Sarah Carroll (left) has been reappointed as Chair of the Landmarks Preservation Commission. Anthony Crowell (top right) and Gail Benjamin (bottom right) have been nominated for Commissioner positions with the City Planning Commission. Image Credits: LPC/New York Law School/NYC Charter Revision Commission.
Sarah Carroll will serve an additional seven years at Landmarks, while Gail Benjamin and NYLS Dean Anthony Crowell will join City Planning for five years. On August 5, 2022, Mayor Eric Adams nominated Sarah Carroll to continue as Chair of Landmarks Preservation Commission and nominated Gail Benjamin and Anthony Crowell to the City Planning Commission. Landmarks commissioners serve seven-year terms, while City Planning commissioners serve for five years. (more…)
Rendering of 14 White Street in Tribeca, Manhattan. Image Credit: LPC
New development on triangular-shaped corner lot will employ passive house technology and have a facade clad with etched bronze panels. On March 7, 2017, the Landmarks Preservation Commission considered and approved a certificate of appropriateness application for 14 White Street in the Tribeca East Historic District. The site is currently occupied by a parking lot and is being developed by the firm Nava. The development will house ten residential units with retail use at the base. (more…)
One of Take Two’s prohibited signs at 393 Canal Street. Image credit: Google
Court held Board properly found billboards were prohibited near Holland Tunnel exit. On January 8, 2013 the Board of Standards and Appeals issued two decisions denying an appeal of a Department of Buildings decision to refuse permitting two billboards near the Holland Tunnel exit in Tribeca, Manhattan. Take Two Outdoor Media LLC, the appellant, argued the Holland Tunnel’s exit roadway did not constitute an “approach” to an arterial roadway under §49-16 of the Rules of the City of New York, and the location of their billboards within nine hundred feet of the roadway was permissible. The Board disagreed and upheld Buildings’ decision. Take Two petitioned for an annulment of the Board’s decisions. On October 30 and November 7, 2013, Justice Carol E. Huff of the New York Supreme Court denied both petitions.
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Finn Square, Tribeca, Manhattan. Image Courtesy of Tribeca Trust.
Since sprouting up during the Bloomberg administration, new pedestrian -friendly public plazas have served as urban pit stops, places where time pressed New Yorkers can people-watch, grab a bite and have some down time before heading back to school, work, or a rigorous day of shopping. (more…)
Tribeca building’s 65 fuel tanks store more than 100,000 gallons. In 2002, the Department of Buildings issued violations to Hudson Telegraph Associates after inspectors found fifteen 275-gallon fuel storage tanks on six floors of the Western Union Building, an individual and interior City landmark located at 60 Hudson Street in Tribeca, Manhattan. The code only permits one 275-gallon tank on each story above the first floor. The 24-story, 1.2 million-square-foot Art Deco building houses telecommunications switchboards that serve a large portion of the northeast and require fuel reserves in case of power outages. Overall, the building contained 65 tanks with a 101,521- gallon capacity, less than permitted as-of-right. About 6,875 gallons of diesel fuel were maintained above the first floor.
legalize the tanks’ location, explaining that the floors required multiple tanks since several different telecommunication tenants needed storage tanks, and lease limitations provided no alternative locations. After a two-year review, Buildings issued a variance legalizing the tanks based on the practical difficulties of complying with the code. The variance, granted after consultation with the FDNY, fire safety consultants, and elected officials, stipulated that Hudson employ 25 specific safety measures crafted to address the need to manually refill and transport the fuel and to also deal with storage, delivery and potential spills. (more…)
