DCP Releases Storefront Vacancy Report

The causes of vacancies vary due to differences in local economies and other community characteristics. On August 8, 2019, the Department of City Planning released “Assessing Storefront Vacancy in NYC”, a report which examines retail patterns and storefront vacancies across 24 different neighborhood shopping corridors around the city.


City’s Airbnb Law Upheld

Broadway Hotel sued New York City claiming the Airbnb law was unconstitutional. The City served a summons on the Broadway Hotel on the Upper West Side of Manhattan for illegal transient occupancy. The New York City Airbnb law prohibited a class A dwelling from renting out rooms on a temporary basis. The City alleged that the Hotel was a Class A dwelling and was therefore prohibited from renting out rooms on a temporary basis for … <Read More>


Zoning Challenge Halts Manhattan Tower for DOB Audit

City Council Member and community celebrate after the Department of Buildings halt the construction of an Upper West Side tower. In September 2016, developer SJP Properties filed building plans with the Department of Buildings for the construction of a new 51-story building located at 200 Amsterdam Avenue in Manhattan’s Upper West Side. The plans filed detailed a 642 foot tower containing 583,294 square feet of residential space and 3,016 square feet of floor area on … <Read More>


Basement apartment ruled legal; Condo’s “peace” sign ruled illegal

Buildings charged that owner unlawfully converted basement into additional rental apartment. In 2013 the Department of Buildings charged the owner of 345 W 70th Street, a multiple dwelling, with creating an illegal apartment in the basement. At the administrative hearing, Buildings submitted three I-cards for the building from 1916, 1938 and 1945. Before 1938, the Department of Housing Preservation and Development used I-cards to record the occupancy and arrangement of the buildings HPD had inspected. … <Read More>


Appellate Court Upholds AirBNB Law [UPDATE: Court of Appeals Denies Leave to Appeal]

Court found that DOB letter of objection exception to the Multiple Dwelling law was no longer valid. On March 17, 2016, New York Appellate Court reversed a Lower Court’s Decision and thus denying Grand Imperial LLC’s Petition for a Letter of No Objection to rent its property for shorter than the legally required time period. Grand Imperial LLC owns a Single-Room Occupancy building, located at 307 West 79th Street on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, … <Read More>


New Columbus Avenue Development Approved after Revisions

Modifications to proposal for eight-story-plus-penthouse structure included revisions to cornice and base, and lowering some floor heights. On September 6, 2016, the Landmarks Preservation Commission approved the demolition of an existing building and a new development at 466 Columbus Avenue in the Upper West Side/Central Park West Historic District. The approved plan will replace an existing structure built in 1894 but heavily altered in intervening years. The site is owned and will be developed … <Read More>