Governor Cuomo addressing the COVID-19 Crisis Image Credit:
Mike Groll/Office of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo

All construction permits will need to be active and renewed during the suspension period.  On March 30, 2020, the Department of Buildings announced that all work on non-essential construction and demolition sites is suspended for the duration of the COVID-19 public health emergency. Buildings made the decision to suspend such construction and demolition following Governor Andrew Cuomo’s amended executive order and the Empire State Development Corporation’s guidelines. The executive order, which required non-essential businesses and nonprofits to limit in-person work to curb COVID-19 transmission, was amended on March 27, 2020 to include the suspension of all non-essential construction.

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Image credit: NYC Department of Parks & Recreation.

Upgrades were designed with community input. On February 25, 2020, the Parks Department announced the beginning of a reconstruction project of Hart Playground in Woodside, Queens. Hart Playground is located on the block between Broadway to the north, 37th Avenue to the south, 65th Street to the west and 69th Street to the east.  (more…)

Department of Design and Construction Logo Image Credit: DDC

Contracting for the construction of the Borough-Based Jails under way. On February 4, 2020, the Department of Design and Construction announced the issuance of four Request for Qualifications for the Design-Build teams that might construct the new borough based jails.  The four jails will be located at 24-125 White Street in Manhattan, 745 East 141st Street in the Bronx, 126-02 82nd Avenue in Queens and at 275 Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn.

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Proposed rendering of 324 Macon Street as it appears on the Macon Street streetscape./Image Credit: Gerald J. Caliendo Architects

The applicants and Landmarks staff will work together to modify details for the proposed building. On December 3, 2019, the Landmarks Preservation Commission voted to approve a certificate of appropriateness to construct a new three-story residential building on a vacant lot at 324 Macon Street, Brooklyn, located within the Bedford Stuyvesant/Expanded Stuyvesant Heights Historic District.

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Rendering of the 776-780 Myrtle Avenue development as presented throughout the ULURP process; however, there may be minor aesthetic changes made. / Image Credit: Urban Architectural Initiatives

The new nine-story building would bring approximately 36 housing units for the formerly homeless. On October 17, 2019, the City Council voted to approve a land use application to facilitate the construction of a new nine-story mixed-use residential and commercial building on three vacant City-owned lots at 776-780 Myrtle Avenue in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn. To facilitate the project, the application asks for two land use actions. First, the three City-owned vacant lots will be transferred to IMPACCT Brooklyn to develop the building. Second, the development will take advantage of the Urban Development Action Area Program property tax exemption for new development on formerly City-owned land. The Department of Housing Preservation and Development, IMPACCT Brooklyn, and Urban Architectural Initiatives are the applicants.

On August 28, 2019, the City Planning Commission voted to approve the application. For CityLand’s prior coverage on this decision, click here.

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