CityLand started in 2004 as a monthly printed newsletter published by the Center for New York City Law at New York Law School. It comprehensively reports New York City’s land use decisions. Agencies covered include the City Planning Commission and the Department of City Planning; the Board of Standards and Appeals; the Landmarks Preservation Commission; the City Council; and related land use judicial decisions.

CityLand tracks public and private land use applications subject to the City’s Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP) and other land use approval processes. CityLand identifies the City agency (more…)

John Weiss

John Weiss has served as deputy counsel for the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission since 2001. Weiss leads Landmarks’ efforts to protect landmarked structures from demolition-by-neglect, and each of his cases reveals a fascinating tale of New York City real estate.

After earning his undergraduate degree in political science and public policy from Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts, Weiss was torn between studying law or architecture. He took time off while at Hampshire to work with the Washington, D.C. Public Defender Service and then for the Belchertown Planning Board in Massachusetts. Weiss also spent a summer in New York City working for the Municipal Art Society. He returned to MAS after graduating, where he helped form the Friends of the Upper East Side Historic Districts.

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Michael B. Gerrard

Michael B. Gerrard, director of Columbia Law School’s Center for Climate Change Law, traces his passion for environmental protection back to growing up in Charleston, West Virginia, a city dominated by major chemical manufacturing companies like Union Carbide and DuPont. As a child, he lived on the banks of the Kanawha River, where large amounts of toxic chemicals had polluted the water and air.

After graduating from Columbia University, Gerrard worked for a local environmental policy group, which reaffirmed his interest in environmental protection. Believing that the most effective work in the field was being accomplished by lawyers, he entered New York University Law School in 1975 with the goal of becoming an environmental lawyer. (more…)

$85 million in bond offerings on the calendar for IDA’s June public hearing. The New York City Industrial Development Agency, a component of the Economic Development Corporation, held its monthly public hearing on June 7, 2007. Eighteen projects were on the notice of public hearing, including bond offerings totaling $85 million and seven straight-leases.

Among the 18 projects on the calendar was a straight-lease to News America Publishing Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. The lease is for 75,000 sq.ft. of office space at the company’s current U.S. headquarters at 1211 Avenue of the Americas. News America Publishing Inc.’s parent company has approximately $62 billion in assets and total annual revenues of approximately $28 billion. On approval, the IDA action would extend the company’s exemption from City and state sales and use taxes in connection with renovating and equipping the building’s 12th and 13th floors. (more…)

John Jay faced the largest space deficit in the CUNY system. On January 5, 2005, the Planning Commission approved the 513,500 sq.ft. expansion plan for John Jay College of Criminal Justice, which, with its link to John Jay’s Haaren Hall along Tenth Avenue between West 58th and West 59th Streets, will create a unified urban campus occupying the full city block from Tenth to Eleventh Avenues between West 58th and West 59th Streets.

In addition to John Jay’s Haaren Hall along Tenth Avenue, the 160,700 sq.ft. city block contains a 320,000 sq.ft. warehouse, housing a newspaper distribution center, a general contractor’s office and two parking lots, and a below-grade rail line for Amtrak’s Empire Line. The manufacturing building would be demolished and a small 6,580 sq.ft. development platform constructed over the Amtrak rail line for the expansion. (more…)