Hobbled by a bad back and recently returned from vacation, the Landmarks Preservation Commission’s General Counsel Mark Silberman sat down with CityLand to talk about his role at the Commission and Landmarks’ role in the City. He brings a perspective on the broader role of historic preservation nationally and in our culture.
A young environmentalist. Raised in Illinois and a graduate of the University of California at Santa Cruz, Silberman began his career in government … <Read More>
Albert K. Butzel did everything he could to avoid going to law school. After graduating from Harvard College, Butzel spent a year in Paris trying to become, as he put it, Ernest Hemingway or F. Scott Fitzgerald. He made a deal with his father, who was an attorney, that he would go to law school if he did not succeed as a fiction writer. About a year later, Butzel enrolled at Harvard Law School.
Having … <Read More>
Developer sought to extinguish deed restriction on Upper West Side property. The City, through the Department of Housing Preservation and Development’s Asset Sales Program, sold 330 West 86th Street in Manhattan to the building’s tenants. Because the property had been designated as an Urban Development Action Area Project, the deed stated that the tenants could only rehabilitate or conserve the existing dwellings, or construct new dwellings permitted by existing zoning laws. The deed also required … <Read More>
Developer not required to submit a recorded easement or restrictive declaration ensuring rooftop access to adjoining buildings to meet open space requirements. A developer agreed to purchase 144 North 8th Street from Iqbal LLC and two affiliated entities, along with the unused development rights from Iqbal’s adjoining tax lot, to facilitate the construction of a 16-story mixed-use building in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. In order to meet open space requirements for the 16-story design, the developer needed … <Read More>
Last week, Governor Kathy Hochul and Mayor Eric Adams made announcements furthering New York’s fight against illegal smoke shops and reforming cannabis sales. The legalization of cannabis has forced the city and state to navigate the development of a new economy with the implementation of strict regulations; the state rollout of licenses and process for siting new dispensaries have limited the number of legal dispensaries that have opened statewide. While the state continues to navigate … <Read More>
On January 10, 2024, the New York City Department Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) announced that they obtained civil penalties amounting to $150,000 against Ezriel Weinberger and affiliates for their failure to comply with lead-based paint laws across ten properties. These penalties concern lead-based paint offenses in over 790 units located across the Bronx and Manhattan. Each property incurred fines of $15,000.