The Center for New York City Law with Speaker Quinn on February 15, 2013. (From left to right) Sarah Knowles, Amber Gonzalez, Brian Kaszuba, Ross Moskowitz, Randy Kleinman, Christine Quinn, Ross Sandler, William Vidal, Melissa Wagner.

This morning the Center for New York City Law at New York Law School hosted one of its City Law Breakfasts. The event was co-hosted by the Center for Real Estate Studies.  New York Law School and the Center were honored to have City Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn as this morning’s speaker.

Speaker Quinn was introduced by the Center’s founder and Director, Ross Sandler. Quinn began by thanking Ross Sandler and praising New York Law School Dean Anthony Crowell.

In front of over 200 attendees, Speaker Quinn talked about a recent City Council legal victory over a proposed Department of Homeless Services (DHS) policy. That policy would make it harder for homeless single adults to access shelter. The policy was implemented without providing the Council notice and without holding a public hearing pursuant to the City Charter. The Supreme Court and the Appellate Division ruled in favor of the Council. DHS will now work with the Council to create a new policy.

(more…)

Rendering of 74 Wallabout Street courtesy of Magnusson Architecture and Planning PC.

Developer asked the City to rezone manufacturing-zoned block in order to develop a seven-story building and a five-story extension for an adjacent religious school. On September 12, 2012 the City Council approved 74 Wallabout LLC’s proposal to demolish a low-rise warehouse building and build a seven-story mixed-use building at 74 Wallabout Street in South Williamsburg, Brooklyn. The warehouse sits on the western half of a block bounded by Wallabout Street, and Flushing, Franklin, and Kent Avenues. The Pointe Plaza Hotel (a converted industrial building) and the K-12 Yeshiva Bnos Ahavas Israel occupy the block’s western half. The new building will be 70 feet tall and include 120 rental units, 28,439 sq.ft. of ground floor retail space, and 60 underground parking spaces. 74 Wallabout LLC plans to make the apartments affordable to moderate income households. 74 Wallabout LLC also plans to sell a 5,000-square-foot portion of its property to the yeshiva, and build the school a 17,640-square-foot, five-story rear extension. To develop the project, 74 Wallabout LLC requested that the block be rezoned from M1-2 to R7-1 with a C1-5 commercial overlay.

(more…)

EDC’s vision for the Seward Park redevelopment area in the Lower East Side. Credit: EDC

City’s plan to redevelop urban renewal area in the Lower East Side would include 1.65 million sq.ft. of new development across nine City-owned sites. On August 22, 2012, the City Planning Commission approved the New York City Economic Development Corporation’s 1.65 million-square-foot, 900-unit Seward Park Mixed-Use Development Project in Manhattan’s Lower East Side. The project site consists of nine City-owned lots on the north and south sides of Delancey Street between Ludlow and Clinton Streets. Three lots are north of Delancey Street and include the Essex Street Market building (Site 9) and two low-rise commercial properties (Sites 8 and 10). The remaining six lots are on the south side of Delancey Street bounded by Ludlow and Clinton Streets and make up the proposed Large-Scale General Development.

(more…)

Proposed 1,300-unit project near the Bronx River led by Gifford Miller would include a mix of affordable and market-rate apartments. On October 5, 2011, the City Council approved Signature Urban Properties’ proposal to build a ten-building mixed-use project overlooking the Sheridan Expressway and the Bronx River in the Crotona Park East and West Farms sections of the Bronx. To facilitate the approximately 1,300- unit project, Signature submitted multiple applications including a proposal to rezone an eleven-block area generally bounded by Boston Road to the north, Freeman Street to the south, West Farms Road to the east, and Boone Avenue to the west. Signature proposed rezoning the primarily industrial area from M1-1 to R6A, R7A, R7X, and R8X districts with C2-4 commercial overlays.

Signature proposes to build seven buildings along two blocks of West Farms Road and Boone Avenue between East 173rd and Jennings Streets and divided by East 172nd Street. Signature first plans to develop two buildings on the northern portion of the block bounded by East 172nd and Jennings Streets. The buildings will range in height from three to nine stories along Boone Avenue and from nine to fifteen stories along West Farms Road, and will include 237 residential units and 130 underground parking spaces.

Five buildings will be developed on the block to the north, which will be divided by a 60-foot wide landscaped open space. To the south, two buildings will range in height from six to thirteen stories and include 288 apartments, ground floor commercial space along Boone Avenue and a central courtyard with a public playground. Signature will provide space for a six-story elementary school in one of the three buildings on the block’s northern portion. If the School Construction Authority elects to build the school, Signature would create a total of 317 apartments in the remaining floor area. The three buildings would include a total of 370 apartments if the SCA does not build the school.  (more…)

Located on former prison site, the complex will provide affordable and special needs housing. On September 30, 2009, the City Council approved the Department of Housing Preservation and Development’s proposal to facilitate the construction of a 455- unit complex, known as Navy Green, in Brooklyn’s Wallabout neighborhood. The 461,449 sq.ft. mixed-use development will be located on most of the block bounded by Flushing Avenue to the north, the Brooklyn- Queens Expressway to the south, Vanderbilt Avenue to the east, and Clermont Avenue to the west. During World War II, the Navy operated a prison on the site and the City’s Department of Correction used the structure before its 2005 demolition.

Dunn Development and L&M Development Partners’ proposal for the site includes four multi-family buildings and 23 four-story townhouses. The developers will build two 12-story structures on Flushing Avenue that will step down to eight-stories as they wrap around the corners of Clermont and Vanderbilt Avenues, respectively. The plan calls for constructing 10 four-story townhouses along Clermont Avenue, and 13 townhouses on Vanderbilt Avenue. An eight-story structure will be built on the southern portion of Clermont Avenue, and another eight-story building will be located along the southern portion of Vanderbilt Avenue. This building will provide 95-units of housing for low-income singles and special needs housing, targeting formerly homeless adults who suffer from mental illness. (more…)