BSA rejected owner’s site valuation and claim that buildings were of a “different era.” Sutphin Boulevard LLC, owner of three adjacent lots in a residential district totaling 24,649 sq. ft., sought to demolish four buildings housing auto-service and auto-storage space on one of its lots and construct a one-story 12,005-square-foot retail building spanning the three lots. The site, at Sutphin Boulevard and I I It h Avenue in Queens, has contained an auto-service station since 1 93 1 under a City approval that BSA extended until 1 980. Since 1980, the service station has operated without approval.

In its variance application, Sutphin argued that the existing buildings were obsolete and demolition and remediation costs made as-of-right residential construction cost-prohibitive. Sutphin also claimed that a hardship existed because the residentially-zoned site contained a use prohibited under the current zoning.

Owner sought to legalize ‘car wash, auto-lubrication station and accessory retail building. 2 113 First Avenue, llC, owner of two lots used for auto-related uses located at 338 East 109th Street in a residential district, sought a variance to legalize the existing car wash, auto-lubrication station and accessory retail building.

In its application to BSA, 2 1 13 represented that the oddly shaped lots and residential zoning made as-of-right development infeasible and that parts of the premises have been used for auto-related purposes for over 75 years. The developer also argued that the auto uses provided an economic benefit to the neighborhood.

BSA- requested alternate design approved. Siba Re LP, the owner of 350 West Broadway, a 8,264-squarefoot lot in SoHo between Grand and Broome Streets, proposed to expand a vacant two-story building into a ISS-foot tall, 13-story, 4 1 ,320- square-foot mixed-use building with retail and residential uses.

In support of a variance, Siba argued that the shallowness of the lot resulted in inefficient and impractical floor plates for any permitted commercial use. Showing that the area’s typical bedrock levels are between 60 and 80 feet, Siba further argued that the 1 1 4-foot depth of bedrock under the site required additional construction costs that constituted an unnecessary hardship. Siba proposed to reinforce the original structure rather than demolish it because the unique soil conditions would make demolition cost-prohibitive.

Four developments exceeding zoning get green light to proceed over community objection. In June 2005, the City Council rezoned 120 blocks of Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, removing the ability to construct large as-of-right residential towers without any height limit along Bensonhurst’s smaller residential streets. 2 CityLand 86 ( July 15, 2005) .

Four developers with projects underway timely sought BSA’s approval to grandfather their development plans and allow construction to proceed on buildings that violated the new down-zoning. The four projects included a 20-unit, five-story structure at 62 1 0 24th Avenue, a 12-unit, five-story development on West 1 0th Street between Quentin Road and Avenue P, a six-story mixed-use project at 6422 Bay Parkway, and a 20-unit, seven-story structure at 103 Quentin Road.

Developer planned a 19-story dormitory building without an existing school affiliation. BSA denied developer Gregg Singer’s appeal from a Department of Buildings determination rejecting Singer’s application to build a 1 9- story, 222-unit student dormitory building on the site of former P.S. 64, located at 609 East 9th Street in the East Village. Singer had acquired the five-story, former elementary school from the City for $3.15 million at a 1 998 auction. The existing building served as a school until the 1970’s, after which it housed the CHARAS/EI Bohio community center. The auction sparked three years of litigation through which CHARAS tried, but failed to regain control of the property

The property is located in a residential zoning district (R7-2) and is subject to a deed restriction limiting it to community facility use. Singer applied to Buildings to construct a student dormitory, a permitted community facility use, but Buildings denied his application on March 21, 2005 based on Singer’s failure to submit enough information to establish “an institutional nexus;” a showing that required an educational institution to have some control over the property evidenced by a deed or lease. Buildings required an institutional nexus to distinguish the intended student dormitory use, which is entitled to a floor area bonus up to a 6.5 FAR, from other types of housing that are restricted to an FAR of 3.44.

Commission approved 34-acre transfer to the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation. The Department of Small Business Services and DCAS proposed to acquire and transfer an additional 34 acres to the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation to be added to the 262-acre area currently under its management. A majority of the area to be transferred, 28 acres, contains the former U.S. Navy’s Hospital Annex. The remaining six acres, currently owned by the U.S. National Guard, contain Admirals Row, eleven former officer’s homes that were constructed between 1 864-190l.

At the Commission’s public hearing, David Lowin, Vice President of the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation, estimated that 99 percent of the current area under its management is fully leased for light industrial and commercial uses, adding over 4,500 jobs to the New York City area. Although specific plans for the added 34 acres have not been finalized, Lowin explained that its use would be limited to light industrial.