Operating a Health Club in New York City: A Weighted Issue

Over 72 million Americans are considered clinically obese. With the increased emphasis on diet and exercise, gyms are turning up everywhere throughout New York City. Owning and operating a gym is not a simple process. Gym owners face zoning restrictions, permit requirements, and potential tort liability.


Robert Moses’WPA-era pool landmarked

Highbridge recreation facility joins previously-designated water tower. On August 14, 2007, Landmarks voted to designate the Highbridge Play Center and Pool in upper Manhattan as an individual City landmark. The Play Center, which opened in 1936 and features an Olympic-sized swimming pool, became the seventh WPA-funded swimming pool built under Parks Commissioner Robert Moses’ auspices to be designated. Landmarks heard testimony on the Highbridge Play Center, along with several others, on January 31, 2007. 4 … <Read More>


McCarren Pool and Play Center landmarked

WPA-funded pool currently used for concerts and other performances. On July 24, 2007, Landmarks designated the McCarren Play Center in northern Brooklyn as an individual City landmark. The play center includes one of the largest swimming pools in the city, as well as a bath house and viewing terraces.

Named after state assemblyman Patrick Henry McCarren, the pool and play center was built with Works Progress Administration funds under the aegis of Parks Commissioner Robert … <Read More>


Hearings held on nine Robert Moses projects

Depression-era pools and play centers considered for individual designation. In the 1930s, under the guidance of Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia and Parks Commissioner Robert Moses, the City built dozens of parks and swimming pools using federal Works Progress Administration funds. In the summer of 1936 alone, the City opened eleven large pool-oriented play centers.

On January 31, 2007, Landmarks heard public testimony on the proposed designation of nine of these WPA play centers, including the Bronx … <Read More>


BSA grants permit to controversial Queens spa

Spa obtained special permit despite Council member objection over use. On July 18, 2006, BSA granted a special permit to Spa World, allowing a 49,634-square-foot, three-story spa at 11-11 131st Street in College Point, Queens. The project site’s 30,124-square-foot lot was formerly vacant and is located in a manufacturing district that contains several residential and commercial uses. The three-story facility will provide sauna, skin, and massage treatments on the first floor; hot tubs, hot pools, … <Read More>


Variance approved for Mill Basin synagogue

Community opponents raised issues of parking and building height. Sephardic Center of Mill Basin proposed to construct a new 1 0,800 square-foot, two-story synagogue to replace its 20-year old, 6,800-squarefoot synagogue on the corner of Strickland and Mill Avenues in Mill Basin, Brooklyn. As proposed, the new synagogue would exceed the permitted floor area by 5,384 sq.ft., exceed the district’s permitted height by seven feet and fail to provide sufficient parking.

The Center claimed that … <Read More>