Residents and community groups unsuccessfully challenged the City’s 111-block rezoning. In May 2008, the Department of City Planning proposed a 111-block rezoning in the East Village and Lower East Side neighborhoods of Manhattan. The rezoning sought to preserve the area’s low- and mid-rise character by applying contextual zoning districts establishing maximum building heights and channeling new construction to areas suitable for development. The proposal included applying the City’s Inclusionary Housing Program provisions to certain zoning … <Read More>
$160,000 fine for repeat billboard offenses
Property owner without a permit allowed outdoor advertising. One Maiden Lane Realty LLC leased outdoor space to a registered outdoor advertising company. Under the lease agreement, the property owner could not collect revenue from advertising signs or control advertising sign content. An officer from Buildings issued several notices of violation to the owner in June 2007 for erecting two advertising signs without a permit and for numerous zoning law violations. About a year later, Buildings … <Read More>
Partial demolition of East Side rowhouses approved
- Rowhouses at 110 – 120 East 76th Street in the Upper East Side Historic District. Photo: CityLand.
Landmarks approved plan to partially demolish deteriorating rowhouses, but expressed concerns about developer’s townhouse conversion proposal. On January 5, 2010, Landmarks approved part of the Chetrit Group’s redevelopment proposal for six 1885-era rowhouses at 110 through 120 East 76th Street in the Upper East Side Historic District. The proposal required two separate applications. Chetrit Group requested approval to … <Read More>
Westbeth complex considered
- Westbeth Artist Housing complex at 463 West Street in Manhattan. Photo: LPC.
Building complex, dating from 19th century, formerly housed AT&T’s Bell Laboratories and was the first federally-subsidized artists’ colony. On January 12, 2010, Landmarks heard testimony on the possible designation of a building complex in the Far West Village, now known as Westbeth. Located on an entire block bounded by West, Bethune, Washington, and Bank Streets, Westbeth comprises five buildings built between 1861 … <Read More>
Landmarks rejects extension of Ocean on the Park District
- Vacant lot at 185 Ocean Avenue, adjacent to the recently-designated Ocean on the Park Historic District in Flatbush, Brooklyn. Photo: CityLand.
Following the Ocean on the Park Historic District designation vote, Landmarks agreed to consider extending district to include adjacent vacant lot. On December 15, 2009, Landmarks declined to extend Brooklyn’s recently- designated Ocean on the Park Historic District to include an adjacent vacant lot at 185 Ocean Avenue. Landmarks designated the Ocean on the … <Read More>
Bronx rowhouses make 100th Historic District
Nine Queen Anne style homes on Perry Avenue in the Bronx designated as a historic district. On December 15, 2009, Landmarks designated a row of Queen Anne style houses at 2971 to 2987 Perry Avenue in the Bronx as the Perry Avenue Historic District. The historic district, which is the City’s 100th, consists of nine three-story, wood-frame houses built between 1910 and 1912. Following the extension of the IRT and the Third Avenue elevated line … <Read More>