Lobby at 47-55 39th Place in Sunnyside, Queens. Image credit: Office of Majority Leader Jimmy Van Bramer

City will investigate property manager who decorated condo lobby with Nazi and other fascist regalia. On August 29, 2017, the City’s Commission on Human Rights announced that it had launched an investigation into the claims of tenant harassment at 47-55 39th Place in the Sunnyside neighborhood of Queens. The investigation stems from the display of Nazi and Confederate imagery, swastikas and other hate symbols in the lobby. Tenants, condo owners and Majority Leader Jimmy Van Bramer have all alleged tenant harassment by the manager, Neal Milano, in connection to the offensive displays in the common area lobby. The lobby is also plastered with hyper-patriotic posters supporting Trump and the NRA. Other posters include, but are not limited to, Lincoln, Mount Rushmore, and Uncle Sam. (more…)

Mayor De Blasio at New York Law School. Image Credit: CityLand

Mayor and City Council celebrate progress in production of affordable housing units since the passage of mandatory affordable rules one year ago. March 22, 2017, marked the one year anniversary of the Mandatory Inclusionary Housing program. The program, which requires developers to include permanently affordable housing whenever a special permit or a rezoning significantly increases the underlying potential residential floor area, has received both praise and chastisement from advocates and Council Members. (more…)

Image Credit: Google Maps

Phipps Houses withdrew its application for its ten-story, Barnett Avenue development following a lack of community support. On September 20, 2016, Phipps Houses, the oldest and largest not-for-profit developer of affordable housing in New York City, withdrew its Barnett Avenue development proposal—the day before its scheduled public hearing in front of the City Council’s Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises. Phipps Houses had sought a zoning map change and two zoning text amendments to facilitate the construction of a new mixed-use development in the Sunnyside neighborhood of Queens. (more…)

Renderings of the proposed development on 39th Avenue and 50th Street. Image Credit: Campani & Schwarting Architects.

Owners said construction of a new residential development would help fund the maintenance of the 1931 prototype for mass-produced housing. On October 15, 2013, the Landmarks Preservation Commission held a hearing on a proposed new development from Norcor Management Group for a vacant lot at the corner of 39th Avenue and 50th Street in Queens’ Sunnyside Gardens Historic District. (See CityLand’s past coverage here.) The application would include the installation of the Aluminaire House, a conceptual prototype of inexpensive, reproducible housing built for the 1931 Architectural and Allied Arts Exhibition by Architects A. Lawrence Kocher and Albert Frey. The house is currently dismantled and in storage. An L-shaped contemporary residential building would also be built on the lot, surrounding the Aluminaire House on two sides, and facing both 39th Avenue and 50th Street. (more…)