Weisbrod Highlights East New York as Test for Affordable Housing

At the CityLaw Breakfast on September 5, 2014, Carl Weisbrod laid out the De Blasio Administration’s housing policy. As was widely reported, the City will look to implement mandatory inclusionary housing on all City-sponsored rezonings. One of the first tests of this new policy is the privately sponsored Astoria Cove development in Queens, where an affordable component will likely be required if approved under ULURP.


REBNY Issues New Report on Landmarking and Housing Production

REBNY report shows that housing production, particularly affordable housing, is drastically lower in landmarked areas in the five boroughs. In 2013, the Real Estate Board of New York conducted a study which showed that nearly 28 percent of Manhattan is landmarked and that fewer than 2 percent of new housing units built in Manhattan over a ten-year time period (2003-2012) were constructed on landmarked properties. On July 1, 2014, REBNY released a new report which … <Read More>


James S. Oddo: New Borough President Ready to Work Hard and Deliver Results

James S. Oddo, republican and former Council Member was sworn in as Staten Island’s new Borough President on January 1, 2014.

Borough President Oddo was born and raised in Dongan Hills, Staten Island, and bought his first house only a few blocks away from where he grew up. As the youngest of four boys, Oddo values the sacrifices his parents made. Oddo watched his father, a motorman, leave early and get home late to … <Read More>


HDC Identifies Six Preservation Priorities for 2013

Advocacy group selects areas in Manhattan, the Bronx, Brooklyn and Staten Island as meriting preservation attention in 2013. The Historic Districts Council announced its “Six to Celebrate” list of preservation priorities on January 3, 2013. The areas identified by HDC consist of the Bronx Parks System, Manhattan’s East Village/Lower East Side and Tribeca neighborhoods, Brooklyn’s Greenpoint and Sunset Park neighborhoods, and Harrison Street in Staten Island.

The six areas were chosen from applications … <Read More>


Fresh Direct granted generous tax exemption package

IDA approved $81 million in incentives to assist Fresh Direct relocation to the Bronx. On February 14, 2012, the City’s Industrial Development Agency approved financial incentives of approximately $81 million to assist Fresh Direct in relocating its headquarters and operations center from Long Island City to the Mott Haven section of the Bronx. Fresh Direct, an Internet grocery delivery service, sought assistance to build a 500,000 sq.ft. distribution facility and separate parking and maintenance facilities. … <Read More>


Fence blocking public access to beach enjoined

Neighbors win claim of express easement to access beach along Long Island Sound. In 1928, Locust Point Estate subdivided a large parcel of land on the Throgs Neck peninsula in the Bronx into six residential parcels, and recorded a declaration granting to the new owners easements over six private roads including Casler Place, a dead-end street leading to a patch of beach on the shore of the Long Island Sound. Casler Place remained a private … <Read More>