Affordable housing project along the Harlem River OK’d

Image: courtesy of GF55 Partners.

Mixed-use project would provide 314 affordable rental units and replace a former welfare intake center. On February 16, 2011, the City Planning Commission approved the Department of Housing Preservation and Development’s proposal to allow L+M Development Partners and Artimus Construction to develop a 314-unit affordable housing project on a City-owned lot between the Harlem River Drive and Park Avenue’s elevated Metro-North railway in East Harlem. The 296,486 sq.ft. project, known … <Read More>


Commercial tower at 15 Penn Plaza approved

Proposed site of 15 Penn Plaza. Image: CityLand

Proposal would replace Hotel Pennsylvania with 2.1 million sq.ft. tower and reopen Gimbels underground passageway. On July 14, 2010, the City Planning Commission approved Vornado Realty Trust’s proposal to build a large commercial tower, known as 15 Penn Plaza, on Seventh Avenue between West 32nd and 33rd Streets in Manhattan. The site is occupied by the Hotel Pennsylvania, which Vornado would demolish in order to build its … <Read More>


Council reversed Commission on curb cut denial

The City Planning Commission denied developer’s special permit request to expand an existing parking facility into a 195-space public garage. The City Council’s Land Use Committee modified and approved SDS 15 William Street LLC’s proposal to amend the Special Lower Manhattan District’s curb cut prohibitions and widen two curb cuts on the north side of Beaver Street between Broad and William Streets in Manhattan’s Financial District. Both curb cuts are south of SDS’s recently completed … <Read More>


Council approved Hines’s 1,050-foot MoMA tower

Council refused Hines’s request to restore the 200 feet cut from the proposed MoMA tower. On October 14, 2009, the City Council approved a modified version of Hines Interests’ proposal to build a mixed-use tower adjacent to the Museum of Modern Art complex at 53 West 53rd Street in Midtown, Manhattan. The original proposal called for an 85-story, 1,250-foot tower that would include 51,949 sq.ft. of additional gallery space for MoMA, a 147,965 sq.ft. hotel, … <Read More>


Yankee Stadium area rezoning approved

161 Street/River Avenue proposed rezoning.

Approved plan rezones 161st Street and River Avenue corridor and establishes new C6-3D commercial zoning district. On September 30, 2009, the City Council approved the Department of City Planning’s proposal to rezone areas along 161st Street and River Avenue in southwest Bronx. The rezoning impacts portions of eight blocks in three separate areas within the heart of the borough’s civic center, described as the Residential, Civic, and Transit Nodes. The … <Read More>


Joshua Benson on DOT’s Bicycle Program

Joshua Benson, the 33-year-old Acting Director of Bicycle & Pedestrian Programs for the New York City Department of Transportation, admits to being particularly fond of the basket sitting at the front of his simple single-speed bike, noting how it allows him to carry anything from groceries to his laptop and projector on the bike. Benson started riding a bike as a student at NYU and now commutes to Downtown Manhattan every weekday from his home … <Read More>