Large expansion of Riverside/West End Historic District would encompass 338 buildings. On October 25, 2011, Landmarks heard testimony on the proposed Riverside/West End Historic District Extension II. The district would abut the northern end of the original Riverside/West End Historic District and include 338 buildings between West 109th and 89th Streets and Broadway and Riverside Drive. A handful of buildings along the west side of Broadway between 89th and 94th Streets would also be included in the extension.

The proposed district was calendared in November 2010 along with the Riverside/West End Historic District Extension I, which was the subject of a Landmarks hearing in March 2011, and the West End Collegiate Historic District Extension. 8 CityLand 45 (April 15, 2011).

The area encompassing the proposed district was developed between the late 1880s and 1920s. The first wave of development consisted primarily of three and four story row houses. After the opening of the Broadway subway line in 1904, larger apartment buildings were constructed in the area, as well as French Flat-style apartment buildings. The neighborhood saw the construction of high-rise apartment buildings in the years following World War I, with setbacks mandated by the 1916 zoning resolution. According to Landmarks, except for a small number of modestly scaled residential and institutional buildings, new construction in the area essentially ended after 1929.  (more…)

Court rejected neighbors’ article 78 challenge to nine-story mixed-use building adjacent to landmarked synagogue. Congregation Shearith Israel applied to BSA for a variance to build a nine-story mixed-used building adjacent to its landmarked synagogue at the corner of West 70th Street and Central Park West in the Upper West Side-Central Park West Historic District. In addition to the synagogue, Shearith Israel owns a four-story parsonage house to the south of the synagogue along Central Park West and a four-story community house to the west of the synagogue along West 70th Street. Shearith Israel planned to demolish the community house to build the project. The proposed building’s first four floors would be occupied by community facility uses, including adult education classrooms, a Jewish day school, and a synagogue reception and banquet area. The top five floors would be developed into five market-rate condominiums.

The majority of Shearith Israel’s zoning lot is zoned R10A, but a portion of the lot along West 70th Street is zoned R8B. Shearith Israel needed the variance because the 105-foot building would violate, among other things, the zoning resolution’s maximum building height and setback regulations. Prior to applying to BSA, Shearith Israel obtained approval from Landmarks to demolish the community house and build the proposed mixed-use development.  (more…)

First of three proposed historic district extensions in area met with mix of support and opposition. On March 22, 2011, Landmarks heard testimony on the proposed Riverside-West End Historic District Extension I in Manhattan’s Upper West Side. The extension would encompass 190 properties to the south of the original Riverside-West End Historic District designated in 1989. The proposed district would extend from West 87th to West 79th Streets and include Broadway, West End Avenue, and Riverside Drive. In November 2010 Landmarks calendared the proposed district along with the Riverside-West End Historic District Extension II and the West End-Collegiate Historic District Extension. The three districts would bring more than 700 new properties on Manhattan’s West Side under Landmarks’ jurisdiction.

The West End section of the Upper West Side was developed in three distinct waves between the 1880s and the late 1920s. The first wave, following the opening of the Ninth Avenue elevated rail line in 1879, consisted primarily of three- and four-story rowhouses in a variety of styles, including Queen Anne, neo-Grec, and Renaissance Revival. Following the opening of the Broadway subway line in 1904, property values increased, making rowhouse development impractical. Developers began constructing large apartment buildings that catered to affluent tenants. Middleclass residents migrated to the area during the economic downturn after the First World War, which spurred the construction of taller apartment buildings with smaller units and setbacks that conformed to the 1916 zoning resolution. (more…)

Proposed eight-story hotel would replace collapsed building on throughblock lot fronting Chambers and Reade Streets. On February 8, 2011, Landmarks considered Fishman Holdings’ proposal to build a new eight-story hotel on a now-vacant lot at 87 Chambers Street in Manhattan’s Tribeca South Historic District. The through-block lot has frontages on Chambers and Reade Streets and is located between Church Street and Broadway. In 2008, Landmarks approved Fishman Holdings’ plan to convert the lot’s dilapidated store-and-loft building into a hotel. In 2009, however, the building partially collapsed and Buildings ordered that the entire structure be demolished. The current proposal closely adheres to the massing of the previously approved project.

According to David West, of Goldstein Hill & West Architects, the new building would rise six stories and then set back fifteen feet before rising two additional stories. The set-back floors and rooftop mechanical equipment would only be visible from limited vantage points. The building’s ground floor frontages would feature metal and glass storefronts, and cast-iron columns salvaged from the collapsed building would be incorporated into the Reade Street frontage. The upper floors would be divided into four bays and clad in limestone with granite accents. The Chambers Street and Reade Street facades would feature different fenestration. The hotel’s entrance lobby would be located along the Reade Street frontage, with retail or restaurant use on the ground floor along Chambers Street. The overall building height would be one foot taller than the previously approved proposal. (more…)

Developer agreed to fund larger on-site school and provide on-site affordable housing. On December 8, 2010, the City Council’s Land Use Committee modified Extell Development Company’s proposal to develop a three million sq.ft. mixed-use project on a site bounded by West 59th and West 61st Streets and West End Avenue and Riverside Boulevard in Manhattan’s Upper West Side. The project, known as Riverside Center, will include five buildings, ranging in height from 31 to 44 stories; 2.75 acres of publicly accessible open space; and an on-site public elementary school. Extell will also extend Freedom Place South and West 60th Street.

The 8.2-acre project site comprises the three remaining undeveloped parcels of the Riverside South development plan first approved by the City in 1992 to govern the redevelopment of the rail yards extending from West 59th Street to West 72nd Street. To facilitate the project’s development, Extell submitted multiple applications including modifications to height and setback requirements and special permits for 1,800 below-ground parking spaces. (more…)