Court held Board properly found billboards were prohibited near Holland Tunnel exit. On January 8, 2013 the Board of Standards and Appeals issued two decisions denying an appeal of a Department of Buildings decision to refuse permitting two billboards near the Holland Tunnel exit in Tribeca, Manhattan. Take Two Outdoor Media LLC, the appellant, argued the Holland Tunnel’s exit roadway did not constitute an “approach” to an arterial roadway under §49-16 of the Rules of … <Read More>
Search Results for: Dep’t of Buildings
Appellate Court Upholds BSA Decision on Illegal Penthouse
Board was not acting arbitrarily by requiring LPC approval of construction permit for addition to a historic district building. On February 12, 2013, the Board of Standards and Appeals found they could not reinstate a Department of Buildings construction permit for Petitioner, 339 West 29th Street LLC without prior approval from the Landmarks Preservation Commission. The Board found the permit was revoked in July 2009, and in October 2009 the area containing the work … <Read More>
BSA Vested Rights Decision Upheld by First Department
First Department recognized retroactive validation of a permit. In 2005, the Board of Standards and Appeals denied recognition of GRA V, LLC’s common law vested right to perform work under a Department of Buildings permit on the grounds Buildings deemed the underlying permit invalid. (See CityLand’s extensive previous coverage here.) A common law vested right occurs when a developer performs substantial work in reliance that the underlying permit or zoning is valid. In 2011, … <Read More>
ALJ Finds Landlord Harassed Tenants
Testimony showed landlord Aimco routinely ignored maintenance requests and issued baseless eviction threats. The NYC Department of Housing Preservation Development charged Aimco with a dozen different forms of harassment against their tenants. Aimco is the owner of the Tempo, a Class A hotel at 238-244 West 73rd Street, with 150 rent-stabilized single-room occupancy (SRO) units and 75 SRO units rented at market-rate. Aimco’s representative, John Bezzant, denied the charges and petitioned for a certificate of … <Read More>
Challenge to NYU Expansion Plan Overturned on Appeal
Coalition of local residents, Greenwich Village community organizations, and elected officials sought to prevent NYU’s development of two superblocks north of Houston Street. In 2012, the City Council voted to approve multiple actions to allow an expansion plan by New York University to develop two superblocks bounded by West 3rd Street, Houston Street, Mercer Street and LaGuardia place in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village. The project, projected to take 20 years to complete, would entail the construction … <Read More>
Building’s Refusal to Permit Advertising Sign on Eagle Electric Building Upheld.
Eagle claimed huge sign visible from Queensboro Bridge was not an accessory sign. The Eagle Electric Manufacturing Company, in 1936, constructed a 1,950 square foot sign on the rooftop of its plant located at 23-10 Queens Plaza South, Queens. The plant is located in the M1-9/R9 Special Long Island City Mixed Use zoning district and within 200 feet of the Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge. Eagle ceased operations in 2000; the plant where the sign is … <Read More>