Alterations are designed to restrict big-box retail and hotel developments. On May 21, 2008, the City Planning Commission voted to approve, with modifications, the Department of City Planning’s proposal to rezone a 70-block area in the Hunts Point section of the South Bronx. The area City Planning proposes to rezone is bounded by the Bruckner Expressway, Halleck Street, and Ryawa and Oak Point Avenues.

Consisting of 690 acres, the Hunts Point peninsula is characterized by a 22-block residential district that is surrounded by more industrial uses. The industrial area of Hunts Point is developed by such facilities as the Fulton Fish Market, the 329-acre Hunts Point Food Distribution Center, and a number of waste-treatment centers.

The proposed rezoning would create a buffer between the residential and industrial areas. The rezoning would also prohibit new wasterelated uses from entering the area, a measure intended to encourage the further growth of food industries in Hunts Point. (more…)

BFC Partners’ proposal calls for 160 co-op units. On February 13, 2008, the Planning Commission approved an application to construct a housing project in the Stapleton neighborhood of Staten Island. The Department of Housing Preservation and Development submitted the application on behalf of developer BFC Partners. The application calls for two, five-story, mixed-use buildings with 160 residential units to be located just west of the area that the New York City Economic Development Corporation plans to revitalize with a waterfront esplanade, hotel, and sports complex, and residential and retail space. 3 CityLand 149 (Nov. 15, 2006). Currently, the 75,619-square-foot site is occupied by a 128-space municipal parking lot and a one-story commercial building.

Under the proposal, BFC would build the development in two phases: the first phase would yield 90 residential units and 9,500 sq.ft. of ground-floor retail, the second phase 70 residential units and 6,300 sq.ft. of ground-floor retail. BFC would make all of the residential units affordable by taking advantage of New York City Housing Development Corporation financial incentives. (more…)

Solow plan to include affordable housing, open space. On January 28, 2008, the Planning Commission voted to approve the development plans of Solow and Manhattan Community Board 6 for the former-Con Edison site on Manhattan’s East Side, located along First Avenue between East 35th and 41st Streets. Solow’s plan called for a mixed-use development consisting of new high-rise towers, parking facilities, and publicly accessible open space. Board 6’s plan, meanwhile, called for height, density, and parking restrictions as well as more open space, particularly along the waterfront. 4 CityLand 172 (Dec. 2007).

At 685 First Avenue, between East 39th and East 40th Street, Solow proposed to build a predominantly residential 721-foot tower. On the east side of First Avenue, at 700 First Avenue, Solow proposed three predominantly residential sheer-rise towers with heights of 705, 650, and 606 feet. To the north of 700 First Avenue, at 708 First Avenue, Solow proposed a 47-story commercial tower with a height of 688 feet. The shared cellar and sub-cellar of the 700 and 708 sites would contain 651 public and 499 accessory parking spaces. In addition, the plan calls for a 3.2-acre landscaped public plaza, open from 6am to midnight, to be located across the street from 685 First Avenue between 700 and 708 First Avenue. Solow also included a 630-seat public school and children’s playground as part of its plan. (more…)

Dolly Williams’ vote to approve Brooklyn rezoning conflicted with her investment in the Nets. On November 27, 2007, the Conflicts of Interest Board fined City Planning Commissioner Dolly Williams $4,000 for failing to recuse herself from a May 2004 vote on a rezoning plan that benefited her investment in the Atlantic Yards Project in Downtown Brooklyn.

The Downtown Brooklyn Plan sought to encourage commercial and residential development in Downtown Brooklyn, including areas within the footprint of the Atlantic Yards Project, a $4 billion private development plan that includes an arena for the New Jersey Nets. 3 CityLand 135 (Oct. 15, 2006). (more…)

Commission signs off on Columbia’s eminent domain option despite vocal opposition. On November 26, 2007, the Planning Commission modified and approved both Columbia University’s campus expansion plan and Community Board 9’s 197-a plan. The two plans must now go before the City Council for their review.

Columbia’s plan called for rezoning 35 acres of Manhattanville, a section of West Harlem primarily zoned for manufacturing, to facilitate construction of a 17-acre academic mixed-use development roughly bounded by West 125th and West 135th Streets, from Broadway to 12th Avenue. The development would include research buildings, classrooms, university housing, as well as space for recreation facilities and ground-floor retail. A contiguous below-grade facility, or “bathtub,” would serve the new campus buildings with parking facilities, truck loading facilities, and two central energy plants. If Columbia is unable to purchase the property necessary for the bathtub, then, under the plan, the Empire State Development Corporation would acquire the property by eminent domain on Columbia’s behalf. 4 CityLand 89 (July 15, 2007). (more…)