Court finds environmental review for the Hudson Yards sufficient to cover changes to Javits plan. The plan to expand the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center underwent changes since the approval of the final environmental impact statement for the Hudson Yards rezoning plan in 2004. When in July 2006 the Empire State Development Corporation approved the changes without a supplemental EIS, four Hell’s Kitchen residents, the Municipal Art Society and the Hell’s Kitchen Neighborhood Association challenged … <Read More>
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To attorney Paul Selver, the Market Matters Most
When asked to recall projects throughout his 35-year career, land use attorney Paul Selver’s discussion becomes a vivid narrative of how the economy translates into New York City’s physical changes. Selver sees 1977 as the point when developers started looking ahead for the first time; the 1981 to 1988 development boom coincided with the economy’s exuberance and ended with the stock market crash. To Selver, his current projects, like a six-block rezoning in Coney Island, … <Read More>
Court of Appeals upholds restrictive covenant
Language in City approval binds future owners. After foreclosure, the City sold 330 West 86 Street for $340,000 to the tenants under UDAAP, to allow an expedited sale. The deed required the tenants to remove all code violations. Instead, the tenants sold the property for between $1 to $2.25 million. The new owner planned to demolish the building and construct a 15-story residential building. The adjacent co-op sued to stop demolition. A lower court enjoined … <Read More>
Council ordered to grant sidewalk cafe application
Council’s denial of permit based only on community opposition overturned. Jack Bistro, a restaurant at 80 University Place in Manhattan, applied for a sidewalk cafe permit to add outdoor seating. After a public hearing, DCA recommended approval. Community Board 2, which received the application from DCA for comment, recommended denial, citing the community’s “longstanding tradition” against outdoor seating along University Place.
When the application went to City Council, opponents reiterated that the community was against … <Read More>
RFP issued for parking adjacent to BAM
Parking is part of plan for BAM cultural district. The New York City Economic Development Corporation issued a request for proposals seeking developers to construct and operate an underground garage to be located beneath a newly constructed street-level public plaza on the 32,000-square-foot site located across Ashland Place from the Brooklyn Academy of Music. The triangular-shaped downtown Brooklyn lot, bound by Lafayette Avenue, Flatbush Avenue and Ashland Place, is currently used for street-level parking.
As … <Read More>
New district for Brooklyn’s Crown Heights approved
- Final Crown Heights North Historic District. Map: LPC.
Landmarks credited the residents of Crown Heights for generating designation. On April 24, 2007, Landmarks voted unanimously to designate the Crown Heights North Historic District encompassing 472 Brooklyn buildings built between the 1860s and the 1930s.
Landmarks Chair Robert Tierney opened the comments by saying that the importance of the designation became clear to him when he stood within the homes of Crown Heights’ residents and viewed … <Read More>