Citizens group challenged inclusion of private residential development. In 2002, Mayor Bloomberg and Governor Pataki created the Brooklyn Bridge Park Development Corporation as a subsidiary of the Empire State Development Corporation and charged it with the responsibility to design and build a proposed park on Port Authority land along Brooklyn’s East River waterfront. The 2002 agreement required that no less than 80 percent of the acreage be park space, all revenue generated from commercial uses … <Read More>
Search Results for: Economic Development
Residential variance approved for waterfront site
Residential development on College Point manufacturing site approved. Jung Kyu Lee owned a 496,604- square-foot lot split between commercial and manufacturing zoning districts along the East River in College Point, Queens. He constructed 58 two-family homes as-of-right on the commercially-zoned portion, leaving the 144,325-square-foot manufacturing portion vacant and inaccessible from the closest street. Lee then applied to BSA to construct 28 new two-family homes on the manufacturing portion.
Lee argued that manufacturing uses would be … <Read More>
Vested rights denied despite DOB permit error
Developer failed to inform DOB of error and continued work without a permit. After the City voted to downzone Jamaica Hills, Queens, Hamida Realty applied to BSA, arguing that it had obtained a vested right to continue its development on two adjoining lots located at 87-30 and 87-32 167th Street, north of Hillside Avenue.
When purchased by Hamida in 2001, the two 30-foot lots were joined and contained a single home that Hamida demolished. Hamida … <Read More>
Two Queens neighborhoods down-zoned
Middle Village and Glendale rezoned to allow in-context residential development. The Planning Commission approved another outer-borough rezoning intended to preserve established scale, protect low-rise character, and curb inconsistent development in residential neighborhoods. A majority of the rezoned area, 105 blocks along Metropolitan Avenue and the Long Island Railroad, will be predominantly rezoned R4-1 to allow only one- and two-family dwellings. Another 60-block area, bounded by Juniper Valley Road, Juniper Boulevard South, 78th Avenue, and 80th … <Read More>
Mixed-use bldg. to replace NoHo lumber storage yard
Owner argued that adjacent overbuilt buildings restricted the development of its lot. Lauto Group, LTD sought to construct an 11- story, 37,535-square-foot building at 48 Bond Street in NoHo, a vacant site used by Great Jones Lumber for parking and lumber storage for its Great Jones Street store. Lauto’s new building, a 129-foot tall structure with retail and residential units, required BSA approval to exceed limits on height, and to permit ground floor retail and … <Read More>
Harlem car wash owner withdraws application
Owner sought to legalize ‘car wash, auto-lubrication station and accessory retail building. 2 113 First Avenue, llC, owner of two lots used for auto-related uses located at 338 East 109th Street in a residential district, sought a variance to legalize the existing car wash, auto-lubrication station and accessory retail building.
In its application to BSA, 2 1 13 represented that the oddly shaped lots and residential zoning made as-of-right development infeasible and that parts of … <Read More>