Harlem theater and Staten Island house designated

Photoplays theater built in 1914. The Claremont Theater building, located at 3320-3328 Broadway in Harlem, Manhattan, is one of the oldest structures in New York City constructed specifically for showing motion pictures, originally called “photoplays.” The 1914 theater was designed in the neo-Renaissance style and faced in white terra cotta and white glazed brick by architect Gaetano Ajello, best-known for his apartment buildings on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. The building has an unusual arrangement with … <Read More>


Council approved Staten Island commercial districts

Staten Island Commercial Rezonings. Used with permission of the New York City Department of City Planning. All rights reserved.

Amendment restricts residential- only development in commercial districts. The City Council rezoned three areas of Staten Island and approved a text amendment to insure lower density commercial development in portions of the borough. The three areas rezoned are located along Castleton Avenue, New Dorp Lane, and Arthur Kill Road.

The Planning Department initiated the rezoning proposals … <Read More>


Two Staten Island neighborhoods down-zoned

Bay Terrace and Oakwood down-zoned to prohibit semidetached homes. On November 16, 2005, the City Council approved zoning map amendments to rezone 48 blocks of Bay Terrace and Oakwood, Staten Island.

Council Member Andrew J. Lanza initiated the Bay Terrace proposal in response to concerns about over-development in Staten Island. The proposal called for the rezoning of an area bounded by Amboy Road, Buffalo Avenue, Durant Avenue, and Bay Terrace. Under the proposal, 27 blocks … <Read More>


Commercial zone overlays eliminated in Staten Island

Council angered by allegation that rezoning will impede affordable housing construction. The full Council approved three linked proposals to eliminate commercial zoning overlays in 21 areas of Staten Island after a public hearing where a Staten Island architect alleged that the actions would impede affordable housing development.

The October 6, 2005 hearing before the Council’s Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises became heated when a Staten Island architect, who first testified that a block on Wyman … <Read More>


Staten Island shopping center approved

Mall to be built on 7.7 acres of vacant woodland. Guido Passarelli sought Planning Commission approval to construct a 136,271- square-foot shopping and office center on a 7.7-acre site of undeveloped woodland in the Charleston section of Staten Island. The five proposed buildings would contain a home improvement store, a discount department store, retail outlets and office space, and would include a 454-space parking lot. Access to the site, which is bound by Veterans Road … <Read More>


Staten Island Greenbelt adds 1.65 acre City park

New park would preserve natural features. The Department of Parks and Recreation sought a map amendment and approval of the acquisition of a 1.65-acre wooded parcel of private land to facilitate the creation of Manor Park on the southeasterly corner of Altamont Street and Manor Road in Staten Island.

The proposed park site, currently owned by Kanaga Corporation, includes a series of kettle ponds, vernal ponds, and young and mature trees. The site is used … <Read More>