New Housing for the Special Clinton District

Council-approved developments in Special Clinton District will achieve 39 percent affordability across a range of Area Median Incomes. On June 26, 2014, the City Council unanimously voted 48-0 to approve applications which would facilitate the development of two new mixed-use buildings, the rehabilitation of another building, and creation of three new community gardens in the Special Clinton District in Manhattan. The joint applications were proposed by the Clinton Housing Development Company, the New York <Read More>


LPC Community Outreach is Good Government

I would like to respond to a recent CityLand guest commentary by Andrew Berman of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation (GVSHP) that suggested that the Landmarks Preservation Commission practice of notifying property owners prior to “calendaring” a property is detrimental to the landmarks process. The Commission’s successful record can be directly attributed to our efforts to ensure that all stakeholders are aware of, and help build support for, landmark designations in their neighborhoods.


Protecting Landmarks and the Landmarking Process

Nearly 50 years ago the city passed its landmarks law, with the goal of ensuring that historically significant sites and areas could be saved before they might be destroyed, as happened with Penn Station and countless other fallen landmarks. The law gave the city the right to landmark a property or area, but only after notifying the owner that they were considering doing so, holding a hearing at which the owner and anyone else could … <Read More>


REBNY Issues New Report on Landmarking and Housing Production

REBNY report shows that housing production, particularly affordable housing, is drastically lower in landmarked areas in the five boroughs. In 2013, the Real Estate Board of New York conducted a study which showed that nearly 28 percent of Manhattan is landmarked and that fewer than 2 percent of new housing units built in Manhattan over a ten-year time period (2003-2012) were constructed on landmarked properties. On July 1, 2014, REBNY released a new report which … <Read More>


Proposed Demolition of Two Historic Buildings Would Make Way for 14-story Development

While praising design of proposed new structure, commissioners generally agreed that demolition of contributing buildings in a historic district was inappropriate.  On April 1, 2014, the Landmarks Preservation Commission considered a proposal to demolish two adjoining buildings in the Ladies’ Mile Historic District at 51 and 53 West 19th Street, and build a 14-story residential structure at the site. Both buildings, constructed for residential use in 1854, were significantly altered in the 1920s when … <Read More>


Potential Historic District Supported by Elected Officials and Community Boards

 

Representatives and members of the Park Avenue Christian Church petitioned Landmarks to ensure that designation would not impede planned development. On February 11, 2014, the Landmarks Preservation Commission held a hearing on the potential designation of the Park Avenue Historic District, comprising 68 buildings in Manhattan’s Upper East Side.  The area is characterized by a predominance of early-20th century high-rise apartment buildings, as well as some low rise dwellings, individual mansions, institutional buildings, and … <Read More>