The CUNY Forum held a panel discussion on affordable housing. (l. to r., REBNY President Steven Spinola, Vishaan Chakrabarti, Bob Liff, Council Member Jumaane D. Williams, Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer) Image credit: City University of New York

Elected officials and real estate professionals debate solutions and strategies to City’s affordable housing shortage. On October 1st, 2014 the City University of New York’s CUNY Forum series held a panel discussion titled “Affordable Housing and Social Justice in NYC”. The panel featured Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer, Vishaan Chakrabarti of SHoP Architects and Associate Professor at Columbia University, Real Estate Board of New York President Steven Spinola, and Council Member Jumaane D. Williams. The debate was moderated by CUNY Forum’s host Bob Liff.

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A rendering of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering/CUNY-Hunter College development, seen from 74th Street facing FDR Drive. Image credit: Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center

Upper East Side community group did not meet burden of proof that City acted arbitrarily.  On July 28, 2014, the New York Supreme Court in Manhattan denied petitions for declarative and injunctive relief against the proposed expansion of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Hospital.  The petitions were brought by the Residents for Reasonable Development and several Upper East Side residents acting individually.  The petitioners argued that the institutional uses of the project were incompatible with the largely residential area, and that approvals by the City Planning Commission and City Council were granted without consideration to the general welfare.

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Renderings of the proposed complex at FDR Drive and 74th Street by Memorial Sloan-Kettering and The City University of New York/Hunter College. Image Credit: MSKCC and CUNY.

New Memorial Sloan Kettering/City of New York dual educational and hospital facility approved by City Council. On September 16, 2013, the City Council’s Land Use Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises held a public hearing on a proposal to develop a hospital and educational complex on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. The applicants were Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) and The City University of New York (CUNY)/Hunter College. The project site is located on 74th Street between York Avenue and Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) Drive, immediately north of the “medical corridor,” which includes Cornell Weill, New York Presbyterian Hospital, MSK, and Hospital for Special Surgery. The application would amend the zoning map to convert the current industrial zoning to support community facility development; amend the zoning text to allow contributions to public park improvement in exchange for additional floor area; provide special permits to waive certain height and setback requirements; and provide a special permit to increase the number of parking spaces in the MSK parking facility from 166 to 248. (read more…)