Modification allows businesses on portions of 37th Avenue to expand. On February 18, 2009, the City Planning Commission approved, with one modification, the Department of City Planning’s rezoning proposal for North Corona, Queens. The proposed rezoning impacts 100 blocks generally bounded by Roosevelt Avenue on the south, 89th to 95th Streets on the west, Northern and Astoria Boulevards on the north, and 114th Street on the east.
The current proposal is City Planning’s response to … <Read More>
Development will provide housing for studio employees, actors and other film industry personnel. On January 9, 2008, the City Council voted to approve an application to rezone an eight-lot, former manufacturing area, and build a three-lot, mixed-use development in Western Queens.
The development, proposed by Kaufman Astoria Studios and Damroc Realty, will be located on 35th Avenue between 34th and 35th Streets, and consist of two sevenstory residential buildings with 60 residential units, 62 parking … <Read More>
Landmarks unanimously designated the 1886 piano factory. On February 27, 2007, Landmarks voted to designate the Sohmer Piano Factory in Long Island City, Queens as an individual landmark. The architectural firm of Berger and Baylies designed the factory as well as many of the warehouses and lofts in Tribeca historic districts.
Though not as well known as the nearby Steinway Piano Factory in Astoria, Sohmer was a significant manufacturer in the late nineteenth and early … <Read More>
Depression-era pools and play centers considered for individual designation. In the 1930s, under the guidance of Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia and Parks Commissioner Robert Moses, the City built dozens of parks and swimming pools using federal Works Progress Administration funds. In the summer of 1936 alone, the City opened eleven large pool-oriented play centers.
On January 31, 2007, Landmarks heard public testimony on the proposed designation of nine of these WPA play centers, including the Bronx … <Read More>
Two WPA projects and firehouse designated. On June 20, 2006, Landmarks unanimously approved the designation of the Bronx’s Orchard Beach Bathhouse, Queen’s Astoria Play Center and a 1904 firehouse in Long Island City, Queens, home to Fire Engine Company No. 258, Ladder Company No. 115.
Both constructed in the midst of the Great Depression under Parks Commissioner Robert Moses and using the Works Progress Administration funds, the Orchard Beach Bathhouse and the Astoria Play Center … <Read More>