Thirty-three properties were removed from district between hearing and designation, mostly along Broadway. On June 23, 2015, the Landmarks Preservation Commission voted to designate the Riverside/West End Historic District Extension II. The original Riverside/West End Historic District was designated by Landmarks in 1989, and the first extension was designated in 2012.  The designated area stretches between 89th and 109th Streets, and is bounded by Broadway and Riverside Drive to the east and west.

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Ross F. Moskowitz. Image Credit: Stroock & Stroock & Lavan, LLP.

At the CityLaw Breakfast on September 5, 2014, Carl Weisbrod laid out the De Blasio Administration’s housing policy. As was widely reported, the City will look to implement mandatory inclusionary housing on all City-sponsored rezonings. One of the first tests of this new policy is the privately sponsored Astoria Cove development in Queens, where an affordable component will likely be required if approved under ULURP. (more…)

Coalition rallies to save the Williams Memorial Residence. Image Credit: CityLand.

Elected officials join senior residents to protest sale and relocation of Upper West senior home to Harlem.  On June 18, 2014, elected officials and senior residents held a rally outside the Williams Memorial Residence, a 15-story independent senior living facility, located at 720 West End Avenue, in Manhattan. The rally, attended by nearly 200 people, was held in protest of the Salvation Army’s plan to sell the property, which it has owned and operated as a senior housing facility for over 45 years. The proceeds from the sale would fund a new facility on 125th Street and Third Avenue, where displaced seniors would be offered housing, including the same services provided for them at the Williams. However, senior residents backed by coalition officials are not prepared to incur the physical or emotional costs entailed in being uprooted from their homes. (more…)

Rendering of proposed development on 100 Franklin Street in Tribeca, Manhattan. Image Credit: DDG Partners. Image Courtesy of the Historic Districts Council.

Plan would see the construction of two connected mixed-use buildings on triangular-shaped lots, currently used for parking, on Sixth Avenue extension. On November 12, 2013, the Landmarks Preservation Commission held a hearing on the proposal for two adjacent irregularly shaped lots on 100 Franklin Street in the TriBeCa East Historic District.  DDG Partners is seeking to develop the property with two conjoined structures that would include ground-floor retail and residential use on the upper floors. Representing DDG, Valerie Campbell, attorney at Kramer Levin, stated that the triangular lots had been vacant since the extension of Sixth Avenue in 1930. Campbell also stated that because of the site’s unique characteristics, which includes a below-grade subway tunnel directly in front of the property lot line, the project would likely require variances from the Board of Standards and Appeals for lot coverage, street wall, and set back requirements. (more…)

Renderings of the proposed complex at FDR Drive and 74th Street by Memorial Sloan-Kettering and The City University of New York/Hunter College. Image Credit: MSKCC and CUNY.

New Memorial Sloan Kettering/City of New York dual educational and hospital facility approved by City Council. On September 16, 2013, the City Council’s Land Use Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises held a public hearing on a proposal to develop a hospital and educational complex on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. The applicants were Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) and The City University of New York (CUNY)/Hunter College. The project site is located on 74th Street between York Avenue and Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) Drive, immediately north of the “medical corridor,” which includes Cornell Weill, New York Presbyterian Hospital, MSK, and Hospital for Special Surgery. The application would amend the zoning map to convert the current industrial zoning to support community facility development; amend the zoning text to allow contributions to public park improvement in exchange for additional floor area; provide special permits to waive certain height and setback requirements; and provide a special permit to increase the number of parking spaces in the MSK parking facility from 166 to 248. (more…)