HPD Commissioner Been, others testify on effectiveness of the program. On January 29, 2015 the City Council Committee on Housing and Buildings held an oversight hearing on the 421-a tax benefit program. The program, established in 1971 by the New York State Legislature, was designed to spur residential development of underused land by granting a property tax reduction to developers for a period of ten to twenty-five years, with an objective of increasing affordable housing … <Read More>
Search Results for: Lower Manhattan
Variances Amended To Permit Transfer of Development Rights
BSA found development value of subject lots could not be previously realized. On December 16, 2014 the Board of Standards and Appeals voted to grant the applicants, West 29th Street Owner’s Corp. and The Flower House Condominium, an amendment of previously existing variances on two lots. The amendment is required to merge the lots into one zoning lot and transfer their development rights to an as-of-right hotel in development on an adjacent site. The subject … <Read More>
Landmarks Approves New 14-story Tower in Historic District
Project will entail the demolition of 1961 office and warehouse building occupied by the Catholic Medical Mission Board. On December 16, 2014, the Landmarks Preservation Commission voted to approve an application for a new building at 8 West 17th Street in the Ladies’ Mile Historic District. The site is currently occupied by a 3-story 1961 commercial building designed by the firm Belfatto and Pavarino, known mostly for their ecclesiastical architecture.
NY Law School Commentary on Talk by Tom Prendergast, Chair of NY MTA
MTA Chairman Tom Prendergast faces a huge challenge as the MTA needs a new round of capital funding starting in 2015. At the CityLaw Breakfast on November 21, 2014 Chairman Prendergast laid out a well-thought out five year plan designed to maintain the system, modernize it, make it more resilient and extend it geographically. The price tag: $32 billion. In the intensive competition for public money, elected leaders find funds in that range only when … <Read More>
Early 20th-Century Residential Hotel Designated
Sixteen-story 1907 hotel building is an early example of architecture incorporating light courts, originally devised to allow light and ventilation into tenements. On October 28, 2014, the Landmarks Preservation Commission voted to designate Mill Hotel No. 3, at 485 Seventh Avenue in Manhattan, an individual City landmark. The hotel was completed in 1907, to designs by the architecture firm Copeland & Dole, a bicoastal firm with buildings throughout the country. The hotel was the third … <Read More>
Variance Granted To Enlarge Private School
Columbia Grammar and Preparatory permitted to establish new building for a middle-school program over community opposition. On October 7, 2014 the Board of Standards and Appeals voted to grant a variance to Columbia Grammar and Preparatory School for the enlargement of an existing school building. The building is located at 5 West 93rd Street in Manhattan’s Upper West Side/Central Park West Historic District, between Central Park West to the west and Columbus Avenue to … <Read More>