BSA variance overturned

Court finds record insufficient to allow commercial use on a Staten Island residential street. After purchasing a single-family house at the intersection of Otis Avenue and Hylan Boulevard in Staten Island, GAC Catering Inc. demolished the house and applied to BSA for a variance to construct a two-story photography and video studio to serve couples having weddings at its nearby catering hall. Despite the lot’s residential zoning, GAC claimed that commercial uses predominated the area … <Read More>


Beaux-Arts horse-mart calendared

1904 building one of last remaining horse auction mart buildings in city. At its August 8th meeting, Landmarks calendared the Van Tassel & Kearney Horse Auction Mart for possible designation as an individual landmark. The Horse Mart, at 126 East 13th Street in the East Village, was designed by the New York architecture firm of Jardine, Kent & Jardine in the Beaux-Arts style. The Horse Mart features an arched brick facade with bulls-eye windows and … <Read More>


Landmarks issued permits for North Tribeca buildings

 

Rendering of the proposed 23,000- square-foot residential building at 414 Washington Street in Tribeca. Image courtesy of Joseph Pell Lombardi and Associates.

Construction will require demolition of two Tribeca buildings. In August, Landmarks issued a permit for construction of a new building within the North Tribeca Historic District. The eight-story red brick and limestone residential building will be constructed at 50-52 Laight Street and will require the demolition of two buildings: a 1919-built, one-story … <Read More>


Variance denied to homeowner in legal trouble

Queens homeowner sought to legalize lot split to allow sale to proceed. Pei Yu Zhong proposed to split her 11,475-square-foot lot, containing a one-family house, garage and swimming pool, into two developable lots and construct a new home to replace the pool and garage. After receiving a preliminarytax lot from the Department of Finance and a subdivision approval from Buildings, Zhong applied for a new building permit in January 2003. While Buildings was completing its … <Read More>


Apartments to be built opposite Holland Tunnel

Sixty-one unit apartment building to be built on Varick Street. The owner of 100 Varick Street sought a variance from BSA to build a 79- unit, 109-foot tall, 65,980-squarefoot residential development covering two lots located across from the Holland Tunnel entry plaza in Manhattan, zoned for manufacturing uses. No parking would be added to the development. At the first hearing before BSA, the owners of adjacent 125 Varick opposed the development, explaining that they held … <Read More>


Aeronautics school gets variance for new dorm

New dormitory next to LaGuardia to house 200 students. The Vaughn College of Aeronautics and Technology operates a school on a sevenacre site at 90th Street and Ditmars Boulevard opposite LaGuardia Airport in Queens. Vaughn applied to BSA for a variance to build its first dormitory on an undeveloped portion of its lot. The three-story, 200- bed dorm would exceed height limits and yard requirements.

Vaughn argued that the proposed dorm was necessary to attract … <Read More>