
Rendering of proposed Development at 3 St. Marks Place Image Credit: City Planning
Community questions benefits received and context of development. On March 4, 2020, the City Planning Commission heard an application by Real Estate Equities Corporation for a special permit to transfer development rights from a landmarked site and construct a ten-story commercial building in the East Village neighborhood of Manhattan. The development site is located at 3 St. Marks Place, on the northeast corner of Third Avenue and St. Marks Place and is currently vacant. The special permit would transfer approximately 8,336 gross feet of floor area from the landmarked “Hamilton-Holly House,” across the street at 4 St. Marks Place.
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Corner view of proposed 21 Greenwich Rendering Image Credit: Landmarks
Commission would like to see more masonry to help building remain in context. On October 8, 2019, the Landmarks Preservation Commission heard an application for a Certificate of Appropriateness to demolish a one-story extension and construct a new five-story residential building with a rooftop addition, on a corner three-story mixed-use building. The application also seeks to restore the three-story corner building. The proposed building and addition is located at 21 Greenwich Avenue within the Greenwich Village Historic District in Manhattan.
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City and state officials are concerned that a bankruptcy suit involving 444 East 13th Street will lead to bad precedent undermining rent stabilization laws. (Image Credit: Google Maps)
Government officials fear bad precedent could make it easier for landlords to bypass rent stabilization laws. On March 13, 2019, New York Attorney General Letitia James, the New York State Division of Housing and Community Renewal (NYSHCR) and the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) announced that the State and City moved to join in an action in United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York as part of a fight to protect tenants in rent-stabilized apartments. The owner of 444 East 13th Street, in the East Village section of Manhattan, applied to reject tenants’ leases. (more…)

Rendering of proposed buildings at 204 Avenue A (left) and 535 East 12th Street (right) in East Village, Manhattan. Image Credit: CPC.
Approval of the proposed project will provide housing to families that have been displaced for over ten years. On December 5, 2018, the City Planning Commission heard an application that would allow for the demolition of existing buildings on two City-owned lots and development of ten co-operative units at 204 Avenue A and eleven one-bedroom rental units at 535 East 12th Street in Manhattan. The lots are located on the same block in the East Village, bounded by Avenue A, East 12th Street, East 13th Street, and Avenue B. To facilitate the proposed development, the applicant team requested approval for the disposition of the City-owned lots and designation and approval of the lots as an Urban Development Action Area Project. The application was brought by the Department of Housing Preservation and Development, along with the selected developer for the project, Juan Barahona of SMJ Development. (more…)

Previous and Current renderings. Image: LPC.
Residential development, with ground-floor commercial space, will occupy two lots, replacing service station structures. On February 6, 2018, Landmarks voted to approve a proposal to demolish two buildings and construct a new building spanning two lots at 540 and 544 Hudson Street, at the corner of Charles Street, in the Greenwich Village Historic District. The site is occupied by two buildings of one and two stories, which were until recently part of an automobile service station. An initial proposal, made to the commission in June of 2017, raised the ire of local elected officials, residents and preservationist organization. William Gottlieb Real Estate is the developer. (more…)