State Senator and residents opposed addition of catering hall to Whitestone restaurant. On June 29, 2011, the City Council approved a modified version of Joe Franco’s proposal to rezone the western side of 154th Street between 10th and 11th Avenues in the Whitestone section of Queens. The plan rezoned five lots and will facilitate the expansion of Franco’s White House restaurant located at 10-24 154th Street. The White House currently contains a cellar-level banquet room, a ground-floor restaurant, and a vacant apartment on the second floor. Franco proposed rezoning the western frontage of 154th Street from R2A to R3-1 with a C2-2 commercial overlay in order to renovate and enlarge the second floor to contain a 20,512 sq.ft. catering hall. The project would also provide 110 surface and below-grade parking spaces.

The surrounding neighborhood is characterized by a range of commercial, manufacturing, and residential uses. Franco owns the lot immediately south of the White House, which includes a two-story mixed-use building and a parking lot that wraps around the rear of the restaurant. The lots immediately to the north of the White House include two single-family homes and a bank. In 2005, as part of the Whitestone Rezoning, the City rezoned portions of the five lots from R2 to R2A. The interior portion of the block to the east was rezoned from R2 to R3-1. 3 CityLand 3 (Feb. 15, 2006). (more…)

Design for new building on Walker Street features reverse relief of castiron facade. On June 14, 2011, Landmarks approved Abra Construction’s proposal to develop a nine-story residential building on a narrow, vacant lot at 83 Walker Street in the Tribeca East Historic District. Landmarks in 2003 approved a plan to build an eight-story glass and metal building on the lot, but the project was never developed.

Architect Morris Adjmi presented Abra’s proposal at Landmarks’ hearing on May 17. Adjmi described the building’s facade as a “negative of a cast-iron building,” in which the features of a typical cast iron facade would be reversed. Instead of curving out, columns would be indented into the glass-reinforced concrete facade. The cornice would step back instead of forward, and windows would protrude from the facade instead of being recessed. The building would feature three window bays, and as initially proposed, the slightly taller ground floor would feature the same arched windows as the rest of the building. In addition to Landmarks’ approval, Abra would also need to obtain City Planning Commission variances to modify the zoning resolution’s height and setback requirements. (more…)

Local laws would increase Buildings’ filing fees and BSA’s application fees. On May 11, 2011, City Council Member Domenic M. Recchia Jr., by request of the Mayor, introduced two local laws to amend the City’s administrative code and increase the Department of Buildings’ filing fees and the Board of Standards & Appeals’ application fees.

Intro 570 would affect certain filing fees charged by Buildings for alteration permits, service equipment and storage tank permits, foundation and earthwork permits, scaffolding, and permits for temporary structures. The law would, among other things, establish different minimum filing fees for Alteration Type 1, 2, and 3 permits for all buildings, including one- to three-family dwellings. For example, the minimum filing fee for an Alteration Type 1 permit for a one-family dwelling would increase from $100 to $170. The fee for a foundation permit would remain ten dollars for each two thousand feet of area, but the minimum fee would increase from $100 to $130. The law would increase the cost of temporary fencing or a sidewalk shed permit from $130 to $160. (more…)

Separate public and private proposals impacted eight lots left out of the Carroll Gardens/Columbia Street rezoning. On April 28, 2011, the City Council approved independent proposals by the Department of City Planning and a private developer, Marshall Sohne, to rezone portions of Carroll Street between Columbia and Van Brunt Streets in Brooklyn’s Columbia Street Waterfront District. The two proposals impacted portions of the north and south side of Carroll Street that were not included in the Carroll Gardens/Columbia Street Rezoning plan approved by the City in 2009. 6 CityLand 153 (Nov. 15, 2009).

Planning’s proposal covered six lots on the south side of Carroll Street. Five of the lots are developed with late nineteenth century rowhouses, while the sixth lot was once occupied by a similar residential building. The five rowhouses were the subject of a broader 2007 private rezoning that would have replaced the M1-1 zoning with an R6 district. Due to a technical omission, however, Planning requested that the City Council remove the lots from the plan. The current rezoning extended an adjacent R6B district to the six lots to reflect the neighborhood’s residential character. (more…)

Owner altered window and facade details to gain Landmarks approval . On April 12, 2011, Landmarks approved Fishman Holdings’ revised proposal to construct an eight-story building on a vacant lot at 87 Chambers Street in the Tribeca South Historic District. The through-block building will front Reade  Street to the north. The lot had been occupied by a store-and-loft building that  Fishman originally planned to convert to a hotel. The building, however, partially collapsed in 2009 and Buildings ordered Fishman to demolish the remaining structure.

Fishman in February 2009 presented a plan to build a hotel that closely  followed its conversion proposal. The building would rise six stories, with two additional floors set back fifteen feet. Landmarks approved of the building’s massing and scale, but asked for changes to the facade and window details. 8 CityLand 29 (March 15, 2011). (more…)