Map of West Harlem rezoning area. Credit: DCP.

See below for update.

Council Member Jackson obtains compromise between City’s proposal and community concerns. On October 25, 2012, the City Council’s Land Use Committee approved a modified version of the Department of City Planning’s West Harlem Rezoning proposal. The proposal would impact 90 blocks generally bounded by West 155th Street to the north, West 126th Street to the south, Bradhurst Avenue to the east, and Riverside Drive to the west. The rezoning would generally replace the area’s majority R8 and R7-2 zoning with a contextual mix of R6A, R7A, R8, and R8A districts. The plan would also make portions of West Harlem eligible for the City’s Inclusionary Housing Program.

Manhattan Community Board 9 broadly supported the proposal, but expressed concern over a proposed R8A district on West 145th Street between Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue. The Community Board feared that existing federally subsidized, rent-regulated housing would be redeveloped, and urged the Planning Commission to modify that portion of the proposal to R7A. The City Planning Commission on September 5, 2012 approved the proposal without accepting the Community Board’s suggestion, leading Commissioner Michelle R. de la Uz to vote “No.” (See CityLand’s past coverage here). (more…)

Revised rooftop addition proposal at 721 St. Nicholas Avenue. Credit: Franklin Associates

Revised design shifted bulk of proposed one-story addition on St. Nicholas Avenue building toward front facade, but commissioners still found it excessive. On October 2, 2012, the Landmarks Preservation Commission considered 719/721 SNA Realty LLC’s revised proposal for a one-story rooftop addition to a five-story building at 721 St. Nicholas Avenue on the corner of St. Nicholas Avenue and West 146th Street in the Hamilton Heights/Sugar Hill Historic District.  The Romanesque Revival building features a curved front facade with an arcading attic story along St. Nicholas Avenue, and a mansard roof and brick parapet along the building’s West 146th Street roofline.

In July 2012, Landmarks considered SNA Realty’s first proposal, designed by architect Richard Franklin. The proposal called for a brown-metal clad addition that would reach nine-feet two-inches in height and be set back 11 feet from St. Nicholas Avenue. The commissioners found the design unsympathetic to the historic structure, and recommended that the architect use different materials and consider concentrating the addition’s bulk toward the avenue rather than along West 146th Street. Commissioner Margery Perlmutter suggested extending the height of the rounded tower to create a turret. (See CityLand’s past coverage here.)

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Proposed zoning map. Credit: DCP

Local community board generally supported 90-block rezoning, but requested that portion of West 145th Street be downzoned to protect existing HUD buildings. On October 3, 2012, the City Council’s Zoning & Franchises Subcommittee heard testimony on the Department of City Planning’s proposal to rezone 90 blocks in West Harlem. The rezoning would impact approximately 1,900 lots generally bounded by West 155th Street to the north, West 126th Street to the south, Bradhurst Avenue to the east, and Riverside Drive to the west. City Planning’s proposal seeks to protect the area’s existing residential character, create incentives for affordable housing development, encourage appropriate growth along retail corridors, and create opportunities for mixed-use development in the area’s manufacturing zone.

West Harlem is predominantly characterized by medium-density residential development, including three- to four-story rowhouses and larger five- to six-story apartment buildings. Taller residential buildings can be found on the blocks between Broadway and Riverside Drive. A major retail corridor with active residential use spans West 145th Street, while commercial overlays also cover portions of Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue. A small manufacturing area located in the southernmost tip of the rezoning area includes the partially demolished former Taystee Cake Factory complex, the Mink Building, and Metropolitan Transit Authority facilities.

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Future site of Western Beef in West Harlem

BSA’s waiver of rear yard regulations needed to allow development of 79,498 square-foot supermarket on West 155th Street. Cactus of Harlem LLC applied to the Board of Standards & Appeals for a special permit to develop a 79,428-square-foot Western Beef supermarket at 280 West 155th Street in Harlem. The  project site is at the corner of West 155th Street and Frederick Douglas Boulevard, and comprises three lots currently used for parking. Cactus of Harlem’s proposal called for a three-story building with supermarket uses on the ground and second floors, and commercial uses on the third floor. The project would include 79 underground parking spaces.

The lot is zoned C8-3, and an R7-2 district abuts the site’s southern lot line. Cactus of Harlem needed BSA’s approval to waive the zoning resolution’s rear-yard requirements because the building’s ground floor would extend to the rear lot line and encroach within the 30-foot open area required in commercially zoned lots abutting residentially zoned districts. BSA in 2000 had granted Cactus of Harlem a special permit to develop a smaller supermarket on the site, but the special permit lapsed and Cactus of Harlem acquired two neighboring lots in which to develop the project.

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Photo of project rendering courtesy of the Historic Districts Council

Owner proposed a one-story brown metal addition to 1890s rowhouse on St. Nicholas Avenue. On July 10, 2012, Landmarks considered 719/721 SNA Realty LLC’s proposal to build a one-story addition on top of a five-story rowhouse at 721 St. Nicholas Avenue in Harlem’s Hamilton Heights/Sugar Hill Historic District. Sitting at the corner of St. Nicholas Avenue and West 146th Street, the 1890s building features a curved tower with an arcading attic story facing St. Nicholas Avenue, and a brick parapet and a mansard roof facing West 146th Street. The building also features brownstone bands, which it shares with two adjacent rowhouses on St. Nicholas Avenue.

Architect Richard Franklin, of Franklin Associates, presented the proposal, which called for a brown-metal clad rooftop addition reaching nine-feet two-inches in height. The addition would set-back roughly eleven feet from the St. Nicholas Avenue facade, and sit flush with the West 146th Street facade. Franklin testified that the project would revitalize the deteriorating structure, while maintaining its original character. The building had long housed mixed uses, with retail on the ground-floor and residential uses above.

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