Parking in Viacom Building goes public

Times Square garage permitted to open up to public and increase capacity to 386 spaces. Owners of the Viacom Building, located at 1515 Broadway between West 44th and West 45th Streets in Times Square, applied to City Planning in 2005 to convert the building’s existing 225-space accessory parking garage into a public parking garage and to increase its capacity by 161 spaces and 19 reservoir spaces. The garage would be fully attended and access would … <Read More>


South Brooklyn Marine Terminal lease approved

Use of marine terminal as auto cargo processing facility approved after lease term reduced. On June 29, 2006, the City Council approved a lease submitted by the Economic Development Corporation and the Department of Small Business Services for 74 acres of the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal, an 88-acre Brooklyn waterfront parcel spanning from 29th to 39th Streets and 2nd Avenue to the Gowanus Bay.

Currently used for parking and storage, Axis Group, Inc. would develop … <Read More>


Court upholds LMDC on review of memorial design

9/11 victims’ families sought to preserve North Tower’s footprint. Family members of victims of the World Trade Center attack formed a coalition to represent and express their views on the plans for a memorial at the site. In January 2004 the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation selected a memorial design, which included the preservation of some portions of the North Tower’s slab floor, most commonly referred to as “the footprint.” In March 2004, after the site … <Read More>


Condemnation challenge time barred

Owner must file four months from Council’s action; challenge cannot be raised as a defense. In September 2003, DEP started the process to condemn a 12,500- square-foot lot at 142 Grand Street in Manhattan as part of the City’s construction of the Third Water Tunnel. The largest capital project in the City’s history, the Third Water Tunnel construction will enable the City to close and repair the City’s two functioning water tunnels for the first … <Read More>


Challenge to use variance moves forward

Neighborhood coalition challenged variance to developer of site adjacent to Brooklyn Cruise Ship Terminal. In late 2003, when 160 Imlay Street LLC received a use variance to convert a six-story industrial building in Red Hook, Brooklyn into a luxury condominium, the Red Hook-Gowanus Chamber of Commerce filed an article 78 petition challenging the variance. The Chamber, however, named only BSA in its petition and as a result the petition has been appealed all the way … <Read More>


162-space garage starts hearing process

City Planning receives three different applications for garages in the Columbus Circle area. On April 3, 2006, the Planning Commission certified an application by William Zeckendorf, on behalf of 15 CPW Realty, LLC, for a special permit to allow a 162-space public parking garage to be located within the as-of- right development on the former Mayflower Hotel site. The certification begins the public review process and starts the time clock for review set by ULURP, … <Read More>