Rendering of a portion of the East Midtown Greenway. Image Credit: NYC EDC/Stantec
The 1.5 acre stretch of open space, to be completed by 2022, is part of the Manhattan Waterfront Greenway initiative to create continuous loop around perimeter of Manhattan. On November 22, 2019, Mayor Bill de Blasio and top agency officials celebrated the commencement of construction of a new waterfront public open space, the East Midtown Greenway, which will stretch between East 53rd Street to East 61st Street. The East Midtown Greenway project is a piece of a larger project, Manhattan Waterfront Greenway. The Manhattan Greenway Project’s goal is to create accessible public waterfront space and safe bicycle pathways along the outer edge of Manhattan. (more…)
Image Credit: Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office
The project will include the expansion of the Lower Manhattan shoreline and four capital projects devoted to the resiliency of Lower Manhattan neighborhoods. On March 14, 2019, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced the Lower Manhattan Coastal Resiliency (LMCR) Project. The project is one of the City’s responses to the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. Hurricane Sandy was a turning point for the City to tackle infrastructure resiliency. Hurricane Sandy resulted in $19 billion of devastation for the City and particularly impacted Lower Manhattan. The storm resulted in power outages and flooding in homes, businesses, and tunnels. Since Hurricane Sandy, the City has worked to assess Lower Manhattan’s climate change impacts and risks and analyze coastal protection options for the area’s 3.3-mile shoreline. (more…)
New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman speaking at New York Law School. Image credit: CityLaw
Schneiderman announces one-year jail sentence and $5 million settlement with major New York City landlord who fraudulently refinanced loans and committed tax fraud. On October 3, 2017, New York State Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman announced the sentencing of landlord Steven Croman who owns more than 140 apartment buildings across Manhattan. In June 2017, Croman pleaded guilty to Grand Larceny in the Third, Falsifying Business Records in the First Degree and Criminal Tax Fraud in the Fourth Degree. Croman was sentenced to serve one year at Rikers Island. As part of his guilty plea, Croman also agreed to a $5 million tax settlement with the State. (more…)
Rendering of proposed 51-story tower at 200 Amsterdam Avenue. Image credit: Elkus Manfredi Architects
City Council Member and community celebrate after the Department of Buildings halt the construction of an Upper West Side tower. In September 2016, developer SJP Properties filed building plans with the Department of Buildings for the construction of a new 51-story building located at 200 Amsterdam Avenue in Manhattan’s Upper West Side. The plans filed detailed a 642 foot tower containing 583,294 square feet of residential space and 3,016 square feet of floor area on the ground floor for a medical office.
In May 2017, the Committee for Environmentally Sound Development, a local organization that represents residents of the Lincoln Towers community and the surrounding area, filed a zoning challenge with Buildings arguing that the project was not compliant with zoning law requirements. Both City Council Member Helen Rosenthal and Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer signed onto the challenge.
The main issue raised involved the weirdly-shaped zoning lot that was created to generate enough air-rights for proposed building. The proposed footprint would be a little over 10,000 square feet while the zoning lot is about 100,000 square feet and reaches throughout the city block. The challenge argued that the zoning district, R8, required a substantial amount of Open Space and that the open space provided did not qualify as Open Space under the Zoning Resolution. The complaint also listed rear yard obstructions and mechanical spaces on the top floors as violations of the Zoning Resolution.
On July 11, 2017, Buildings issued a notice of objections and an intent to revoke the permits in order to verify the open space ratio and that the zoning lot was properly formed. The full audit ordered by the agency will halt the current construction of the site. (more…)
Proposed Morningside Heights Historic District. Image Credit: LPC.
Designation of 115-property district widely supported by community and elected officials, though Columbia University and religious organizations opposed the inclusion of their properties within boundaries. On December 6, 2016, Landmarks held a hearing on the potential designation of the Morningside Heights Historic District. The potential district consists of 115 properties and is bounded by Riverside drive to the west, with 119th Street and 109th Street as its rough northern and southern boundaries. Landmarks officially added the potential historic district to its calendar at its September 13, 2016, meeting.
The area was a latecomer in Manhattan’s history of residential development. In the 19th century, the future neighborhood was dominated by two large institutions, the Leake and Watts Orphan Asylum and New York Hospital’s Bloomingdale Insane Asylum. Residential development was further hindered by the lack of public transportation, and its location on a rocky plateau surrounded by steep cliffs. (more…)
