Rear-yard variance upheld

Private for-profit school on the Upper West Side wanted to add a second story to a rear-yard building. Dwight School, a for-profit school located on West 88th Street, between Central Park West and Columbus Avenue, applied to BSA for a variance to add a second story to its gymnasium located in the rear yard. The expansion required a variance to exceed a 23 ft. height limit set for community facilities built in the rear yard. … <Read More>


Storefront alterations denied

DeBeers sought to install its signature colors on landmarked storefront. The DeBeers retail store, located on the ground floor of the St. Regis Hotel, an individual landmark at 699-703 Fifth Avenue at 55th Street, sought to modify a March 2003 approval for new storefront infill. The modifications included replacing the arched windows’ translucent glass with opaque aubergine glass, covering the masonry with opaque aubergine glass, installing white lettering on the aubergine awning, and replacing pin-mounted … <Read More>


Variance for carwash denied

Developer failed to show residential use was infeasible on large Queens site. On December 7, 2004, BSA denied a variance application for an automatic car wash proposed for 34- 11 Rockaway Boulevard at the corner of Sea Girt Boulevard in Queens, a C2- 2(R6) zone. Residential and retail use, but not car washes, would be permitted as-of-right on the site, a 37,255 sq.ft. lot with a 206 ft. street frontage along Far Rockaway Boulevard and … <Read More>


42 residential units approved after a two-story reduction

Existing wooden-floor building will be demolished. Stressing unique construction costs and structural weaknesses, BSA approved a variance for a new five-story, 42-unit residential building on Union Avenue and Withers Street in a manufacturing zone in Williamsburg. The 15,545 sq.ft. site currently contains a vacant two-story, wooden- floor manufacturing building that will be demolished for the new development. The original application sought approval for a seven-story, 60-unit development with 24 parking spaces, which would have been … <Read More>


Permits extended due to substantial progress on foundations

Work to continue on 19 and 13- story buildings in recently rezoned Bronx neighborhood. On December 7, 2004, BSA granted two permit extensions, allowing work to continue on two new developments that will exceed the height limitations set by the City Council’s September 2004 approved rezoning in the Bronx.

On September 28, 2004, the City Council rezoned a 30-block area of Central Riverdale and Spuyten Duyvil, which restricted new buildings to six or seven-story heights. … <Read More>


Council approves Verizon’s rezonings

West 43rd and West 47th Streets sites upzoned. On November 10, 2004, the full Council approved without modification the two applications of Verizon New York, Inc. to alter the zoning on a 143,300 sq.ft. full-block site on West 47th Street and a 45,200 sq.ft. site on West 43rd Street. Both sites are between 11th and 12th Avenues.

With the approval, the size of the building area permitted on the West 43rd Street site increased from … <Read More>