
Rendering of Proposed Development at 35-37 Rochester Avenue Image Credit: City Planning
Affordable homeownership project receives generally positive feedback. On January 22, 2020, the City Planning Commission heard an application by the Department of Housing Preservation and Development for the disposition of city-owned property and to designate three areas in the southern portion of Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn as Urban Development Action Areas. The UDAAP designation would help facilitate the construction of seven new buildings and 78 affordable homeownership units. Felipe Cortez, a borough planner at HPD and Jack Heaney from Fulcrum Properties presented the application.
(more…)

Rendering of Proposed Lenox Terrace Development Image Credit: City Planning
Public appears at public hearing in strong opposition of the proposed redevelopment of Lenox Terrace. On December 18, 2019, the City Planning Commission heard an application by the Olnick Organization to re-zone and re-develop Lenox Terrace. Lenox Terrace is an existing residential development on a twelve acre superblock in the Harlem neighborhood of Manhattan. The block is situated between 135th Street to the north, 132nd Street to the south, 5th Avenue to the east and Malcom X Boulevard to the west. Presenting for the applicants were Ethan Goodman and Elizabeth Bennet of Fox Rothschild LLP and Christopher K. Grabé from Davis Brody Bond.
(more…)

Rendering of proposed Development at 979-985 Pacific Street Image Credit: City Planning
Community Board and Borough President in agreement about a slightly smaller zoning designation. On January 8, 2020, the City Planning Commission heard an application by EMP Capital Group to rezone a portion of two blocks fronting on the corner of Grand Avenue and Pacific Street in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. The rezoning would help facilitate the development of a nine-story mixed-use building at 979-985 Pacific Street. The applicant is represented by Richard Lobel of Sheldon Lobel P.C.
(more…)

The World’s Fair Marina cannot be used for residential use. Image Credit: CityLaw
Owner lived year-round in houseboat moored in Flushing marina which offers only seasonal permits. In 1996 George Anton purchased a medium-sized, 1971-vintage motorboat. At the time, the boat lacked an engine and was docked at the World’s Fair Marina, located in Flushing Bay. Anton and his wife converted the motorboat into a houseboat and made it their permanent home. (more…)

Image Credit: Caroline Harris
Caroline Harris’s career as a land use attorney stems from an early interest in urban affairs and planning. Harris was born in New York City and grew up in Peter Cooper Village. As a student at the then all-female Hunter College High School, she started the first student volunteer program for Head Start, earning Mayor Lindsay’s award for “Distinguished Volunteer Supervision.” Harris spent five months in Israel before entering Trinity College, where she majored in Religious Studies and minored in Urban Planning. (more…)