Court allows EDC lawsuit seeking to reclaim Harlem landmark from developer. In 2003, the New York City Economic Development Corporation sold a run-down landmark, known as the Corn Exchange Bank, to Corn Exchange LLC. The deed required Corn Exchange to rehabilitate the building, restore the exterior to its original state, and to establish a non-profit culinary institute in a portion of the renovated space. Corn Exchange had 36 months to complete the renovations and obtain … <Read More>
Search Results for: Renovations
Council re-designates home in second attempt
The Council voted to re-designate after court voided first designation. The City Council voted on July 25, 2007 to amend the Douglaston Hill Historic District to include a home at 41-45 240th Street that has been the subject of a protracted designation dispute. 4 CityLand 3 (Apr. 15, 2007). Landmarks originally designated the home as part of the Douglaston Hill Historic District in December 2004. The owners, Kevin and Diana Mosley, successfully challenged the home’s … <Read More>
HDC’s Simeon Bankoff Talks About Life on the Preservation Front Lines
The temperature was in the 90s the day Simeon Bankoff met with City- Land. Mr. Bankoff, Executive Director of the Historic Districts Council, a prominent city preservationist organization founded in 1971 as part of the Municipal Art Society, and operating independently since 1986, had just returned from a demonstration on the steps of City Hall. While most would have wilted, the charming and voluble Mr. Bankoff animatedly discoursed for over an hour on the Historic … <Read More>
Local Law to preserve housing preempted
Affordable housing programs controlled by federal and state law. After multiple hearings on the declining number of affordable housing units, the City Council passed Local Law 79 of 2005 over a mayoral veto. The law gave tenants the right of first refusal to purchase their buildings when the owners sought to remove the properties from certain assisted rental housing programs. The law also allowed tenants who did not purchase their building to stay in their … <Read More>
Nassau Street cast-iron building designated
Early cast-iron structure attributed to pioneer of the technique. At a vote attended by preservation advocate Margot Gayle, Landmarks unanimously designated 63 Nassau Street, an 1844 cast-iron building in lower Manhattan attributed to cast-iron pioneer James Bogardus, who was among the first to use cast iron in building facades.
Renovations to 63 Nassau Street had stripped several details from the building, leaving a question as to Bogardus’s involvement and prompting the current owner’s claim at … <Read More>
New hearing after court removed home from district
- Mosley shown after renovations. Image: LPC
- Mosley show at the time of designation. Image: LPC
Contentious public hearing held on re-inclusion of private home into Queens historic district. Over a year after a court vacated Landmarks’ decision to include 41-45 240th Street into the Douglaston Hill Historic District, Landmarks held a public hearing on its re-inclusion on March 13, 2007.
Landmarks originally included 41-45 240th Street, a private home owned by Kevin and Diana Mosley, … <Read More>