Tear Down the Chrysler Building?

Save our skyline. If not, tear down the Chrysler building and demolish the Empire State Building. If action isn’t taken these stars of the New York City skyline will be permanently eclipsed. If the public can’t see them, why preserve them? Even the preservation resistant Real Estate Board of New York would likely gasp at the notion of demolishing these two iconic New York landmarks. “The view of the New York skyline is nationally and … <Read More>


Sam Schwartz: Managing Traffic Through “Fair Pricing”

This week there has been a renewed interest in Sam Schwartz’s revised congestion pricing plan which is being pushed by a group called Move NY.  Read CityLaw’s great profile on Mr. Schwartz that details his plan.  This was originally published on April 18, 2013.

Sam Schwartz is the president and CEO of Sam Schwartz Engineering, a firm that specializes in transportation planning and engineering. Schwartz’s new congestion pricing proposal, “Move New York,” … <Read More>


Former CPC Chair Discussed 1969 Plan for New York City

On Thursday, April 11, 2013, the Center for New York City Law and the Center for Real Estate Studies at New York Law School presented a Master Class on the 1969 City Planning Commission’s Plan for New York City. Ross Sandler, Director of the Center for New York City Law, found a complete set of the original plans at a recent auction. Mr. Sandler invited two guest speakers to discuss the plan: Donald H. Elliott<Read More>


Governors Island signage and landscaping approved

Proposed welcome walls on Governors Island. Image: Courtesy of West 8.

Portions of Trust for Governors Island’s redevelopment plan falling within historic district needed Landmarks approval. On February 7, 2012, Landmarks issued a binding report approving portions of the Trust for Governors Island’s plan for the recreational redevelopment of the 172-acre Governors Island. Landmarks in July 2011 approved the Trust’s proposal to demolish six non-historic structures and landscape an area near the Yankee Pier public … <Read More>


Lower court reversed; Piers project moves forward

First Department rules NYSDEC was not an “involved agency” in project’s environmental review. In 2008, the City’s Economic Development Corporation selected MMPI Piers LLC, a subsidiary of Vornado Realty Trust, to renovate Piers 92 and 94 along the Hudson River between West 52nd and West 55th Streets in Manhattan. The piers have been used as exhibition space and for trade shows, and Pier 92 has served as a cruise ship dock when Piers … <Read More>


Attorney Carol E. Rosenthal Discusses Development in the City

Land use attorney Carol E. Rosenthal is able to combine her appreciation of architecture, government, and law all in a day’s work as a partner at Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP. After contemplating a major in art, Rosenthal graduated from Brandeis University with a degree in political science. She then earned her law degree from New York University School of Law and began her legal career as a clerk for the United States … <Read More>