Height limits for Astoria considered

Proposed Astoria rezoning map used with permission of the New York City Department of City Planning. All rights reserved.

Local Council Member and residents supported the proposed 248-block contextual rezoning, but two property owners requested modifications. On March 24, 2010, the City Planning Commission heard testimony on the Department of City Planning’s contextual rezoning plan for Astoria, Queens. The 248-block study area is generally bounded by 20th Avenue to the north, Broadway to the south, … <Read More>


Midtown’s Springs Mills Building designated

Green glass skyskraper was built on L-shaped lot between 1961 and 1963. On April 13, 2010, Landmarks voted unanimously to designate the Springs Mills Building at 104 West 40th Street as an individual City landmark. The Springs Mills linen company hired the firm of Harrison & Abramowitz to construct a 21-story building on an L-shaped through-block lot in 1961. The architects submitted building plans just before the City implemented its comprehensive overhaul of the zoning … <Read More>


New Building Approved in DUMBO Historic District

Toll Brothers will build 67-unit project on vacant lot formerly occupied by factory building. On April 20, 2010, Landmarks approved Toll Brothers’ proposed 67-unit residential complex at 205 Water Street in Brooklyn’s DUMBO Historic District. The vacant lot fronts Water and Plymouth Streets and was formerly occupied by a factory last used by the Brillo Company. The building was demolished shortly before the district’s 2007 designation. A 2009 rezoning opened the industrial area … <Read More>


African-American enclave in Queens considered

Addisleigh Park was home to many famous African Americans,including Ella Fitzgerald, Count Basie, and W.E.B. DuBois. On March 23, 2010, Landmarks heard extensive testimony on the potential designation of a historic district in the Addisleigh Park section of St. Albans, Queens. Addisleigh Park is characterized by detached homes on large, landscaped lots, giving the neighborhood a suburban feel. Primarily developed between 1910 and the early 1930s, the area features homes in the English Tudor, Colonial, … <Read More>


NoHo hotel design approved

Image courtesy of readnewyork.com

Despite residents’ and preservationists’ objections, exterior redesigns for partially-built Great Jones Street hotel approved. On March 16, 2009, Landmarks approved Louis Greco and SDS Great Jones LLC’s application to alter the proposed exterior of a planned thirteen-story hotel at 25 Great Jones Street in the NoHo Historic District. In January 2008, Buildings granted permits for the hotel prior to the historic district’s designation in May 2008. The partially-built structure currently occupies … <Read More>


Upper East Side Historic District extended

The Upper East Historic District Extension (shown with the Upper East Side Historic District’s boundaries). Image: LPC.

Extension includes 74 properties in two sections contiguous to Upper East Side’s original historic district. On March 23, 2010, Landmarks voted unanimously to designate the Upper East Side Historic District Extension. The extension consists of two distinct sections along Lexington Avenue, with one between East 71st and East 76th Streets, and the other between East 65th and East … <Read More>