Federal court challenge to Atlantic Yards dismissed

Residents failed to show that the project offered no public benefit. Brooklyn residents sued in federal court, challenging the state’s plan to use eminent domain to take their property as part of the Atlantic Yards project. The residents claimed that the project failed to meet a public purpose, and that the state was taking private property solely for the private benefit of Forest City Ratner Companies, the project’s developer.

Defendants, including the Empire State Development … <Read More>


Domino Sugar designation receives great support

Developer testified to the great cost of converting buildings to housing. On June 26, 2007, Landmarks held its first hearing on the potential designation of three 1884 buildings within the former Domino Sugar Processing Plant in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. The plan received overwhelming support.

Among those in support included representatives from the development team that plans to convert the plant to a mixed-use complex containing 2,200 units of housing, 660 of which would be reserved for … <Read More>


Lycée Français and DoubleClick on IDA’s July Calendar

July public hearing notice lists $143 million in bond offerings and six straight leases. The New York City Industrial Development Agency, a component of the Economic Development Agency, held its monthly public hearing on July 19, 2007. The 14 project applications detailed in IDA’s public notice included over $143 million in bond offering and six straight leases.

The largest bond application on the July calendar was made by the Lycée Français de New York, an … <Read More>


Developers chosen for warehouse conversion

Former Navy warehouse to be retail/light manufacturing. EDC chose a joint venture comprised of Time Equities Inc. and the Brooklyn Economic Development Corporation to convert a 1.1-millionsquare- foot former Navy warehouse between Second and Third Avenues and 30th and 32nd Streets in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. The details released by EDC state that under the conversion plan, the eight-story building would contain retail on its lower floors with light industrial uses above at a total development … <Read More>


Hearing approved for Domino Sugar building

Refinery buildings, just north of Williamsburg Bridge, were completed in 1884. On May 22, 2007, Landmarks voted to consider designation of the former Domino Sugar Processing Plant in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Under consideration are three connected structures, the Pan House, Finishing House, and Filter House, which is the largest structure in the complex, standing 13 stories above the East River. Landmarks’ action did not include the nearby 1960s building hosting the yellow neon “Domino Sugar” sign.… <Read More>


New district for Manhattan’s Upper West Side

Manhattan Avenue historic district to encompass 40 buildings. Landmarks unanimously designated the Manhattan Avenue Historic District, a 40-building district that encompasses several sets of row houses built between 1886 and 1889 on West 105th and West 106th Streets and Manhattan Avenue. Included among the buildings are row houses designed by Charles Pierrepont Gilbert, who is also noted for designs of 20 houses within the Park Slope Historic District and a mansion for F.W. Woolworth. The … <Read More>