Owner Defeated Tenants’ Loft Claim

Tenants sought loft law protection by claiming that two attached structures on one zoning lot were two separate buildings. A two-story building was constructed at 538 Johnson Avenue in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn in 1916 using timber and wood planking. A four-story building was constructed adjacent at 75 Stewart Avenue in 1919 using concrete columns, beams and slabs. The four-story structure abuts the eastern wall of the two-story structure, and the stairwell in the … <Read More>


Rent Guidelines Board Freezes One-Year Leases for 2nd-Year in a Row

Board votes for rent freeze despite strong push for a rent rollback by City Council coalition. On June 27, 2016, the New York City Rent Guidelines Board held a final vote to set guidelines for 2016-2017. This vote took place one year after the Rent Guidelines Board made a historic decision to freeze one-year leases instead of raising them.


OATH Trial Judge Recommends Denial of Loft Law Protection to Separated Couple

Board found the two-family requirement was not met.  In 1983 Maria Nazor, an artist, leased the fourth floor of 544 West 27th Street in Chelsea for ten years from the owner. Nazor, with the owner’s consent, created two separate lofts each with their own kitchen, bathroom, and five independent studio spaces.  Nazor occupied 4N and rented unit 4S and the studios to various tenants and artists at a prorated rent.  Nazor married Peter Mickle, an … <Read More>


Partially Destroyed Store-and-Loft Building Receives Restoration Approval

Planned four-story addition will reconstruct the historic cast iron facade, add contemporary set-back penthouse. On August 13, 2013, the Landmarks Preservation Commission considered and approved a plan to add four stories to an existing building at 29 Greene Street, Manhattan in the SoHo-Cast Iron Historic District. The building, completed in 1878, originally stood at four stories, but a fire reduced it to its current height of two stories. The building will be used … <Read More>


Disputed loft application withdrawn

Council Member Reyna raised concerns over loss of light industrial space. On March 20, 2008, Gerald Goldman, the owner of a former factory building at 70 Wyckoff Avenue, filed a motion to withdraw his application to rezone a four-story, 62,000- square-foot commercial loft building for residential use.

Goldman had originally sought to rezone ten lots on Wyckoff Avenue between Suydam Street and Dekalb Avenue, from M1-1 to R6, in order to legalize 70 Wyckoff’s … <Read More>


Owner withdraws application to legalize lofts

Owner converted manufacturing building into residential units. La Perst LLC, owner of a four-story building located at 260 Moore Street in an M1-2 manufacturing district of East Williamsburg, sought to legalize forty residential units in a previously vacant building that had been used for commercial and manufacturing purposes. The owner converted the building into residential units in 2003 contrary to the permissible manufacturing use under the zoning text.

In its application to BSA, La Perst … <Read More>