Rendering of the proposed building by Christopher Papa Architects. Image credit: DCP

The City Planning Commission approved the construction of an eight-story mixed-use retail, community facility and office development in Jackson Heights. On May 24, 2017, the City Planning Commission issued a favorable report on an application from H & M LLC to facilitate the construction of a new mixed-use building with 219 accessory parking spaces at 74-04 Northern Boulevard in Queens’ Jackson Heights neighborhood. The application requested a zoning map amendment to change the project area from a C8-1 zoning district to a C4-3 zoning district, and a zoning text amendment to designate the project as a Mandatory Inclusionary Housing area. (more…)

Image Credit: Hudson River Park Trust

The proposed rezoning would permit the development of four mixed-use buildings and one commercial building across the street from Pier 40. On August 24, 2016, the City Planning Commission held a public hearing on an application for a zoning text amendment, a zoning map change, four special permits, three authorizations, and one chairperson certification to facilitate the redevelopment of the commercial building at 550 Washington Street, in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village. The project would create three separate city blocks for the five proposed buildings. There would be two buildings each in the northern and central blocks, all being mixed-use, and the fifth building would cover the entire southern lot and remain zoned for office or hotel space. (more…)

Rendering of Proposed Development. Image Credit: KPA Architects

City Council rejected the first private application of Mandatory Inclusionary Housing. On August 16, 2016, the City Council rejected a proposal to rezone a large corner lot in order to construct a new mixed-use development located at 4650 Broadway in Manhattan’s Inwood neighborhood. Currently a two-story commercial building operating as a parking garage and U-Haul truck rental facility occupies the site. The original proposal from the developer, Acadia Sherman Avenue LLC, was to build a new mixed-use building that would have retail and community space on the bottom two floors, contain 335 residential units and rise 23 stories. The original project would have made permanent 30 percent of the floor area as affordable housing under the new Mandatory Inclusionary Housing law.

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City Council Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises hearing testimony at the August 9th hearing. Image credit: CityLand

The proposal seeks to re-zone two and a half residential blocks from solely residential to mixed-use with ground floor commercial space. On August 9, 2016, the City Council’s Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises heard testimony on an application to re-zone residential space to provide for mixed residential and commercial space for two-and-a-half blocks on the south side of Houston Street, spanning from Norfolk Street to halfway between Clinton Street and Attorney Street, located on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. The City Planning Commission approved the application after holding a hearing on June 8, 2016. For CityLand’s previous coverage on the East Houston Street Rezoning, click here.

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Proposed rezoning of the Water Street POPS. Image credit: Department of City Planning

The modified version requires a full public review process in order to infill the largest arcades covered by the proposed zoning text amendment. On June 15, 2016, the City Council Committee on Land Use voted unanimously to approve a modified version of an application submitted by the Alliance for Downtown New York, the NYC Economic Development Corporation, and the Department of City Planning to rezone the privately owned public space—colloquially known as “POPS”—on and surrounding Water Street, located on the east side of lower Manhattan. The modified proposal requires the Alliance for Downtown New York to commit to providing programming on the public plazas, re-instates public review as a requirement to infill the larger buildings affected by the rezoning, and places further restrictions on the infill of the arcades.

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