Mayor Bill de Blasio delivers the 2015 State of the City address at Baruch College. Image Demetrius Freeman/Mayoral Photography Office

Affordable housing issues, including rent-regulation, mandatory inclusionary zoning, and more were highlighted in the speech.  On February 3, 2015 Mayor Bill de Blasio delivered his second State Of The City address from Baruch College.  The Mayor spoke at length about the affordable housing crisis facing New York City and the programs his administration has begun or will propose to address the problem.

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East Fordham Road Rezoning Project Area. Image Credit:Pictometry International Corp.

Central Bronx area rezoned is adjacent to the Bronx Zoo, the Bronx Botanical Garden, and Fordham University. The Council approved the Bronx Planning office’s proposed zoning map amendments affecting a 12 block area in the Central Bronx. The new zoning established height limits, protects neighborhood character, and reinforces existing commercial character. A major goal of the rezoning is to stimulate revitalization of the area through private investment, the construction of affordable housing and to create an attractive gateway to important Bronx cultural institutions.

On September 30, 2013, the Bronx Borough Office of the Department of City Planning (DCP) testified before the City Council’s Land Use Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises in support of the proposal to rezone an area along East Fordham Road, a major east-west thoroughfare passing through the central Bronx.  The rezoning area is generally bounded by East 191st Street to the north, East 187th Street to the south, Southern Boulevard to the east, and Bathgate Avenue to the west. (more…)

Regional Plan Association event featured a variety of discussions on how the New York metropolitan region might face climate change, tackle transportation advancements. The Regional Plan Association, a non-profit urban research and advocacy organization, focuses on planning for economic competitiveness, quality of life, and long-term sustainability in the region that includes New York City, Long Island, Westchester and Orange counties, western Connecticut and northern New Jersey. On April 19, 2013, the Association held its 23rd Annual Assembly to discuss the challenges the region faces, and to plan a livable, sustainable, and economically strong future for the area. The Association recently commenced work on its regional plan, which will be the fourth since the organization’s inception in 1929. The plan will address climate change, deteriorating infrastructure, population increases in urban centers, and the lack of affordable housing, among other issues.

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The Rainbow Room. Credit: LPC

This article was originally published on 8/17/2012 (see below for update).

Rockefeller Center-owner Tishman Speyer endorsed designation, but said it would continue with plans to “revitalize” the currently unused nightclub and restaurant space. On September 11, 2012 Landmarks held a public hearing on the potential designation of the Rainbow Room on the 65th Floor of 30 Rockefeller Plaza as an interior landmark. The Rainbow Room was designed by Associated Architects and opened in 1934. The iconic nightclub and restaurant space features 24 double-height windows, tiered seating around a dance floor, crystal chandeliers and sconces, and can accommodate 300 people. In 1987, architect Hugh Hardy oversaw the room’s renovation and restoration. The Rainbow Room has been closed to the public since 2009, when Tishman Speyer Properties evicted Cipriani Restaurants from the space. Landmarks calendared the space on August 14, 2012. (See CityLand‘s coverage here.)

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Former site of AT&T’s Bell Laboratories was converted to live-work space for artists. On October 25, 2011, Landmarks designated the Bell Telephone Laboratories Complex, now known as Westbeth Artists’ Housing, in the Far West Village as an individual City landmark.

The complex comprises five buildings on the block bounded by West, Bethune, Washington and Bank Streets. The complex was built between 1861 in 1926, and stands as a rare example of 19th century industrial architecture. AT&T’s Bell Telephone Laboratories used the complex as a research facility for nearly seventy years, until relocating to New Jersey in 1966. The complex’s primary architect was Cyrus Eidlitz, a Jewish- Austrian émigré and noted designer of industrial and institutional structures. The buildings are generally neo-Classical in style and clad in buff brick. In the early 1930s, the complex was altered to accommodate New York Central’s construction of its elevated railway, now known as the High Line, through the third floor of 51 Bethune Street.

In 1968 the National Endowment for the Arts, with funds provided by the J.M. Kaplan Fund, converted the complex into an artists’ colony with 383 live-work spaces, a gallery, and a performance space. Architect Richard Meier oversaw the conversion, which was his first major project. Meier lived in the complex, as did choreographer Merce Cunningham and photographer Diane Arbus, among other artists.  (more…)