Council signs off on rezoning and land disposition of City-owned waterfront property in Mill Basin

City will convey waterfront property to Kristal Auto Mall and an existing Toys ‘R’ Us retail store on Flatbush Avenue. On May 15, 2012, the City Council approved the Department of Small Business Services’ plan to facilitate the relocation of Kristal Auto Mall to a site on Flatbush Avenue abutting Mill Basin in Brooklyn. The City-owned project site is occupied by a 45,000-square-foot Toys ‘R’ Us store and a 400-space accessory parking lot used … <Read More>


BSA Commissioner Susan M. Hinkson Discusses Her Varied Career

Susan M. Hinkson serves as one of the five Commissioners on the Mayor-appointed Board of Standards and Appeals. Hinkson, who is trained as both an architect and an attorney, was born and raised in the Bronx. Her father served as a justice in the Bronx County Supreme Court and her mother was a musician in the theater. Hinkson said her mother probably thought she would also go into theater, but around age fourteen Hinkson declared … <Read More>


Admirals Row Plaza project approved by Council

Admirals Row Plaza project view on the corner of Navy and Nassau Streets. Image: Courtesy of GreenbergFarrow.

Community and labor groups supported project, but sought assurances that Brooklyn Navy Yard would not lease space to Wal-Mart. On November 29, 2011, the City Council approved the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation’s Admirals Row Plaza project at the corner of Nassau and Navy Streets in Brooklyn. The six-acre site is located at the southeast edge … <Read More>


Admirals Row Plaza OK’d

Brooklyn Navy Yard proposal would add supermarket and additional light industrial space. On October 19, 2011, the City Planning Commission approved the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation’s Admirals Row Plaza mixed-use project on the southeast edge of the Brooklyn Navy Yard at the corner of Navy and Nassau Streets in Brooklyn. The United States National Guard Bureau retained control over the six-acre project site after the City purchased the Brooklyn Navy Yard. The federally-owned site … <Read More>


Behind New York City Development, Land Use Attorney Jesse Masyr

Jesse Masyr

Attorney Jesse Masyr brings unique expertise from the public sector to help developers navigate the City’s public review process. CityLand spoke with Masyr at his Midtown office about his career in land use law.

Masyr, who grew up in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, attended Tulane School of Law in New Orleans. Masyr majored in American history as an undergraduate at Harpur College (now SUNY Binghamton) and was fascinated by the antebellum period. Masyr figured that … <Read More>


Coney Island Mixed-Use Development Approved

Multi-building project will create 415 rental units along Coney Island’s boardwalk. On September 8, 2011, the City Council approved John Catsimatidis’s proposed 415- unit, mixed-use project on two vacant parcels on the western end of Riegelmann Boardwalk in Coney Island. The project site consists of an eastern and western parcel separated by West 36th Street and bounded by Surf Avenue to the north, the boardwalk to the south, West 35th Street to the east, and … <Read More>