
Third Avenue Residential Apartments at 160 East 84th Street. Image credit: CityLaw.
State used sampling method to set new base rent for studio improperly deregulated under luxury decontrol. The owner of a rental building at 160 East 84th Street, Manhattan, took advantage of the luxury decontrol provisions of the Rent Stabilization Law to deregulate a studio apartment. Subsequently, the New York Court of Appeals ruled that buildings like 160 East 84th Street were ineligible to take advantage of luxury decontrol because the building was also receiving tax incentive benefits under New York City’s j-51 program. (more…)

Hotel Seville
Support for individual landmark designations of Beaux-Arts Hotel and Neo-Renaissance Office Building expressed at hearing. On February 20, 2018, the Landmarks Preservation Commission held public hearings on the potential designations of Hotel Seville and the Emmet Building, both in East Midtown, in the area to the north of Madison Square. Landmarks added both buildings to its calendar in December of 2017. (more…)

Sendero Verde Rendering. Image Credit: Handle Architects.
A three-building mixed-use project will create 655 affordable housing units, 4 community gardens, an elevated public courtyard, space for Mt. Sinai medical offices and a DREAM charter school in East Harlem. On October 2, 2017, the City Planning Commission issued a favorable report on the Sendero Verde application submitted by NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development (“HPD”). The application will facilitate the development of three mixed-use buildings containing 655 affordable units, commercial and community facilities, community gardens, and publicly accessible open space. The project will be developed between 112th Street to the north, 111th Street to the south, Park Avenue to the east, , and Madison Avenue to the west. (more…)

Rendering of the proposed building. Image credit: LPC
Project would entail the demolition of two former service station buildings, and the erection of a new six-story-plus penthouse corner structure with residential and commercial uses. Landmarks considered an application for a new development spanning two lots at 536 and 544 Hudson Street on July 25, 2017. The site, at the corner of Charles Street, lies within the Greenwich Village Historic District. The property’s developer is William Gottlieb Real Estate. (more…)

Rendering of proposed development in East Harlem, Manhattan. Image Credit: Perkins Eastman Architects
UPDATE: On June 21, 2017, the City Planning Commission the application from the New York City Education Construction Fund and AvalonBay Communities to redevelop a city block in East Harlem to be appropriate. The proposed development would shift the Marx Brothers Playground to the center of the block and facilitate the construction of two buildings at either end. The eastern building would rise eight stories and contain two public high school relocated from other sites. The western building would rise 63 stories and contain over one million square-feet of residential floor area and the Co-op Tech vocational school.
In its report, the Planning Commission noted the need for new public schools citywide and acknowledged that finding adequate sites and securing funding are major obstacles to addressing that need. The Commission stated that the new high schools would “increase the capacity of the existing overcrowded and outdated schools, allowing more students access to their programs.”
The Commission acknowledged public concern over height and uses of the proposed development. The applicant responded to these concerns by lower the proposed height of the skyscraper from 68 stories to 63 stories. The report noted that the School Construction Fund preferred buildings for new schools be five stories tall, and that the height of the tower would allow the eastern building to be at a height in line with that preference. The Commission also wrote that “there is ample light and air around the block . . . providing the site and neighboring properties with unobstructed light and air from the east.” (more…)