
Blueprint of proposed 9-story building at 5914 Bay Parkway./Image Credit: SUW 4 LLC/CPC
The applicants propose to bring eleven affordable housing units under the City’s Workforce Option to Bensonhurst. On March 4, 2020, the City Planning Commission held a public hearing on an application to rezone part of a low-density residential zoning district in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn. The applicant, SUW 4 LLC, proposes to rezone the northwest corner of 60th Street and Bay Parkway, which is a 10,108 square foot vacant lot. Under the current zoning, only three- to four- story residential buildings are allowed. The proposed rezoning will allow as-of-right eleven-story residential buildings with commercial use. The applicant plans to construct a nine-story, mixed-use building on the entire lot, with the address of 5914 Bay Parkway. The new building will have residential, commercial, and community facility uses.
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Twin adjoining buildings at 827 and 831 Broadway, Image LPC.
Attorney for owner threatened to seek demolition through a hardship application should landmarks designate the property and not permit a visible addition. At its meeting on October 17, 2017, the Landmarks Preservation Commission held a hearing on the possible individual landmarks designation of two twin adjoining buildings at 827 and 831 Broadway. Completed in 1867, the buildings were designed by architect Griffith Thomas for tobacco-company heir Pierre Lorillard in an Italian palazzi-inspired design. Built in marble with cast-iron piers and columns, the buildings represent a transitional period in Griffith’s career, before he fully embraced the use of cast iron. (read more…)

Council Member Margaret Chin. Image credit: NYCC/William Alatriste
An amendment to expand ground floor retail use received harsh criticism from Council Members, tenants, and the community board. On May 30, 2017, the City Council’s Subcommittee heard testimony on an application to expand the Special Little Italy District to abolish rear yards to expand retail use. The applicant, JBAM TRG Spring LLC, proposed to build a one-story addition to the rear yards of 55-57 Spring Street—eliminating empty ground floor residential units—to create an expanded covered space for retail use. The building owner had agreed to move yard facilities to the roofs of the buildings if the application were approved. (read more…)

Rendering of 14 White Street in Tribeca, Manhattan. Image Credit: LPC
New development on triangular-shaped corner lot will employ passive house technology and have a facade clad with etched bronze panels. On March 7, 2017, the Landmarks Preservation Commission considered and approved a certificate of appropriateness application for 14 White Street in the Tribeca East Historic District. The site is currently occupied by a parking lot and is being developed by the firm Nava. The development will house ten residential units with retail use at the base. (read more…)

City Council Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises hearing testimony at the August 9th hearing. Image credit: CityLand
The proposal seeks to re-zone two and a half residential blocks from solely residential to mixed-use with ground floor commercial space. On August 9, 2016, the City Council’s Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises heard testimony on an application to re-zone residential space to provide for mixed residential and commercial space for two-and-a-half blocks on the south side of Houston Street, spanning from Norfolk Street to halfway between Clinton Street and Attorney Street, located on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. The City Planning Commission approved the application after holding a hearing on June 8, 2016. For CityLand’s previous coverage on the East Houston Street Rezoning, click here.
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Proposed Development. Image Credit: Morris Adjmi & LI/Saltzman Architects.
The two sites, which together constitute one through-block lot, will host new ten- and 13-story buildings designed by Morris Adjmi Architects. On June 22, 2016, the Landmarks Preservation Commission considered and approved an application to demolish two structures in the Ladies’ Mile Historic District, at 21West 17th Street, and 16 West 18th Street, and replace them with a 13-story and a ten-story building, respectively. The two lots face each other at the rear, and together make for one through-block parcel. The existing buildings on both lots have histories dating to the 19th century, but retain little or no historic fabric. The planned new buildings were designed by architect Morris Adjmi, who has successfully shepherded other projects in the neighborhood through Landmarks approval process. The properties are officially owned by 17-18 Management Company LLC, but the Real Deal reports they are owned and being developed by C.A. White. (read more…)