Draft rendering of Metropolitan College of New York’s Bronx campus building, viewed from Brook Avenue. Image credit: Metropolitan College of New York

College sited educational facilities in an M1-1 zone.  On June 24, 2014, the Board of Standards and Appeals granted a use variance to Metropolitan College of New York, a non-profit educational institution headquartered at 431 Canal Street in Manhattan, to use the entire second floor of a new building at 459 East 149th Street at the corner of Brook Avenue in the Bronx for educational purposes.  The site is in the shape of a triangle, bounded by East 149th Street on the west, by Brook Avenue on the east, and by an MTA right-of-way on the north where the 2 and 5 subway lines run aboveground.

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Solar Carve Tower Rendering. Image Credit Studio Gang Architects.

After consistent objections from community board and former City Council Speaker, developer drops controversial FAR request and is approved. William Gottlieb Real Estate can now move forward with development of Studio Gang Architects’ “Solar Carve” Tower, a ten-story structure that will occupy 40-56 Tenth Avenue, the full block between West 13th and 14th streets in Manhattan. William Gottlieb originally sought additional floor area to offset prohibitive construction costs resulting from poor subsurface conditions at the site, 10% of which is occupied by the High Line itself. Had the developer’s initial request for an FAR variance been granted, the proposed “Solar Carve” tower would have been 34% larger than allowed for by local zoning requirements. (more…)

Photo of Congregation Ohel Chabad Lubavitch-owned property located at 226-10 Francis Lewis Boulevard, Queens. Image Courtesy of Abba Refson.

BSA approval contingent upon several conditions, and restrictions of the hours of operation and access to gravesites. The Congregation Ohel Chabad Lubavitch owns the property at 226-10 Francis Lewis Boulevard, Queens adjacent to the Montefiore Cemetery where the Lubavitch spiritual leader Rebbe Menachem M. Schneerson and his predecessor Rebbe Yosef J. Schneerson are buried. Daily visitors numbering in the several hundreds use the property to access the graves of the Lubavitch leaders.  In 1994 the Congregation purchased the property which comprises five adjacent buildings used by the visitors as a synagogue sanctuary and 24-hour per day access point to the gravesite.

The Congregation applied to the Board of Standards and Appeals for a variance to allow it to legalize and enlarge a synagogue and accessory uses at the property, and to waive the FAR, lot coverage, yard, and parking requirements. The Congregation’s initial application proposed to merge the five homes and legalize the operation of the synagogue and visitor’s center, while also providing accessory uses to visitors including synagogue services, prayer space, and a Shabbos house with overnight transient sleeping accommodations. The Congregation also proposed to connect the cellar, first story, and second story of the five homes, thereby increasing the FAR and lot coverage, and decreasing rear and side yards and parking space requirements, contrary to the existing R2A zoning regulations. (more…)

Developer sought variance after Buildings revoked permit for twelvestory project. Wai Sun Realty obtained a permit to build a twelvestory, mixed-use building on a narrow through-block lot at 183 East Broadway in Manhattan’s Lower East Side. The bottleneck-shaped lot has approximately 26 feet of frontage along East Broadway and 44 feet of frontage along Henry Street. The project site is zoned R7-2 with a partial C1-5 commercial overlay.

Wai Sun demolished a five-story building to make way for the proposed twelve-story building. Wai Sun had erected a 91-foot, sevenstory steel and concrete shell when it received a stop work order from Buildings. Buildings revoked the permit after determining that the building would violate the sliver law, which applies in certain zoning districts and limits the height of buildings with widths less than 45 feet.

Wai Sun altered its project and proposed a seven-story building that retained the existing shell. Wai Sun needed a variance from BSA because the proposal would exceed the R7-2 district’s maximum floor area, building height, and lot coverage regulations. During the BSA hearing process, Wai Sun agreed to modify the project by eliminating the seventh floor which reduced the project’s height by ten feet.

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Court rejected neighbors’ article 78 challenge to nine-story mixed-use building adjacent to landmarked synagogue. Congregation Shearith Israel applied to BSA for a variance to build a nine-story mixed-used building adjacent to its landmarked synagogue at the corner of West 70th Street and Central Park West in the Upper West Side-Central Park West Historic District. In addition to the synagogue, Shearith Israel owns a four-story parsonage house to the south of the synagogue along Central Park West and a four-story community house to the west of the synagogue along West 70th Street. Shearith Israel planned to demolish the community house to build the project. The proposed building’s first four floors would be occupied by community facility uses, including adult education classrooms, a Jewish day school, and a synagogue reception and banquet area. The top five floors would be developed into five market-rate condominiums.

The majority of Shearith Israel’s zoning lot is zoned R10A, but a portion of the lot along West 70th Street is zoned R8B. Shearith Israel needed the variance because the 105-foot building would violate, among other things, the zoning resolution’s maximum building height and setback regulations. Prior to applying to BSA, Shearith Israel obtained approval from Landmarks to demolish the community house and build the proposed mixed-use development.  (more…)