Community group claimed landmarking would hinder responsible development plans. On January 16, 2007, Landmarks held a hearing on the Renaissance Ballroom and Casino, comprised of two buildings at Adam Clayton Jr. Boulevard and West 137th Street in Harlem. “The Rennie,” as it was known, was designed by architect Harry Creighton Ingalls and built in stages between 1920 and 1923. One of the first entertainment complexes in Harlem, and one of the largest African-American owned enterprises in the city, the Renaissance hosted theater, sports, and private events. Prominent artists like W.E.B. DuBois and Langston Hughes graced its stage, as did the Harlem Rens, a team in the basketball equivalent to baseball’s Negro league. Inspired by Islamic architecture, the Renaissance features decorative brickwork modeled on North African tile murals and terra cotta ornamentation. The building currently lies in a state of extreme disrepair, with trees growing out of the partially caved-in roof.

The Abyssinian Development Corporation, a non-profit community development organization, owns the Renaissance. Chaired by Calvin Butts, pastor of the nearby Abyssinian Baptist Church, the development corporation hopes to transform the building into a cultural and commercial center designed by architect Max Bond. Included in the project would be a 17-story residential tower containing affordable and market-rate housing. Abyssinian would demolish the adjacent, non-historic YMCA building to open views of the Church’s spire and would build a glass arcade to shelter parishioners before and after services. (more…)

Catering hall operated independently of synagogue use. In the 18,000- square-foot basement of its synagogue and school building, Yeshiva Imrei Chaim Viznitz operated a public catering hall. The catering hall had two lobbies, two kitchens and separate entrances to the street, and operated events seven days a week. In 2004 and 2005, the hall held over 320 events including weddings with over 500 guests.

The Department of Buildings issued an order to close down the catering hall, citing the fact that the site’s residential zoning prohibited commercial uses, and Buildings could not categorize the large catering use, which advertised in the yellow pages, as an accessory use to a school and synagogue. Buildings applied to BSA to revoke the Yeshiva’s certificate of occupancy, arguing that Yeshiva Imrei received it by fraudulent means.

Yeshiva Imrei sued, obtaining a court order to enjoin BSA from issuing any decision and requiring BSA to accept its variance application. It then argued that BSA should deny Building’s argument or, alternatively, grant a variance for the catering hall since the school and synagogue needed the income to stay afloat. It added that it spent millions on the basement space in reliance on the C of O, and case law and federal law required BSA’s approval.

When questioned by BSA as to whether all the events held in the hall related to the school’s students or the synagogue’s members, Yeshiva Imrei said that 50 percent of the events did, but it offered no proof to support that claim. It added that Brooklyn’s Boro Park community needed a low-cost alternative for weddings. As a final justification, Yeshiva Imrei mentioned several other religious groups and cultural institutions, like the 92nd Street Y, Saint Bartholomew’s Church, Riverside Church and the Museum of the City of New York, which it claimed operated similar events.

To be an accessory use, Buildings pointed out that the catering hall must be incidental, generally found on the same site, and secondary to the permitted uses of the school and synagogue.

BSA ruled that the use was not accessory and denied the variance. BSA noted that the income stream could be used to support the synagogue, but this alone would not justify the catering hall’s location in a residential district. No evidence submitted by Yeshiva Imrei showed that the catering hall supported the school or synagogue in its day-today functions, and the Yeshiva failed to prove that the site, building, or lot created a hardship. BSA emphasized that Yeshiva Imrei never offered any evidence that the mentioned institutions operated to the same frequency and, after BSA’s independent review, it discovered that several sat in commercial zones. Finally, there was nothing in the federal law that prohibited BSA’s denial since the decision would not impact the Yeshiva’s religious expression. The Yeshiva was free to use the catering hall for a permitted accessory use, like a student lunchroom or synagogue events.

BSA: 1824 53rd Street (60-06-A), (290- 05-BZ) (Jan. 9, 2007) (Stuart A. Klien, for Yeshiva Imrei Chaim Viznitz; Angelina Martinez-Rubio, for DOB). CITYADMIN

CITYLANDComment: The revocation of the Yeshiva’s C of O is pending before BSA. A special hearing on the issue is tentatively scheduled for March 2007.

Emergency hearing held on East Village horse stable and auction house. On September 7, 2006, less than one month after calendaring, Landmarks held a hearing on the possible designation of the Van Kearney and Van Tassel Horse Auction Mart at 126 East 13th Street in the East Village. The 1903 Beaux-Arts building, which has also served as an automobile showroom, a women’s assembly-line training center during the second World War, and the studio of painter Frank Stella, was recently purchased by a developer who received a building permit to construct a seven-story building on the site, but had yet to receive demolition permits. In response to community petitioning, Landmarks calendared the building, which halted the issuance of demolition permits by Buildings. 3 CityLand 126 (Sept. 15, 2006).

Numerous public figures spoke in favor of designation or sent representatives to the hearing, including State Assemblywoman Deborah Glick, Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, Council Member Rosie Mendez, and State Senator David Chang. Mendez spoke of her community’s recent struggles to protect P.S. 64 and St. Brigid’s Church, and asked that Landmarks work more closely with Buildings to avoid the destruction of important historic buildings. (more…)

Commission recommends that the project be reduced by 635,000 sq.ft. and its open space increased. On September 27, 2006, the Planning Commission recommended to the Empire State Development Corporation that Forest City Ratner Companies reduce the overall size of its proposed downtown Brooklyn Atlantic Yards project by eight percent or 635,000 sq.ft. and increase the proposed open space from seven to eight acres to address the significant amount of pedestrian traffic that the project would generate. Ratner’s plan calls for a massive redevelopment of Brooklyn’s Atlantic Yards with an arena for the Nets, thousands of residential units, office space, new street retail, a transit hub, public open space and a possible hotel.

Ratner’s project triggered a Commission recommendation because the development would necessitate an override to local zoning restrictions on use, parking, loading, height, floor area, setback and signage. The Commission’s letter stated that the Nets arena was not a permitted use within the site’s residential districts or its residential/commercial overlay districts, and that the site’s residential zoning prohibited the proposed commercial uses. (more…)

Community opponents raised issues of parking and building height. Sephardic Center of Mill Basin proposed to construct a new 1 0,800 square-foot, two-story synagogue to replace its 20-year old, 6,800-squarefoot synagogue on the corner of Strickland and Mill Avenues in Mill Basin, Brooklyn. As proposed, the new synagogue would exceed the permitted floor area by 5,384 sq.ft., exceed the district’s permitted height by seven feet and fail to provide sufficient parking.

The Center claimed that the height limitation created a hardship since the synagogue needed a double- height worship area that would allow the men o n the lower level and the women on the upper level to view the rabbi from segregated praying areas, The Center also claimed that it needed additional space for segregated immersion pools, separate dairy and meat kitchens, private offices and a large events space. (more…)