Strong Community Support Voiced for Twin Commercial Buildings which Housed Studio of de Kooning, and other Post-WWII Artists

Attorney for owner threatened to seek demolition through a hardship application should landmarks designate the property and not permit a visible addition. At its meeting on October 17, 2017, the Landmarks Preservation Commission held a hearing on the possible individual landmarks designation of two twin adjoining buildings at 827 and 831 Broadway. Completed in 1867, the buildings were designed by architect Griffith Thomas for tobacco-company heir Pierre Lorillard in an Italian palazzi-inspired design. Built … <Read More>


Mixed-Use Development to Replace Pfizer Factory Site

A former Pfizer factory site in South Williamsburg, Brooklyn will be redeveloped into 1,146 housing units, 62,810 square feet of commercial space, 26,000 square feet of publicly accessible open space, and 404 parking spaces. On September 19, 2017, the City Planning Commission issued a favorable report on land use applications by Harrison Realty LLC. The land use applications include: (1) a zoning map amendment to change the current manufacturing district into a residential district with <Read More>


Schneiderman Announces $500,000 Settlement with Harassing Management Company

Schneiderman announces settlement with New York City landlord accused of harassing rent-stabilized tenants across two boroughs. On September 27, 2017, New York State Attorney General Eric. T. Schneiderman announced that a settlement had been reached between the State and ICON Realty Management. ICON owns several rent-regulated buildings in the East Village, the Lower East Side, and Brooklyn. The Attorney General alleged that ICON had engaged in illegal methods to harass rent-regulated tenants, including dangerous construction … <Read More>


Trees: Tort Liability For Injuries Involving Trees

Trees under the common law were considered natural conditions with the result that possessors of land were not liable for injuries caused trees. Professor William Prosser wrote in the first edition of the hornbook on Torts (1941) that the traditional common law rule was that the possessor of land was under no affirmative duty to make safe dangerous conditions on the land that were natural in origin. Prosser went on to say, however, that there … <Read More>


City Council Overwhelmingly Passes Tenant Harassment Bills Package

City Council passes a package of bills intended to strengthen protections for tenants subject to harassment by landlords. Since the mid-2000s and largely due to the housing bubble, predatory equity has become a metastasis on the New York City housing market. The expulsion of both rent stabilized and market-rate tenants is accomplished through means both legal, by abusing technical loopholes in State law, and illegal, by dangerous living conditions and intimidation.


CityLaw Profile: Jumaane Williams, Council Member and Chair of Housing and Buildings Committee

Jumaane Williams, with a strong background as a community organizer, was elected to the City Council in 2009 to represent the 45th Council District which covers the Flatbush, East Flatbush, Flatlands, and parts of Midwood and Canarsie neighborhoods of Brooklyn. In his work prior to and as a City Council Member, Jumaane Williams has displayed a passion for community issues like combating gun violence, youth development, tenant advocacy and affordable housing. He plans to run … <Read More>