City claimed that West Side residential buildings were illegally converted to transient hotels. In October 2007, a lower court granted the City’s request for a preliminary injunction against three Upper West Side residential buildings, the Montroyal, the Continental, and the Pennington, ordering them to stop using the SROs as transient hotels. The court found that the transient use violated both the Zoning Resolution and the buildings’ certificates of occupancy. Although the multiple dwelling law allowed … <Read More>
Enforcement of new crane law enjoined
Buildings amended crane law to stop crane owners from de-rating crane tonnage capacity. As part of Buildings’ new construction code, a provision was enacted to limit Class C1 licensed crane operators to single control stations. The provision was meant to limit crane owners’ ability to de-rate a crane’s maximum load capacity. De-rating is the practice of reporting that a crane has a lesser ton capacity than it actually has so that a lower licensee, … <Read More>
Architect will be supervised
Architect self-certified applications with incorrect zoning. Architect David Nagan was hired in 2004 to prepare a zoning analysis for two adjacent lots in Queens. Nagan determined the lots were in an R3 district, which allowed for the construction of two, two-family semidetached homes with a common wall along the lot line. In April of 2005, the City Council rezoned the lots to R3X, a zoning district that prohibited semi-detached homes. About six months after the … <Read More>
Open process for public review of plans announced
Developers required to submit online diagrams for new building and alteration enlargement applications; public has 30 days to challenge Buildings’ zoning decisions. On February 2, 2009, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, Deputy Mayor for Operations Edward Skyler, and Buildings’ Commissioner Robert D. LiMandri announced changes to the City’s real estate development process. The changes, which will go into effect starting March 9, 2009, mandate that online diagrams for new building and alteration enlargement applications be submitted … <Read More>
19th century Bed-Stuy development designated
- Alice and Agate Courts Historic District, Brooklyn. Courtesy of New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission.
Designation endorsed by local Council Member, residents. On February 10, 2009, Landmarks voted to designate Alice and Agate Courts in Bedford- Stuyvesant, Brooklyn as a historic district. Alice and Agate Courts, two cul-de-sacs off Atlantic Avenue between Kingston and Albany Avenues, contain 36 Queen Annestyle rowhouses that were developed by Florian Grosjean in 1888 – 1889.
Designed by local architect … <Read More>
Chase Tower and Plaza landmarked
- Chase Tower and Plaza. Photo: LPC.
Mid-century International Style tower designated. On February 10, 2009, Landmarks voted unanimously to designate One Chase Manhattan Plaza as an individual City landmark. Designed by Gordon Bunschaft and Jacques E. Guiton of Skidmore Owings & Merrill, the site consists of a 60-story tower, a six-story base, and a 2.5 acre plaza that incorporates an Isamu Noguchi-designed sunken garden.
The tower was planned after the merger between Chase National Bank … <Read More>