Rezonings in three boroughs begin public review

Planning proposed contextual rezonings in Queens, the Bronx, and Manhattan. On May 24, 2010, the City Planning Commission certified the Department of City Planning’s contextual rezoning proposals for sections of Queens, the Bronx, and Manhattan. The Queens rezoning would impact a 418-block portion of northeast Queens and would be the City’s largest rezoning. The Bronx plan would rezone 75 blocks along the central Bronx’s Third Avenue and Tremont Avenue corridors. The Manhattan proposal, referred to … <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>


Landmarks refuses to legalize unauthorized addition

New owners proposed to modify fifth-floor addition previously denied by Landmarks. On March 16, 2010, Landmarks voted to deny a proposal to modify and legalize a one-story rooftop addition built without Landmarks’ approval at 12-14 West 68th Street in the Upper West Side/Central Park West Historic District. The building’s previous owners, Thomas Haines and Polly Cleveland, built the 506 square-foot, fifth-floor addition on top of a 1925-era studio building added to the rear of a … <Read More>


Proposed Sullivan Street rezoning withdrawn

City Planning Commission indicated at its review session that it would disapprove proposed mid-block extension of commercial overlay. On February 24, 2010 the City Planning Commission announced that DJL Family Partnership withdrew its proposal to extend a C1-5 commercial overlay within an R7-2 district along the east side of Sullivan Street between Spring and Broome Streets. DJL planned to demolish a one-story, mid-block building occupied by two commercial businesses at 73- 75 Sullivan Street, in … <Read More>


Rooftop addition on brownstone approved

Applicant required special permit because proposed addition would violate sliver law’s height limit. On January 6, 2010, the City Planning Commission approved a proposal by 161 West 78th Street LLC to build a one-story addition atop an existing five-story brownstone at 161 West 78th Street in the Upper West Side/Central Park West Historic District of Manhattan. The twelve-foot addition would not be visible from the street and would increase the building’s height to 70 feet. … <Read More>


Council reversed Commission on curb cut denial

The City Planning Commission denied developer’s special permit request to expand an existing parking facility into a 195-space public garage. The City Council’s Land Use Committee modified and approved SDS 15 William Street LLC’s proposal to amend the Special Lower Manhattan District’s curb cut prohibitions and widen two curb cuts on the north side of Beaver Street between Broad and William Streets in Manhattan’s Financial District. Both curb cuts are south of SDS’s recently completed … <Read More>