City Council Committees Approve Pier 40 Transfer of Development Rights

Zoning Subcommittee and Land Use Committee approve brokered rezoning and development rights transfer at St. John’s Terminal in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village. On December 6, 2016, two City Council committees approved a land use application to develop the aging St. John’s Terminal which is located across West Street from Pier 40 and just north of the Holland Tunnel. The approval will allow the transfer of $100 million of air rights from Pier 40 to the 1.7 … <Read More>


Subcommittee Coaxes Upfront Commitment for $100 Million Out of Developer for Trust

Council Member Corey Johnson still feels hesitant about proposed St. John’s Terminal development and seeks more concessions by the developer. On November 1, 2016, the City Council’s Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises held a public hearing on the proposed 550 Washington Street rezoning and redevelopment, and the creation of a special district in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village. The proposed development would create three separate city blocks for five separate buildings which would include four mixed-use buildings … <Read More>


City Planning Commission Holds Hearing on St. John Terminal Rezoning [UPDATE: City Planning Approves Application]

The proposed rezoning would permit the development of four mixed-use buildings and one commercial building across the street from Pier 40. On August 24, 2016, the City Planning Commission held a public hearing on an application for a zoning text amendment, a zoning map change, four special permits, three authorizations, and one chairperson certification to facilitate the redevelopment of the commercial building at 550 Washington Street, in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village. The project would create … <Read More>


City Council Rejects Proposed Rezoning of Inwood Site Needed for New Development with 50 Percent Affordable Housing

City Council rejected the first private application of Mandatory Inclusionary Housing. On August 16, 2016, the City Council rejected a proposal to rezone a large corner lot in order to construct a new mixed-use development located at 4650 Broadway in Manhattan’s Inwood neighborhood. Currently a two-story commercial building operating as a parking garage and U-Haul truck rental facility occupies the site. The original proposal from the developer, Acadia Sherman Avenue LLC, was to build a … <Read More>


BSA Grants Variance for Transfer of Development Rights to Facilitate Merging of Property

The transferring property was granted a variance 35 years ago, but the value of the development rights has since sky-rocketed. On March 8, 2016, the Board of Standards and Appeals unanimously voted to grant Charlton Cooperative Corporation’s request for a variance to transfer unused development rights from the applicant’s property, located at 112 Charlton Street, to an adjacent property, located at 108 Charlton Street, in Manhattan’s Special Hudson Square District. Because the site … <Read More>


Mayor de Blasio’s Land Use Appointments Carousel Continues

Mayor de Blasio has re-structured the City’s land use administrative hierarchy to further his affordable housing agenda. On July 22, 2014, Mayor Bill de Blasio nominated Margery Perlmutter to serve as Chair of the Board of Standards and Appeals. This was the Mayor’s latest appointment  to City land-use positions, all of which will bear heavily on the Mayor’s expansive affordable housing agenda, a ten-year plan designed to preserve some 200,000 units of affordable housing.