Commission OKs 63-story Lexington Ave. tower

Lord Norman Foster-designed 63-story tower at 610 Lexington would use air rights from Seagram Plaza. Image: Foster + Partners.

Transfer of air rights from landmarked Seagram Building facilitates construction. On July 2, 2008, the City Planning Commission approved the special permit and zoning text amendment proposed by developer Aby Rosen, allowing his 63-story project at 610 Lexington to proceed to City Council for a vote. The proposed mixed-use building on the southwest corner of … <Read More>


Accessory parking requirement waived

Developer claimed structural limitations made off-street parking economically infeasible. POKO Partners LLC, a property manager and developer of low-income housing, planned to convert a 50,000sq.ft. vacant theater at 1501 Pitkin Avenue in Brooklyn into a seven-story mixed-use development with two floors of retail, commercial, and community facility space and five floors of residential use. If the 66-unit building were constructed as proposed, 33 off-street parking spaces would be required. POKO sought a variance from the … <Read More>


SoHo Alliance loses appeal to stop Trump SoHo

BSA allows construction of the controversial hotel to go forward. In September 2007, the New York City Department of Buildings approved plans for the 42-story Trump SoHo condominium hotel, to be located at 246 Spring Street between Varick Street and Sixth Avenue. Because there is a general prohibition against residential developments in the area with the exception of transient hotels, Buildings’ approval required the developers to file a restriction against the property that would prohibit … <Read More>


West 49th St. development approved

Residential development approved for former manufacturing district. On March 10, 2008, the Planning Commission approved Real Estate Industrials’ proposal to build two, seven-story residential buildings and a public parking garage adjacent to an as-of-right residential building and an existing four-story Red Cross headquarters on West 49th Street, between Tenth and Eleventh Avenues. The as-of-right building would have 41 dwelling units, while the two additional buildings would have 124 units total. The developer would demolish four … <Read More>


Jamaica rezoning approved with modifications

The Jamaica Plan: Proposed Zoning with City Council Modifications, subject to adoption by the City Council by September 19, 2007, used with permission of the New York City Department of City Planning. All rights reserved.

Largest rezoning undertaken by City sent back to Commission for final approval. The City Council approved, with several significant modifications, the Planning Commission’s proposal to rezone 378 blocks in Jamaica, Queens. The Council’s modifications must now go to the Planning … <Read More>


Ronay Menschel and Adam Weinstein Talk About Affordable Housing

For the past two decades, Ronay Menschel and Adam Weinstein have led the Phipps Houses Group, New York City’s oldest and largest affordable housing provider. Founded in 1905 by Carnegie Steel’s Henry Phipps, the organization has built over 6,000 units, and currently manages 12,500 apartments, as well as community service centers, Head Start locations, vocational centers, and afterschool programs.

In the mid-1970s Ronay Menschel worked in Edward I. Koch’s Washington Congressional office and moved to … <Read More>