Image credit: HPD.

Modernization of apartment complex includes extension of affordability for the next 40 years. On June 5, 2018, the Department of Housing Preservation and Development announced completion of modernization work at the Fox Hill Apartments. The New York State Homes and Community Renewal, Rockabill Consulting-Development, Park Management, and development partners joined HPD in a ribbon cutting ceremony in front of the complex, at 320 Vanderbilt Avenue in Staten Island. (more…)

The City will renovate and restore 1871 building with eye toward casual restaurant. On February 21, 2012, Landmarks approved the City’s renovation plan for the landmarked Tavern on the Green restaurant on the west side of Central Park near West 65th Street. The Victorian Gothic building was built in 1871 as a sheepfold. It was converted into a restaurant in 1934. In 2009, the restaurant’s license holder filed for bankruptcy protection. The restaurant closed and its equipment and furnishings were auctioned. Tavern on the Green has remained vacant except for a temporary gift shop and public restroom. 

At the public hearing, the Parks Department’s Assistant Commissioner Elizabeth Smith explained that the plan would reconfigure the space to make it more “Parkcentric.” Smith said the City was seeking a concessionaire to operate a casual restaurant in the building. Department of Design and Construction Commissioner David Burney noted that the City in 2010 demolished the restaurant’s “Crystal Room,” a glass-enclosed dining area on the park-side of the building built in 1976, and restored the restaurant’s courtyard. Burney said the proposal would reveal the building’s original facade by removing the extraneous additions built over the years. According to Burney, the “wound” left after removing the crystal room would be filled with an all-glass, transparent box facing the terrace. The proposal also included restoring the building’s facades, windows, and dormers to their 1934 conditions. (more…)

Community groups opposed fence on the City’s oldest bridge. On April 5, 2011, Landmarks approved the City’s proposal to build an eight-foot fence and undertake other alterations to the High Bridge footpath spanning the Harlem River between Washington Heights in Manhattan and the Highbridge section of the Bronx. The High Bridge was built in 1848 as part of the Old Croton Aqueduct to bring fresh water into Manhattan. It is the City’s oldest bridge.

The City in 1917 ceased using the bridge as an aqueduct. In 1927, the City replaced five of the bridge’s original fifteen masonry arches with a central steel span to allow large ships to pass underneath. The bridge gained notoriety in the late 1950s after children threw rocks at a passing Circle Line tour boat. After the High Bridge was closed to the public in 1970, Landmarks designated the  bridge as an individual City landmark. The City in 2009 announced plans to restore and reopen the High Bridge to pedestrian and bicycle traffic. (more…)

Renovations include shifting fountain 23 feet to align with arch. On December 3, 2007, Justice Joan Madden ruled that the Parks Department could proceed with its planned renovations to Washington Square Park, finding the agency’s Environmental Assessment Statement complied with all applicable State and City environmental review statutes and adequately analyzed the renovations’ impact on natural resources, open-space, and the surrounding neighborhood’s character.

The ruling allows Parks to move forward with its plan to renovate the park, which includes expanding lawn areas, decreasing the paved area surrounding the fountain, and restoring and reconfiguring other features within the park such as its statues, pathways, and playgrounds. (more…)

$350 million restoration to include re-creation of the Palm Court’s original 1907 laylight. On July 12, 2005, Landmarks voted to designate eight interior rooms in the Plaza Hotel; the Palm Court, the Grand Ballroom, the Terrace and Edwardian Rooms, the Oak Room and Oak Bar, and the 59th Street and Fifth Avenue lobbies. The Plaza’s exterior had been designated in 1969.

Landmarks calendared the interior rooms’ designation after the Plaza’s new owners, Elad Properties, filed a change of use application with the City, seeking to allow permanent retail space in areas like the Terrace and Edwardian Rooms as part of its proposed conversion of the hotel to condominiums. 2 CityLand 41 (Apr. 15, 2005). After two public hearings where there was strong support for the interior rooms’ designation (2 CityLand 92 (Jul. 15, 2005)), all Commissioners on July 12, 2005 enthusiastically and unanimously approved their designation. Chair Robert B. Tierney summed up his feelings by saying it was a proud moment for Landmarks and that he could not think of a series of rooms that were more evocative of New York City and its history. (more…)