Labor Day commemorates the history of the labor movement and the social and economic gains of workers in the United States.   New York City has been a location for many significant milestones of labor history.  We here at CityLand document the changes in New York City land use, but we would be remiss to ignore that behind every land use change is the hard labor of American workers, from demolition to construction and all points in between.  These men and women in the labor community have helped shaped New York’s majestic skyline.  In celebration of the holiday, we have created a list of historic places that have a connection to the labor community.  Some of these site have even been designated by the Landmarks Preservation Commission.  From all of us here at the Center for New York City Law, have a happy Labor Day!

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Sam Schwartz

This week there has been a renewed interest in Sam Schwartz’s revised congestion pricing plan which is being pushed by a group called Move NY.  Read CityLaw’s great profile on Mr. Schwartz that details his plan.  This was originally published on April 18, 2013.

Sam Schwartz is the president and CEO of Sam Schwartz Engineering, a firm that specializes in transportation planning and engineering. Schwartz’s new congestion pricing proposal, “Move New York,” offers a novel approach to the controversial subject.

Sam Schwartz was born and raised in Brooklyn, attended Brooklyn Technical High School, graduated from Brooklyn College where he majored in physics, and earned a Master of Science degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania. In 1971, Schwartz began working with the City’s Department of Transportation, as a junior engineer. He rose to be DOT’s Chief Engineer and First Deputy Commissioner.

In 1990, Schwartz left the DOT to teach classes at Cooper Union. Schwartz also began writing columns for the Daily News under the pen-name “Gridlock Sam.” In 1995, Schwartz opened his own engineering firm called Sam Schwartz Engineering. The firm is involved in projects throughout the globe, including a revolutionary streetcar system in Aruba, powered solely by battery and hydrogen fuel cells.

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22 Central Park South

Eight-story building sharing same tax lot as Plaza Hotel was included in 1969 designation. On June 19, 2012, Landmarks approved a plan to rebuild the facade of, and build a rooftop addition to, an eight-story building at 22 Central Park South. The building was constructed in 1897, and was substantially modified and enlarged in 1909. It abuts the western wall of the individually landmarked Plaza Hotel, and was included in the 1969 landmarking of the Plaza Hotel because it shared a tax lot with the hotel at the time. At the hearing, Landmarks Chair Robert B. Tierney termed the building an “accidental landmark,” noting that it was not mentioned in the 1969 designation report.

Historic preservation consultant William Higgins, speaking on behalf of the owner, explained that 22 Central Park South shared the same tax lot with the hotel from 1965 until 1980, and claimed the proposal was before Landmarks as an “administrative technicality.” Higgins said the building had undergone significant changes since its 1909 enlargement; gaining a subway entrance, a rooftop addition, and a fire escape. According to Higgins, the Plaza Hotel acquired the property in 1915, but never physically incorporated it into the hotel. Instead, it was leased to commercial tenants or used as administrative offices.

Architect David West, of Goldstein Hill and West Architects, said the proposal intended to create a “well- (more…)

Proposal includes options for single- and multi-tenant building on site currently occupied by the Hotel Pennsylvania. On February 8, 2010, the City Planning Commission certified Vornado Realty Trust’s application to build a 2.05 million sq.ft. office tower at 15 Penn Plaza in Manhattan. The site is across the street from Madison Square Garden and Penn Station, and is currently occupied by the Vornado- controlled 1,700-room Hotel Pennsylvania. Vornado would demolish the hotel to build the tower, and it intends to construct an as-of-right building if it does not obtain approval for the proposed project. In order to increase development flexibility and ensure that it can begin construction as soon as possible, Vornado’s application included two different building plans. It originally proposed two building scenarios that would have provided 2.84 and 2.65 million sq.ft. of floor area respectively. 6 CityLand 7 (Feb. 15, 2009). The reduced certified proposal, however, showed two buildings that would each total 2.05 million sq.ft. of floor area. According to Vornado, the designs cannot be blended, and it intends to build one or the other of the proposed options.

A single-tenant, 67-story building option would feature a ten-story, 218-foot tall base with a tapered tower rising to 1,190 feet and no setback along the Seventh Avenue frontage. The tower proposal would provide 2.04 million sq.ft. of office space and 12,000 sq.ft. of retail space on the ground floor. (more…)

The Council’s Land Use Committee approved the proposal after the developer agreed to provide permanently affordable on-site housing. On December 14, 2009, the City Council’s Land Use Committee modified and approved Goldman Sachs and Related Companies’ proposal to develop the Western Rail Yard site on the far west side of Midtown, Manhattan. The thirteen-acre site is bounded by West 33rd Street to the north, West 30th Street to the south, Eleventh Avenue to the east, and Twelfth Avenue to the west. The High Line runs along the site’s southern and western edges, but it is not part of the proposed project.

The approved plan will convert the Metropolitan Transit Authority’s open rail storage yard into a 5.7 million sq.ft. development that would include eight mixed-use towers, containing roughly 4,600 – 5,700 dwelling units, 5.4 acres of open space, and a new public school. The proposal included setting aside twenty percent of the project’s rental units as affordable housing. Related submitted applications to rezone the site from an M2-3 to a C6-4 district, obtain special permits to build two parking garages with a maximum of 1,600 combined spaces, and to extend the Special Hudson Yards District to include the site. (more…)