Midtown Modernist office tower designated

The Look building at 488 Madison Avenue. Image: LPC.

Mid-20th century Look Building’s design was influenced by European Modernism. On July 27, 2010, Landmarks designated the Look Building at 488 Madison Avenue in Midtown, Manhattan as an individual City landmark. The 23-story, asymmetrical building was one of the City’s first office towers to reflect the influence of European Modernism.

Emery Roth & Sons designed the Look Building and the Uris Brothers developers completed the structure … <Read More>

City moves closer to controlling all of the High Line

City can now negotiate to acquire northern section of High Line in order to complete 1.45-mile elevated park. On July 29, 2010, the City Council approved a proposal by the Department of Citywide Administrative Services and the Department of Parks and Recreation to acquire the remaining portion of the High Line elevated rail line and associated easements. This section, currently owned by CSX Corporation, begins at West 30th Street between Tenth and Eleventh Avenues and … <Read More>

Owner relied on C of O to defeat NOV

Owner had built non-conforming roofed terrace in one side yard and a roofed side-entrance porch in the other. Buildings approved plans for the construction of a residential building at 74 Amherst Street in Brooklyn. The approved plans showed a roofed terrace on the south side yard of the home and a roofed side-entrance porch on the north side. The home was built in 2004, Buildings inspectors signed off on the final construction, and the owner … <Read More>

Amanda M. Burden Talks About the Future of the City’s Waterfront

Amanda M. Burden, Director of the Department of City Planning and Chair of the City Planning Commission, has the lead role in building a blueprint, known as Vision 2020, for managing the City’s more than 500 miles of waterfront. The new comprehensive plan will recommend long-term management strategies for the City’s waterfront and waterways, and identify high-priority initiatives that can be quickly implemented. Burden sat down with CityLand to discuss how City Planning has … <Read More>

Artist vending restrictions clear judicial hurdle

Artists asked federal court to prevent Parks’ expressive-matter vending rules from taking effect. The Department of Parks and Recreation promulgated rules restricting where art and book vendors could sell their wares, also known as “expressive matter.” Among other things, the rules limited the locations where expressive matter display stands could be placed in Battery Park, Union Square, the High Line, and parts of Central Park. Shortly after the rules were published, two groups of artists … <Read More>

Attorney Michael T. Sillerman Discusses Current Issues in Land Use

Land use attorney Michael T. Sillerman is often teased by his co-workers that he won’t work on a project unless there is a Pritzker Architecture Prize winner onboard. Although Sillerman doesn’t think that’s entirely true, he admits that his favorite part of being a land use attorney is how it overlaps with his love of architecture. As co-chair of Kramer Levin’s land use department, Sillerman typically spends as much time talking to architects and city … <Read More>