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. (read more…)

The Center for New York City Law with Speaker Quinn on February 15, 2013. (From left to right) Sarah Knowles, Amber Gonzalez, Brian Kaszuba, Ross Moskowitz, Randy Kleinman, Christine Quinn, Ross Sandler, William Vidal, Melissa Wagner.

This morning the Center for New York City Law at New York Law School hosted one of its City Law Breakfasts. The event was co-hosted by the Center for Real Estate Studies.  New York Law School and the Center were honored to have City Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn as this morning’s speaker.

Speaker Quinn was introduced by the Center’s founder and Director, Ross Sandler. Quinn began by thanking Ross Sandler and praising New York Law School Dean Anthony Crowell.

In front of over 200 attendees, Speaker Quinn talked about a recent City Council legal victory over a proposed Department of Homeless Services (DHS) policy. That policy would make it harder for homeless single adults to access shelter. The policy was implemented without providing the Council notice and without holding a public hearing pursuant to the City Charter. The Supreme Court and the Appellate Division ruled in favor of the Council. DHS will now work with the Council to create a new policy.

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City Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn.

Presumptive mayoral candidate focuses on solutions to the “middle class squeeze” in speech. On February 11, 2013, City Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn gave her final State of the City Address. Speaker Quinn, who is term limited at the end of this year, is expected to announce her candidacy for mayor in September’s Democratic primary.

Quinn’s speech focused primarily on helping the middle class. The Speaker highlighted The Middle Class Squeeze, a report that she and the City Council issued earlier that same day. The report explains that the City’s middle class has shrunk due to decreasing middle-class jobs, increasing middle-class unemployment, the expensiveness of the City, and rising housing costs that exceed middle-class incomes. In her speech she stated, “Our top priority must be to keep our middle class here, attract new middle-class families, and give every New Yorker the opportunity to enter the middle class.” The Speaker contended that New York faces an affordability crisis and the City needs to make sure that people who want to stay here can afford to do so.

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