Split vote favors Brooklyn Broadway Triangle plan

Community groups opposed to rezoning proposal expressed concerns about HPD’s opaque planning process. On December 7, 2009, the City Council’s Land Use Committee modified and approved the Department of Housing Preservation and Development’s proposal to redevelop the seventeen-block Broadway Triangle Urban Renewal Area in South Williamsburg, Brooklyn. The City created the Broadway Triangle URA in 1989, and HPD’s proposal included redrawing the boundaries of the urban renewal area and rezoning nine blocks in order to … <Read More>


Much-reduced Parke-Bernet addition approved

 

980 Madison avenue

Proposed addition approved almost three years after initial proposal. On October 13, 2009, Landmarks voted to approve Aby Rosen and RFR Holdings LLC’s proposal to build a four-story addition to the former Parke- Bernet Galleries building at 980 Madison Avenue in Manhattan’s Upper East Side Historic District. The application had changed dramatically since January 2007 when Landmarks rejected architect Norman Foster’s proposal calling for a 26- story tower on top of … <Read More>


Sunset Park rezoning approved

Community groups expressed concern that 128-block rezoning would displace low-income residents. On September 30, 2009, the City Council approved the Department of City Planning’s proposal to rezone 128 blocks of Brooklyn’s Sunset Park in order to address recent out-of-scale development inconsistent with the area’s predominantly residential character. The plan replaces the neighborhood’s R6 zoning with contextual zoning districts — R4A, R4-1, R6B, R6A, and R7A — that match the area’s context and also establish maximum … <Read More>


Robert B. Tierney on the Pursuit of Preservation

Robert B. Tierney comes from a background of law and government rather than architecture, but his experience and training serve him well in his current position as Chair of the Landmarks Preservation Commission. His love for learning about the City’s fascinating history and built environment, which he describes as a hobby and passion pursued for over 40 years, has allowed him to approach designation from a well-versed position, while his expertise in navigating through City … <Read More>


Modified version of EDC’s plan moves to Council

Commission finds affordability issue outside its scope of review, modifies other aspects of plan. On September 24, 2008, the City Planning Commission approved a modified version of EDC’s Hunter’s Point South Redevelopment Plan. EDC’s plan seeks to create an affordable, middle-income community along the waterfront in Long Island City. The plan calls for 5,000 new residential units, 60 percent of which would be affordable to middle-income families of four making $55,000-$158,000. 5 CityLand 125 (Sept. … <Read More>


Architect Lord Norman Foster Talks About His Addition to Madison Avenue

The first addition to New York’s skyline by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Lord Norman Foster opened in October 2006 with a red-carpeted gala attended by Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Governor George Pataki and Senator Charles Schumer. The building, Foster’s 42-story diamond-grid steel and glass addition to the Hearst Building, an individual landmark at Eighth Avenue and West 57th Street, won the 2006 Emporis Skyscraper Award, naming it the best skyscraper constructed in the world that year.

Last … <Read More>