Search Results for: Center for New York City Law

Borough Hall Skyscraper Historic District considered

Proposed Borough Hall Skyscraper Historic District. Image: Courtesy of LPC.

Elected officials and business community expressed concerns about proposed twenty-building district. On December 14, 2010, Landmarks heard testimony on the proposed Borough Hall Skyscraper Historic District in downtown Brooklyn. The district would include approximately twenty properties along Court, Montague, Remsen, Joralemon, and Livingston Streets. The proposed district is characterized by large commercial buildings in a range of architectural styles including the 35-story Montague-Court Building at … <Read More>

Variances granted for three-building HPD project

Proposed ten-story building at 1176 East Tremont Avenue in the Bronx will be part of the Phipps Houses Group’s three-building project. Image: Courtesy Curtis + Ginsberg Architects LLP.

HPD claimed that abandoned railway complicated the development of two lots. The Department of Housing Preservation and Development applied for use variances in order to construct a three-building affordable housing development on two vacant through-block lots zoned for manufacturing in the East Tremont section of the … <Read More>

Brian Cook Discusses Land Use Under the Manhattan Borough President

Brian Cook, Director of Land Use for Manhattan Borough President Scott M. Stringer, first developed an interest in land use while pursuing a degree in Metropolitan Studies from New York University. Cook stayed on to pursue a master’s degree in Public Policy with the hopes of learning how international governments shape land use policy. During his studies, however, Cook says he was “fascinated” by a course that centered on New York City’s Uniform Land … <Read More>

Attorney Michael T. Sillerman Discusses Current Issues in Land Use

Land use attorney Michael T. Sillerman is often teased by his co-workers that he won’t work on a project unless there is a Pritzker Architecture Prize winner onboard. Although Sillerman doesn’t think that’s entirely true, he admits that his favorite part of being a land use attorney is how it overlaps with his love of architecture. As co-chair of Kramer Levin’s land use department, Sillerman typically spends as much time talking to architects and city … <Read More>

Variance granted for three-story residential building

Owner claimed that narrow lot adjacent to elevated rail line could not accommodate conforming manufacturing use. Hayden Hester applied for a use variance to construct a three-story residential building on a vacant lot at 1978 Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn. Hester’s proposal called for a 4,200 sq.ft building with five dwelling units on a lot twenty feet wide and zoned for light manufacturing. A Long Island Rail Road elevated rail line runs along Atlantic Avenue in … <Read More>

Michael B. Gerrard Discusses His Career and the Future of Climate Change Regulation

Michael B. Gerrard, director of Columbia Law School’s Center for Climate Change Law, traces his passion for environmental protection back to growing up in Charleston, West Virginia, a city dominated by major chemical manufacturing companies like Union Carbide and DuPont. As a child, he lived on the banks of the Kanawha River, where large amounts of toxic chemicals had polluted the water and air.

After graduating from Columbia University, Gerrard worked for a local environmental … <Read More>