23rd Regiment Armory in Crown Heights

Department of Homeless Services operates a 350-bed men’s shelter in head house of landmarked Armory. On August 14, 2012, the City Economic Development Corporation issued a request for proposals from developers interested in leasing and reusing a 50,000-square-foot drill hall space in the 23rd Regiment Armory at the corner Bedford and Atlantic Avenues in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. The National Guard completed the Romanesque Revival-style Armory in 1895. The Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the building as an individual landmark in 1977. Since 1982 the Department of Homeless Services has used the Armory’s five-story head house as a 350-bed homeless shelter. EDC is seeking proposals to develop “neighborhood-serving uses” in the adjacent drill hall and enhance community access to the space. The selected developer would control the drill hall space through a triple net ground lease, which would require the developer to be responsible for operating expenses, insurance, repairs, and property taxes.

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Rendering of Chelsea Market’s proposed Tenth Avenue addition. Courtesy of Jamestown Properties and Studios

Borough president and local community board oppose current plan to build additions to the eastern and western sides of block-long Chelsea Market. On July 25, 2012, the City Planning Commission held a public hearing on Jamestown Properties’ expansion plan for Chelsea Market at 75 Ninth Avenue in Manhattan. The Market is a complex of 18 different buildings occupying the entire block bounded by West 14th and West 15th Streets and Ninth and Tenth Avenues and was formerly occupied by Nabisco. A portion of the High Line elevated park runs through the Market’s western edge on Tenth Avenue. The Market provides more than 1.1 million sq.ft. of space for food-related and non-food-related retail and wholesale businesses, along with media and technology companies.

Jamestown’s initial proposal included building a 240,000-square-foot, nine-story office addition on the Tenth Avenue side of the Market, and a 90,000-square-foot, 11-story hotel addition on the Ninth Avenue side of the Market. The nine-story addition on Tenth Avenue would increase the Market’s height from 84 feet to 226 feet. The 11-story addition on Ninth Avenue would increase the tallest portion of that side of the Market from 51 feet to 160 feet. Jamestown did not propose any new development for the mid-block.

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Queens health club requested rezoning in order to apply for BSA special permit after operating without a valid certificate of occupancy for seventeen years. On January 18, 2011, the City Council approved Lucille Roberts Health Club’s rezoning proposal for five lots along Bell Boulevard between 42nd Avenue and the Long Island Railroad right-of-way in Bayside, Queens. The approval changed the area’s commercial overlay from C1-2 to C2-2, but left the underlying R6B zoning unchanged. Lucille Roberts has operated a gym at the site for seventeen years without a valid certificate of occupancy. The company requested the rezoning so it could apply for a special permit from BSA. The site is surrounded by a restaurant, hardware and paint stores, and a spa.

Lucille Roberts began leasing a single-story building at 41-19 Bell Boulevard in 1993. The site was zoned C4-2, and Lucille Roberts applied to BSA for a special permit to operate a gym. While the application was pending, the City rezoned the area R6B/C1-2. The special permit was not available within a C1-2 commercial overlay and BSA dismissed the application. Lucille Roberts continued to operate the gym illegally. In 2004 it requested a use variance from BSA, but withdrew the application because it could not demonstrate that the gym would be the only use that would yield a reasonable economic return. (more…)

District court stopped Buildings from revoking church’s catering permit. The Third Church of Christ, Scientist, located at Park Avenue and 63rd Street in Manhattan, had a dwindling congregation, and its 80-yearold building was in need of major repairs. In order to avoid selling the building, Third Church agreed to allow Rose Group Park Avenue LLC to cater private events at the church. In exchange, Rose Group would pay for Third Church’s operating expenses and capital improvements. (more…)

Contextual rezoning of 418 blocks in Auburndale, Oakland Gardens, and Hollis Hills modified to address concerns of private co-op. On October 27, 2010, the City Council modified the Department of City Planning’s 418-block rezoning of three communities in northeast Queens. The contextual rezoning impacted the Auburndale subarea, which is generally bounded by Station Road to the north, the Long Island Expressway to the south, Francis Lewis Boulevard to the east, and Kissena Park to the west; and the Oakland Gardens-Hollis Hills subarea, generally bounded by the Long Island Expressway, the Grand Central Parkway, Alley Pond Park, and the Clearview Expressway.

The suburban area is characterized by one- and two-family detached and semi-detached housing, with larger apartment buildings along the wider avenues. The prior zoning’s flexibility permitted development that was out-of-context with the area’s built character. The approved plan applied contextual zoning districts in order to preserve the area’s low-density residential character, while permitting limited increases in density along the area’s primary corridors. (more…)