Bridge will provide four traffic lanes, two bike paths, two walkways and a needed cross-town connection. The Department of Transportation sought a City Map amendment for the construction of a new East 153rd Street bridge in the Bronx to span the Metro North railroad tracks and reconnect the east-west linkage of East 153rd, between Morris Avenue and the Grand Concourse. DOT closed the original 1899 two-lane bridge in 1988, due to safety concerns, and demolished it in 1992. The new $40 million cable-stayed bridge, envisioned to be a showpiece for South Central Bronx, will have four traffic lanes, two bike lanes, and two sidewalks, and will require the widening of East 153rd Street to accommodate the added traffic lanes. The existing right-of-way will be expanded from 113 feet to 143.3 feet and two other portions of East 153rd Street, from Grand Concourse to Concourse Village West and from Concourse Village East to Morris Avenue, will be widened and realigned. DOT will acquire four privately-owned lots and demolish two buildings for the expansion of East 153rd Street.

At the Commission’s April 13, 2005 public hearing, only a DOT representative appeared. The Commission unanimously approved on May 25, 2005, finding that the bridge will provide a needed cross-town connection and ease congestion on East 149th and East 161st Streets, South Central Bronx’s east-west thoroughfares. The Commission noted that DOT sent a letter addressing each recommendation of Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrion, Jr., which confirmed Parks’ approval of the traffic island at Grand Concourse and East 153rd Street as green space and DOT’s commitment that lighting would extend to Grand Concourse and Morris Avenue. (more…)

Eighty residential units, ground-floor retail and parking garage to replace SoHo parking lot. The developer Albert Laboz sought Landmarks approval for the construction of a nine-story, 110 ft. metal and glass building at 311 West Broadway in the SoHo-Cast Iron Historic District on a through-block lot with frontage on both Wooster Street and West Broadway. The building, designed by Gwathmey Siegel & Associates Architects to replace the existing at-grade parking lot, included eight stories along the West Broadway streetwall with a single-story glass setback, a central courtyard, and seven stories along the Wooster Street streetwall with a single-story glass setback. Gwathmey Siegel had modified its original proposal, which included several layers of setbacks at the roof. The building would include eighty, 1,200 square-foot residential units, street-level retail on West Broadway and a 150-space parking garage, which would compensate for the parking lost with the building’s development.

Landmarks approved, finding that the overall massing of the building related to the buildings along West Broadway and Wooster Street, that the glass material on the one-story setback blended into the surroundings, and that the metal and glass modernist design recalled the evolution of the materials used in the historic district.

The development requires a special permit from the Planning Commission to allow residential use on the ground floor along Wooster Street. Laboz’s application for a special permit is pending with the Planning Department.

LPC: 311 West Broadway (COFA# 05-5520) (February 16, 2005) (Howard Zipser, Stadtmauer Bailkin Biggins, LLC; Albert Laboz, United American Land Co.; Robert Siegel, Gwathmey Siegel & Assoc. Architects). CITYADMIN

129-lot area rezoned to permit residential, live-work and retail. The Planning Commission approved the proposed rezoning of a 129-lot area of Port Morris in the South Bronx that altered the area’s manufacturing zoning to mixed-use, facilitating increased live-work, residential and small commercial business development. The proposed new zoning builds on a 1997 zoning action that established the Port Morris Special Mixed-Use District – the city’s first mixed-use district – within a five-block area of Port Morris to permit diverse as-of-right uses, facilitate legalization of illegal conversions and support the continued expansion of Bruckner Boulevard’s string of antique shops. In the eight years following the 1997 rezoning, 185 new residential units were developed in the five-block area.

The new zoning would extend the mixed-use district to an 11- block area generally bounded by Park Avenue on the west, Willow Avenue on the east, the Major Deegan Expressway on the north and south to the Harlem River and the Harlem River Yards. The Department found that illegal conversions were prevalent in the area and over 40 percent of the lots were vacant, nderutilized or contained abandoned manufacturing structures. Three separate mixed-use zones (M1-2/R6A, M1-3/R8 and M1-5/R8) would be created to allow a large range of uses – residential, community facility and small commercial – while also restricting the height and size of development to more closely match the area’s existing scale. (more…)

Landmarks approved the proposal, finding that the access changes were well integrated into the building’s design, thus eliminating any discernable impact on the perception of the building from the street. The geometric paving, due to its simple repetitive pattern, would be in the spirit of the original plaza design. Landmarks, noting that the kiosk’s footprint aligns with the pattern of the plaza paving and that the water feature, when off, blends with the material of the steps, found these features complementary to the overall design.Brooklyn Public Library entrance will be enlarged and geometric paving added to plaza. Landmarks approved substantial renovation of the Central Building of the Brooklyn Public Library at 2 Eastern Parkway and Grand Army Plaza. The 1935 Central Building, a Modern Classical structure designed by Alfred Morton Githens and Francis Keally and built in 1935, was designated in 1997 as an individual landmark. The Library sought a Binding Report to redesign the entrance of the Central Building in order to enlarge the plaza, add an access ramp and alter the entrance steps. Aesthetic changes, such as adding kiosks, a water feature and a geometric- patterned series of paving stones in the library’s plaza, were also proposed. (more…)

New development potential of 26 million sq.ft. of office space and 13.6 million sq.ft. of residential; 24 acres of parks, a subway extension, and a new boulevard approved. On November 22, 2004, the Commission approved the Bloomberg Administration’s major urban planning initiative for Manhattan’s Hudson Yards, the area bounded by West 30th and West 43rd Streets, running from Seventh and Eighth Avenues to Twelfth Avenue.

The ten applications before the Commission would achieve a comprehensive redevelopment plan, the expansion of City services and a rezoning of the entire area. At the center of the plan for redevelopment is the transfer from the MTA to the Department of Citywide Administrative Services of the 30-acre, eastern portion of the Caemmerer Yard, spanning from West 30th to West 33rd Streets and from Tenth to Eleventh Avenues, for construction of a platform over the yard. (See C 040505 PQM.) The platform would facilitate future private development and the City’s construction of new parks. Further, the rail yard transfer would partially enable the No. 7 Flushing Line expansion, which is proposed to extend from Times Square to West 41st Street and Tenth Avenue, then south to West 34th Street and Eleventh Avenue. (See C 040504 PQM.) (more…)