their motion for a preliminary injunction against construction of the Pierhouse development in Brooklyn Bridge Park.  The group’s initial challenge, arguing the development’s rooftop mechanicals violated an agreed-upon height cap, was dismissed on June 10.