MTA ventilation plant slated for Mulry Square

MTA’s proposed subway ventilation plant at Mulry Square in the Greenwich Village Historic District. Image: Courtesy of MTA.

Elected officials and residents urged MTA to refine design of subway ventilation building. On June 14, 2011, Landmarks issued a negative advisory report on the Metropolitan Transit Authority’s design for a proposed four-story ventilation plant at the intersection of Seventh Avenue South and Greenwich Avenue in the Greenwich Village Historic District. The building will provide emergency ventilation … <Read More>


Council Member Brad Lander on Current Initiatives Affecting Land Use in the City

Council Member Brad Lander, chair of the City Council’s Landmarks, Public Siting & Maritime Uses Subcommittee, draws from his experience as a public policy advocate when executing his duties.

Originally from St. Louis, Missouri, Lander in 1991 earned a liberal arts degree from the University of Chicago. He then earned a master’s degree in Social Anthropology at the University College London in the United Kingdom, where he worked with community groups to research how a … <Read More>


Howard Goldman Reflects on His Legal Career and Land Use Issues in the City

Howard Goldman’s 35-year career as a land use attorney has ranged from helping native Alaskan communities create coastline regulations to assisting developers navigate New York City’s complex land use process. Aspiring to work for the Natural Resources Defense Council or the Sierra Club, Goldman in 1972  received an ad hoc degree in environmental and pre-law studies from SUNY at Buffalo. Goldman stayed on to earn a law degree, and after graduation he joined Neighborhood … <Read More>


Zoning text altered for Staten Island and the Bronx

Special rules seek to protect residential neighborhoods and encourage development of day care and medical facilities in commercial districts. On January 18, 2011, the City Council approved the Department of City Planning’s amendment to the Lower Density Growth Management Area (LDGMA) regulations that apply to Staten Island and Bronx Community District 10. The amendment limits the development of out-of-context medical facilities and day care centers in low-density residential areas and encourages their construction in commercial … <Read More>


Brooklyn supportive housing project revised

Providence House.

Developer revised plan to include low-income apartments for women with children. On November 17, 2010, the City Council approved the Department of Housing Preservation and Development’s revised proposal to allow Providence House to build a six-story supportive housing project at 329 Lincoln Road in the Prospect Lefferts Gardens section of Brooklyn. HPD recently demolished a four-story building on the site which had remained vacant for 30 years. Providence House’s original proposal included … <Read More>


EDC issues RFEI for redevelopment of bakery complex

City is in process of reclaiming property after Citarella failed to fully develop site. The City’s Economic Development Corporation issued a request for expressions of interest for the purchase, redevelopment, and rehabilitation of the former Taystee Bakery complex on West 125th and West 126th Street between Amsterdam and Morningside Avenues in West Harlem.

The 134,000 sq.ft. complex includes an occupied through-block building at 461 West 125th Street and five vacant buildings at 426 through 458 … <Read More>