Credit: Google maps

City will convey waterfront property to Kristal Auto Mall and an existing Toys ‘R’ Us retail store on Flatbush Avenue. On May 15, 2012, the City Council approved the Department of Small Business Services’ plan to facilitate the relocation of Kristal Auto Mall to a site on Flatbush Avenue abutting Mill Basin in Brooklyn. The City-owned project site is occupied by a 45,000-square-foot Toys ‘R’ Us store and a 400-space accessory parking lot used by surrounding businesses. To the south of the site is another City-owned parcel consisting of 400,000 sq.ft. of undeveloped land abutting Four Sparrow Marsh. The proposal called for, among other things, disposing of nearly 240,000 sq.ft. of City-owned property, demapping an unimproved strip of Flatbush Avenue, and rezoning the project site from C3 to C8-1.

Under the plan, Kristal Auto Mall will purchase a 110,000-square-foot portion of the parking lot in order to move from its current location at 5200 Kings Highway. Kristal plans to redevelop the property with a 114,000-square-foot facility housing a showroom, offices, and a service facility. A second 4,000-square-foot building will be used for used-car sales.

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Portions of Trust for Governors Island’s redevelopment plan falling within historic district needed Landmarks approval. On February 7, 2012, Landmarks issued a binding report approving portions of the Trust for Governors Island’s plan for the recreational redevelopment of the 172-acre Governors Island. Landmarks in July 2011 approved the Trust’s proposal to demolish six non-historic structures and landscape an area near the Yankee Pier public ferry landing within the Governors Island Historic District. The historic district encompasses approximately 92 acres on the northern half of the island. 8 CityLand 109 (Aug. 15, 2011).

At Landmarks’ hearing, Leslie Koch, president of the Trust, presented the plan, including proposed alterations to the portion of the island outside the historic district’s boundaries. Koch said the Trust’s broad goal was to create a world-class public space by expanding public access to and within the island, while also encouraging the reuse of existing historic structures and creating opportunities for appropriate mixed-use development.   (more…)

Opponents were concerned about how changes to plaza would impact views of the museum. On February 21, 2012, Landmarks issued a favorable advisory report on the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s proposal to redesign its plaza along Fifth Avenue in Manhattan’s Upper East Side. The museum is an individual City landmark, while the plaza is considered part of Central Park, which is a scenic landmark. The proposal calls for new lighting and the replacement of fountains, paving, and trees.  (more…)

Brooklyn Navy Yard proposal would add supermarket and additional light industrial space. On October 19, 2011, the City Planning Commission approved the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation’s Admirals Row Plaza mixed-use project on the southeast edge of the Brooklyn Navy Yard at the corner of Navy and Nassau Streets in Brooklyn. The United States National Guard Bureau retained control over the six-acre project site after the City purchased the Brooklyn Navy Yard. The federally-owned site is occupied by multiple vacant and deteriorated buildings including a row of Civil War-era naval officers’ quarters and a large timber shed along Navy Street dating to the 1830s.

The Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation plans to demolish the majority of the existing buildings, except for one of the officers’ quarters (Quarters B) and the timber shed. Quarters B would be converted into a community facility and the timber shed into retail space. Three new buildings would be developed on the site including a five-story building with a 74,000 sq.ft. supermarket and four floors of industrial space, and two, twostory buildings with retail space. A 266-space surface parking lot on the interior of the site would be accessible from Navy and Nassau Streets. The proposal would create 600 jobs and incorporate a job training program for residents of three nearby public housing communities. 8 City- Land 90 (July 15, 2011).  (more…)

Contextual rezoning of 418 blocks in Auburndale, Oakland Gardens, and Hollis Hills modified to address concerns of private co-op. On October 27, 2010, the City Council modified the Department of City Planning’s 418-block rezoning of three communities in northeast Queens. The contextual rezoning impacted the Auburndale subarea, which is generally bounded by Station Road to the north, the Long Island Expressway to the south, Francis Lewis Boulevard to the east, and Kissena Park to the west; and the Oakland Gardens-Hollis Hills subarea, generally bounded by the Long Island Expressway, the Grand Central Parkway, Alley Pond Park, and the Clearview Expressway.

The suburban area is characterized by one- and two-family detached and semi-detached housing, with larger apartment buildings along the wider avenues. The prior zoning’s flexibility permitted development that was out-of-context with the area’s built character. The approved plan applied contextual zoning districts in order to preserve the area’s low-density residential character, while permitting limited increases in density along the area’s primary corridors. (more…)