RFP issued for hotel and residential complex adjacent to Pier 1 in Brooklyn Bridge Park. The Brooklyn Bridge Park Corporation (BBPC) is seeking developers interested in building a hotel and residential complex on two parcels adjacent to Brooklyn Bridge Park’s Pier 1, between the Brooklyn Heights Promenade and the Brooklyn Bridge. BBPC would dispose of the property through a long-term ground lease. The project site consists of two lots (Parcel A and Parcel B) fronting Furman Street and across from Squibb Park. Parcel A is roughly 65,000 sq.ft. with 550 feet of frontage along Furman Street. To the south of Parcel A, Parcel B is approximately 35,220 sq.ft., with 294 feet of frontage along Furman Street.

The parcels are divided by an 8,760 sq.ft. lot across from Squibb Park. The site was occupied by the nowdemolished National Cold Storage Warehouse buildings.  (read more…)

City seeks developer for East River site which will house Sanitation garage and institutional facility. The Economic Development Corporation issued a request for proposals for the redevelopment of a Department of Sanitation-owned lot at 525 East 73rd Street in Manhattan. The roughly 68,000 sq.ft. site occupies the eastern half of a block bounded by East 74th and East 73rd Streets, and FDR Drive and York Avenue. Sanitation in 2008 demolished an existing garage on the site in order to build a 410,000 sq.ft., 150-vehicle facility serving Manhattan Community Districts 6 and 8. The City, however, has indefinitely delayed construction of the facility due to a lack of capital funds. Since 2008, Sanitation has been using three temporary garages in Chelsea, Harlem, and Inwood.

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Opportunity to develop food-related or wholesale industrial use on 9.75- acre site near Fulton Fish Market. On June 2, 2011, the Economic Development Corporation issued an open request for proposals for the redevelopment of a City-owned site in Hunts Point, Bronx. The unimproved 9.75-acre parcel fronts Halleck Street and Food Center Drive, and is within the Hunts Point Distribution Center which includes the Hunts Point Produce Market, the Hunts Point Meat Market, and the New Fulton Fish Market. EDC is seeking a developer to redevelop the site into a food-related and/or wholesale industrial use pursuant to a long-term ground lease. The site is zoned M3-1, which permits heavy manufacturing uses.

According to EDC, food-related uses may include wholesale and retail components, so long as the retail use is ancillary to the wholesale use. Because the parcel is located within a designated market area under the State Agriculture and Markets Law, proposed “market-consistent” uses including the buying, selling, processing, manufacturing, and warehousing of food, flowers, or ornamental plants, would not require review under the City’s land use review process. (read more…)

Aerial View of Willets Point with Convention Center to the North. Image: Courtesy of EDC.

Willets Point 126th Street Across from CitiField. Image: Courtesy of EDC.

City targeting 12.75-acre site adjacent to Citi Field for first phase of construction. On May 9, 2011, The City’s Economic Development Corporation issued a request for proposals seeking a developer for Phase 1 of the Willets Point District redevelopment plan in Queens. The triangle-shaped Willets Point District comprises 61.4 acres generally bounded by Northern Boulevard, the Van Wyck Expressway, and 126th Street. The contentious redevelopment plan was approved by the City Council in November 2008. 5 CityLand 167 (Dec. 2008).

The Phase 1 site is a 12.75-acre parcel along 126th Street and Roosevelt Avenue across from Citi Field. The approved program for Phase 1 construction would permit up to 400 units of mixed-income housing, 680,000 sq.ft. of retail space, and 387 hotel rooms. The developer must create at least 2.08 acres of publicly accessible open space. There will be 7.5 acres of unbuilt area buffering the Phase 1 site. (read more…)

City is in process of reclaiming landmarked building after owner failed to redevelop property. On March 22, 2011, the City’s Economic Development Corporation issued a request for expressions of interest for the purchase and redevelopment of what remains of the landmarked Corn Exchange Building at the corner of East 125th Street and Park Avenue in East Harlem. The Lamb & Rich-designed six-story building was built in 1884 and has deteriorated significantly over the years.

The building was abandoned in the 1970s and lost its two-story mansard roof after a fire in the late 1990s. EDC in 2000 selected Ethel Bates, under Corn Exchange LLC, to rehabilitate the building and establish a non-profit culinary school. EDC sold the building to Bates for $10,000 in 2003. Bates failed to redevelop the site in the required three year period, and EDC sued to reclaim the property in 2007. Supreme Court Justice Judith J. Gische awarded title of the building back to EDC in January 2009. 6 CityLand 33 (March 15, 2009). Bates has appealed the decision. While EDC’s lawsuit was pending, Landmarks filed a demolition by neglect lawsuit against Bates for failing to maintain the building, citing collapsed floors, missing windows, and water damage. Justice Gische, however, declined to order Bates to make immediate repairs, ruling that the court could not compel Bates to rehabilitate a building she no longer owned. Subsequently, the Department of Buildings in April 2009 issued an emergency violation citing dangerous conditions above the second floor and demolished the building’s top two floors. (read more…)