Third Industrial Business Incentive Area Project Approved by City Planning in Williamsburg

City Planning Commissioners voice concern over approving too many IBIAs before knowing the impacts that such projects will have on the area. On February 27, 2019, the City Planning Commission voted to approved another Industrial Business Incentive Area (IBIA) within the Greenpoint/Williamsburg Industrial Business Zone (IBZ) of Brooklyn. This project will be the third of its kind, with 25 Kent Avenue as the first, and 12 Franklin Street as the second.  This application expands the … <Read More>


City Council Passes New Legislation Halting Business Sign Violation Fees

Small business owners faced fines upwards of $15,000. In response to public outcry and community concerns on the hardships imposed on local businesses, on January 9, 2019, the New York City Council passed new legislation that would temporarily stop fines from violations issued to small businesses for failing to conform to their sign permits or those who did not have the proper permits at all. The Department usually gets 900 complaints a year, but that … <Read More>


City Council Creating Pilot Program to Create Apartments in East New York

The program will bring currently illegal basement and cellar apartments up to code, and allow for additional basement and cellar apartments to be created. On February 13, 2019, the New York City Council passed legislation, titled Introduction 1004, establishing a pilot program which allows for the creation and alteration of habitable apartments in basements and cellars in one and two-family dwellings in East New York. The program seeks to address the lack of affordable housing … <Read More>


Residents Prevent Development in Fight Over Open Space

Appellate Division finds that Buildings improperly issued construction permit for nursing home after misinterpreting the zoning resolution. Park West Village is a complex located on a superblock bounded by West 100th Street to the north, West 97th Street to the south, Columbus Avenue to the east, and Amsterdam Avenue to the west on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The complex was built in the 1950s and 1960s as part of a federally … <Read More>


City Planning Approves Application for Supportive and Affordable Housing in East New York

The new building will have 43 apartments for formerly homeless individuals. On January 9, 2019, the City Planning Commission voted unanimously to approve an application for the development of a seven-story residential building at 461 Alabama Avenue in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn. The City Planning Commission held a public hearing for the application on December 5, 2018. The applicant team consisted of the Department of Housing Preservation and Development, CB Emmanuel Realty LLC, … <Read More>


City Planning Approves Second-of-its-Kind Industrial Business Incentive Area Project

The project will provide much needed office space while preserving industrial space that is characteristic of the Greenpoint/Williamsburg area. On December 5, 2018, the City Planning Commission held a public hearing on a proposed mixed-use development at 12 Franklin Street in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, located within the Greenpoint/Williamsburg Industrial Business Zone.  The applicant is proposing to build a seven story, approximately 134,222 square foot building that will contain a mix of light industrial, office, and retail … <Read More>