Community Benefit Agreements report released

Task force proposed a framework for negotiating future Community Benefit Agreements related to publicly assisted development projects. A Community Benefit Agreement (CBA) is a private agreement negotiated between developers and community groups in order to garner support for real estate development projects. In exchange for community support, a developer may agree to provide amenities, such as infrastructure improvements or wage guarantees which are not required by the City’s land use review process. Since 2005, … <Read More>


Judge enjoins Brooklyn’s Broadway Triangle plan

State court judge granted a preliminary injunction blocking the plan the day after full Council approval. On December 21, 2009, the City Council approved the Department of Housing Preservation and Development’s rezoning plan for the Broadway Triangle Urban Renewal Area in South Williamsburg, Brooklyn. The plan includes rezoning nine blocks, primarily zoned for manufacturing, to R6A and R7A districts in order to facilitate the development of 1,851 residential units, 844 of which will be marketed … <Read More>


CPC reduces parking spaces for W. 53rd St. development

Commission declined to use quarter-mile radius test to determine the sufficiency of available parking nearby. On March 4, 2009, the City Planning Commission approved, with modification, 405 West 53rd Development Group LLC’s special permit application for a 37-space accessory parking garage. The garage would be located on portions of the cellar and ground floor of an 84-unit, as-of-right residential building located at 405-427 West 53rd Street in Clinton/Hell’s Kitchen, Manhattan.

At the Commission’s January 21st … <Read More>


Park W. Village permit upheld

Local residents claimed that all open space on a multiple building zoning lot must be accessible to all occupants of the zoning lot. 808 Columbus Avenue LLC obtained a permit from Buildings to construct a 29-story, mixed-use building within Park West Village on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. The new building would share a zoning lot with three 16-story residential buildings located on a superblock bounded by West 100th Street on the north, Columbus Avenue on … <Read More>


Commission OKs 137-space garage near Ladies’Mile

Community Board 4 recommended disapproval unless parking was reduced by approximately 20 spaces. On September 24, 2008, the City Planning Commission approved AG West 22nd Street Realty LLC’s special permit application to build an attended public parking garage at 133-145 West 22nd Street in Chelsea, Manhattan. The special permit, if approved by Council, would allow a maximum of 137 spaces, with 47 parking spaces and 45 two-tier stackers on portions of the first floor, cellar, … <Read More>


Hudson Square North rezoning on the horizon

Plan seeks to address pressure for residential development in the area. On January 7, 2008, the Planning Commission launched public consideration regarding KMG Greenwich’s proposal to rezone a five and a half block northern portion of Hudson Square, roughly bounded by Morton, Hudson, Clarkson, and West Streets. The proposed rezoning would facilitate the conversion of the building located at 627 Greenwich Street from commercial to residential as well as the development of a new 80,000-square-foot … <Read More>