Lower Concourse plan OK’d

 

Lower Concourse, Adopted Rezoning Map used with permission of the New York City Department of City Planning. All rights reserved.

Plan envisions public walkway along Harlem River waterfront. The Department of City Planning’s sweeping rezoning proposal for a 30-block area of the South Bronx, bordering the Harlem River, obtained City Council approval on June 30, 2009. The plan impacts the underused and primarily industrial-zoned area along the Harlem River, bounded by East 149th Street … <Read More>


Council approves Two Trees project adjacent to bridge

Speaker Quinn announced support prior to Council vote. On June 10, 2009, the City Council approved Two Trees Management Company’s mixed-use development project adjacent to the Brooklyn Bridge in DUMBO, Brooklyn. The project will provide the neighborhood with a 45,000 sq.ft. middle school and approximately 300 new housing units, 20 percent of which will be permanently affordable.

Residents, neighborhood associations, and community groups opposed the project. In response, the City Planning Commission reduced the project’s … <Read More>


Land Use Committee approves controversial project

Two Trees’ development near Brooklyn Bridge. Image: Beyer Blinder Belle Architects & Planners LLP.

Despite concerns project sent to full Council. On June 4, 2009, the City Council’s Land Use Committee approved the controversial proposal by Two Trees Management Company to build a mixed-use development at 10 Dock Street, adjacent to the Brooklyn Bridge in DUMBO, Brooklyn. In addition to providing approximately 300 residential units, 20 percent of which would be affordable, the proposed building … <Read More>


Recalcitrant owner of Landmark agrees to $1.1M fine

Clinton, Manhattan

LPC filed action to compel owner’s repair of landmarked building. After receiving no response to a series of notices regarding the structural instability and deteriorating facade of the landmarked Windermere building at 400 West 57th Street, Landmarks filed suit to compel Toa Construction to repair its building. The action also sought $5,000 in daily civil penalties.

Two months later, a lower court ordered Toa to give Landmarks access to the building to complete … <Read More>


SoHo hotel plan heard

Restaurateurs propose to build four-story hotel behind federal-style Broome Street building. On May 5, 2009, Landmarks viewed a presentation and heard testimony on proposed alterations to a property at 431 Broome Street in the SoHo-Cast Iron Historic District. The applicants, Vincent Boitier and Pierre Casaux, owners of the nearby restaurant l’Orange Bleue, sought approval for a rooftop addition, a new four-story building in the rear yard, and a new storefront infill.

The plan’s architect, Thomas … <Read More>


Williamsburg residential rowhouse district designated

Fillmore Place Historic District. Image: LPC.

Built as housing for working-class waterfront laborers, neighborhood remains remarkably intact. Landmarks designated the Fillmore Place Historic District on May 12, 2009. The district, primarily located on Fillmore Place between Driggs Avenue and Roebling Street in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, was privately developed during a period of rapid growth in Williamsburg during the 1850s. Although different developers likely had hands in Fillmore Place, the 29 rowhouses maintain cohesiveness in scale and … <Read More>