Mayor Bill de Blasio. Image Credit: NYC Mayor’s Office.
A $200 million investment will be used to replace boilers and upgrade heating systems at 20 NYCHA developments. On January 31, 2018, Mayor de Blasio announced the investment aimed at assisting NYCHA developments experiencing chronic outages. The $200 million investment is part of the Mayor’s investment in NYCHA including $2.1 billion in capital infrastructure and $1.6 billion in operating funds. The upgrades are expected to save NYCHA approximately $5 million per year in energy costs. (more…)
Landmarks Preservation Commission. Credit: LPC.
Wide support voiced for designation of Coney Island pumping Station; potential extension to Douglaston Historic District and individual designation of Queens Apartment complex and religious structures proved contentious. On October 8, 2015, the Landmarks Preservation Commission held the first of four hearings meant to address the backlog of items on the Commission’s calendar added prior to 2010. Twenty-nine items were considered, in three groupings of multiple items clustered by borough. Each speaker had three minutes to testify for each batch, rather than on individual items. At the meeting, Landmark heard testimony on one batch of items in the Bronx, one in Brooklyn, and one in Queens. (more…)
- 161 Street/River Avenue proposed rezoning.
Approved plan rezones 161st Street and River Avenue corridor and establishes new C6-3D commercial zoning district. On September 30, 2009, the City Council approved the Department of City Planning’s proposal to rezone areas along 161st Street and River Avenue in southwest Bronx. The rezoning impacts portions of eight blocks in three separate areas within the heart of the borough’s civic center, described as the Residential, Civic, and Transit Nodes. The broad rezoning area is generally bounded by 162nd Street to the north, 153rd and 159th Streets to the south, Park Avenue to the east, and River Avenue to the west.
The corridor is surrounded by a variety of land uses including the new Yankee Stadium, the Bronx County Courthouse and Borough Hall, and is near the Melrose Commons Urban Renewal Area. The corridor has easy access to mass transit including the 4, B, and D subway lines, and the Metro-North rail line. The area has experienced limited residential development and commercial expansion largely due to its zoning, which had remained mostly unchanged since 1961. The plan seeks to encourage the development of affordable housing, promote commercial expansion, and strengthen the area’s overall appeal. (more…)
Manhattan, Bronx and Brooklyn housing projects approved; sent to Council. On March 28 and April 11, 2007, the Department of Housing Preservation and Development obtained Planning Commission approval for eight affordable housing projects, totaling 517 units, to be developed in Manhattan, Brooklyn and the Bronx.
Two of the Bronx projects, including the 50-unit Fox Leggett Cooperative Apartments and the 162- unit Grant Avenue Cooperative Apartments, provide ownership opportunities for low- and moderate-income families. Both of these projects also include community facility space and outdoor landscaped open space. (more…)
Manhattan, Bronx and Brooklyn housing projects approved; sent to Council. On April 27 and May 11, 2005, the Department of Housing Preservation and Development obtained the Planning Commission’s approval of seven affordable housing projects, totaling 668 units, to be developed in Manhattan, Brooklyn and the Bronx. Three of the Bronx projects, including the 194-unit Prospect Avenue Tower in Melrose, the 102-unit East Clarke Place project in High Bridge, and the 63-unit Jacob’s Place project in Mount Hope, will include housing for formally homeless and units for very low-income individuals and families. Four of the projects include a commercial component or a community facility use. In total, HPD applied for 591 affordable housing units in the Bronx, 56 in Brooklyn and 21 in Manhattan. In each of the seven applications, HPD applied for the designation of a UDAAP, which, if approved by the City Council, will provide the projects with state tax exemptions. (more…)
