
Proposed rezoning. Image credit: CPC.
City expected to appeal Judge’s decision invalidating the Inwood Rezoning. On December 10, 2019, Judge Verna L. Saunders of the New York State Supreme Court, New York county ruled in favor of the Northern Manhattan is Not For Sale’s Article 78 petition challenging the legality of the Inwood Rezoning. The rezoning was proposed by the city’s Economic Development Corporation and was set to up-zone 59 blocks in the Inwood neighborhood of Manhattan. Approval of the rezoning would permit property owners to build mixed-use commercial and residential developments up to thirty stories tall, where predominantly one to two story-buildings and warehouses previously existed. The plan also included nearly 1,600 new affordable housing units. Northern Manhattan is Not For Sale is an unincorporated association of individuals and organizations alleging the City failed to study the critical impacts of the rezoning before City Council approved the application on August 8, 2018. In large part Northern Manhattan is Not For Sale believes that the rezoning will displace longtime Inwood residents.
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Houses on West 217th Street from the proposed historic district. Image Credit: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission
First historic district in Inwood preserves 15 buildings. On December 11, 2018, the Landmarks Preservation Commission voted unanimously to designate the Park Terrace West – West 217th Street Historic District. The historic district covers 15 houses along Park Terrace West and West 217th Street in the Inwood neighborhood of Manhattan. For CityLand’s prior coverage of this historic district, click here. (read more…)

Houses on West 217th Street from the proposed historic district. Image Credit: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission
Community voiced support of preservation of suburban character after neighborhood rezoning earlier this year. On November 20, 2018, the Landmarks Preservation Commission held a public hearing on the proposed designation of the Park Terrace West-West 217th Street Historic District in the Inwood section of Manhattan. The Landmarks Preservation Commission voted to calendar the proposed historic district on September 25, 2018. For CityLand’s prior coverage of the Park Terrace West designation process, click here. (read more…)

Houses on West 217th Street demonstrate the suburban character of the proposed historic district. Image Credit: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission
The proposed historic district highlights homes with suburban characteristics rarely found in Manhattan. On September 25, 2018, the Landmarks Preservation Commission unanimously voted to calendar the proposed Park Terrace West-West 217th Street Historic District in the Inwood section of Manhattan. The proposed historic district consists of fifteen houses along West 217th Street between Park Terrace West and Park Terrace East and along Park Terrace West between West 215th Street and West 218th Street. (read more…)

Intersection of Broadway and Dyckman Street in Inwood. Image credit: Daniel Case.
On August 8, 2018, the City Council approved the Inwood Neighborhood Rezoning amidst resident concerns and disapproval. Mayor Bill de Blasio and Council Member Ydanis Rodriguez celebrated the rezoning approval. The rezoning was developed over the course of three years and affects 59 city blocks in the northern Manhattan neighborhood. The Economic Development Corporation, together with the Department of Housing Preservation and Development, the Department of Citywide Administrative Services, and the Department of Small Business Services, proposed the land use actions to implement a comprehensive rezoning plan in accordance with the goals of the Mayor’s Housing New York: Five-Borough, Ten-Year Plan and began to implement the Inwood NYC Action Plan. (read more…)

Rendering of Proposed Development. Image Credit: KPA Architects
City Council rejected the first private application of Mandatory Inclusionary Housing. On August 16, 2016, the City Council rejected a proposal to rezone a large corner lot in order to construct a new mixed-use development located at 4650 Broadway in Manhattan’s Inwood neighborhood. Currently a two-story commercial building operating as a parking garage and U-Haul truck rental facility occupies the site. The original proposal from the developer, Acadia Sherman Avenue LLC, was to build a new mixed-use building that would have retail and community space on the bottom two floors, contain 335 residential units and rise 23 stories. The original project would have made permanent 30 percent of the floor area as affordable housing under the new Mandatory Inclusionary Housing law.
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