City gains control over Governors Island

Image: Courtesy of West 8 / Rogers Marvel Architects / Diller Scofidio + Renfro / Mathews Nielsen / Urban Design +

City-controlled operating entity will be responsible for implementing island’s recently released redevelopment master plan. On April 11, 2010, the City and State announced an agreement that would transfer to the City primary responsibility for operating Governors Island and for implementing the development goals of the Governors Island Park and Public Space Master Plan. The … <Read More>

Conversion of dilapidated rowhouses approved

Revised plan included less visible additions and more conservative facade alterations. On April 13, 2010, Landmarks approved the Chetrit Group’s revised proposal to convert six dilapidated rowhouses into three, double-wide townhouses with rooftop additions at 110 through120 East 76th Street. Chetrit’s original proposal included a request to partially demolish two of the 1885-era rowhouses and convert the six buildings into three townhouses with two-story additions. The plan called for significant facade alterations, including new street-level … <Read More>

Midtown’s Springs Mills Building designated

Green glass skyskraper was built on L-shaped lot between 1961 and 1963. On April 13, 2010, Landmarks voted unanimously to designate the Springs Mills Building at 104 West 40th Street as an individual City landmark. The Springs Mills linen company hired the firm of Harrison & Abramowitz to construct a 21-story building on an L-shaped through-block lot in 1961. The architects submitted building plans just before the City implemented its comprehensive overhaul of the zoning … <Read More>

New Building Approved in DUMBO Historic District

Toll Brothers will build 67-unit project on vacant lot formerly occupied by factory building. On April 20, 2010, Landmarks approved Toll Brothers’ proposed 67-unit residential complex at 205 Water Street in Brooklyn’s DUMBO Historic District. The vacant lot fronts Water and Plymouth Streets and was formerly occupied by a factory last used by the Brillo Company. The building was demolished shortly before the district’s 2007 designation. A 2009 rezoning opened the industrial area … <Read More>

Ladies’ Mile addition rejected for second time

 

Image: Courtesy of ma.com
Image: Courtesy of ma.com

Revised design, reduced by three stories, followed form of mansard roofs common in Ladies’ Mile. On April 13, 2010, Landmarks considered a revised proposal for an addition to a six-story, through-block building at 33 West 19th Street in the Ladies’ Mile Historic District. The original plan, considered in July 2009, proposed a five-story addition for the neo-Renaissance structure built in 1903. The initial design featured a … <Read More>

Variance granted for threestory residential building

Owner claimed that narrow lot adjacent to elevated rail line could not accommodate conforming manufacturing use. Hayden Hester applied for a use variance to construct a three-story residential building on a vacant lot at 1978 Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn. Hester’s proposal called for a 4,200 sq.ft building with five dwelling units on a lot twenty feet wide and zoned for light manufacturing. A Long Island Rail Road elevated rail line runs along Atlantic Avenue in … <Read More>