Emergency Demolition May Be Necessary for City-Owned Individual Landmark

Landmarks urged DOB and DCAS to look at all possible alternatives before resorting to demolition. On December 17, 2013, the Landmarks Preservation Commission held a hearing for the application for an advisory report to demolish the individually landmarked Public School 31, located at 425 Grand Concourse in the Bronx. The Collegiate Gothic-style building was designed by C.B.J. Snyder and is currently owned by the Department of Citywide Administrative Services, which assumed possession of the … <Read More>


Council Approved Rheingold Development with a 30 Percent Affordable Housing Requirement

 

Controversial Bushwick development project questioned on affordable housing goals in public hearings. On December 10, 2013, the full City Council voted 48-1 to rezone six blocks in Bushwick, Brooklyn, in order to allow the development of ten mixed-use developments. The rezoning area is bounded by Bushwick Avenue, Flushing Avenue, Melrose Street, Stanwix Street, and Forrest Street.  Council’s Committee on Land Use voted 18-1 and Land Use Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises unanimously voted 10-0 … <Read More>


City Planning Sends Greenpoint Waterfront Developments Proposals to the Council

Large Greenpoint Developments, if approved, would produce over 1,400 housing units. On October 30, 2013, the City Planning Commission unanimously voted to approve two major mixed-use developments in Greenpoint, Brooklyn: Greenpoint Landing and 77 Commercial Street. Both projects would allow the City to fulfill commitments to affordable housing and public open space that it made during the 2005 Greenpoint-Williamsburg Rezoning. The 2005 Rezoning of nearly 200 blocks authorized the transformation of Greenpoint’s low-density manufacturing … <Read More>


Ferris Wheel and Staten Island Revitalization Project Approved

Council gives go ahead for world’s largest Ferris wheel and outlet complex.  On October 30, 2013, City Council unanimously voted 45-0 to approve the construction of the largest Ferris Wheel in the western hemisphere, which along with other developments, is intended to transform Staten Island’s St. George Waterfront. The New York Wheel (the Wheel), designed and manufactured by Starneth, will be built just north of the Richmond County Bank Ballpark, and will provide … <Read More>


City Council Approved First BluePRint Applicant

City Council approved rezoning amendment to expand music and science programs at St. Francis Preparatory School. On August 19, 2013, the City Council’s Land Use Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises held a public hearing on St. Francis Preparatory School’s rezoning application. The school, located at 6100 Francis Lewis Boulevard in Fresh Meadows, Queens, filed an application on January 24, 2013, for an amendment of the zoning map. The proposed action would allow the school … <Read More>


City Planning Commission Hears AdAPT NYC Micro-Unit Proposal

City’s proposed micro-unit pilot program criticized for lack of permanently affordable housing. On July 24, 2013, the City Planning Commission held a hearing on the City’s first micro-unit building, part of the Mayor’s adAPT NYC program. The development will serve as a pilot program to test the viability and marketability of 250- to 360-square-foot units in a single building. The City’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development proposed the plan to be built at … <Read More>