Former Commissioner William J. Bratton

On Friday October 7, 2016, the Center for New York City Law at New York Law School hosted the 137th CityLaw Breakfast. The event speaker was Former Commissioner of the NYPD, William J. Bratton. The event was specially sponsored by Tonio Burgos and Associates. (read more…)

Former Tammany Hall at 100 East 17th Street, Manhattan. Image Credit: LPC.

Speakers largely emphasized the role of Tammany in New York City’s social and political history. On June 25, 2013, the Landmarks Preservation Commission held a hearing on the potential designation of the former Tammany Hall, at 100 East 17th Street off of Union Square, as an individual City landmark. Landmarks calendared the building on May 14, 2013. The building was Tammany’s second headquarters, replacing a meeting hall on 14th Street. Built at the height of the political organization’s power in 1929, the neo-Georgian building’s design was inspired by Federal Hall in Manhattan and Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello in Virginia. After Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia came to power, Tammany’s fortunes ebbed, and it sold the building to the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union. In the 1980s the building was converted to an off-Broadway theater, and is currently home to the New York Film Academy. Margaret Cotter, speaking on behalf of the owners, Liberty Theaters Inc., testified that the owner would not oppose designation, and looked forward to working with Landmarks going forward.

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Rendering of proposed development on 100 Franklin Street in Tribeca, Manhattan. Image Credit: DDG Partners. Image Courtesy of the Historic Districts Council.

Plan would see the construction of two connected mixed-use buildings on triangular-shaped lots, currently used for parking, on Sixth Avenue extension. On November 12, 2013, the Landmarks Preservation Commission held a hearing on the proposal for two adjacent irregularly shaped lots on 100 Franklin Street in the TriBeCa East Historic District.  DDG Partners is seeking to develop the property with two conjoined structures that would include ground-floor retail and residential use on the upper floors. Representing DDG, Valerie Campbell, attorney at Kramer Levin, stated that the triangular lots had been vacant since the extension of Sixth Avenue in 1930. Campbell also stated that because of the site’s unique characteristics, which includes a below-grade subway tunnel directly in front of the property lot line, the project would likely require variances from the Board of Standards and Appeals for lot coverage, street wall, and set back requirements. (read more…)

Proposed Park Slope Historic District Extension II. Image Credit: LPC.

Like the existing district, proposed extension would largely be characterized by 19th-century rowhouses, ecclesiastical structures, and 20th-century apartment buildings. On October 29, 2013, the Landmarks Preservation Commission held a hearing on the potential designation of the Park Slope Historic District Extension II. The proposed extension would lie to the north and west of the existing Park Slope Historic District, designated in 1973. A majority of the 287 properties to be incorporated into the extension are residential rowhouses from the mid-to-late 19th century. Wide scale development of the area that began in the 1860s were of the Neo-Grec and Italianate architectural styles, while development from the 1880s saw increased Queen Anne, Romanesque Revival and Renaissance Revival architectural styles. The district also includes some apartment buildings dating to the early 20th century, as well as St. Augustine Roman Catholic Church and Seventh Day Adventist and Christian Scientist houses of worship. (read more…)

Rendering of proposed development on 70 Henry Street, Brooklyn. Image Credit: Gerner Kronick & Valcarcel Architects.

Landmarks Commissioners failed to reach consensus for new mixed-use building plan for site of movie theater. October 22, 2013, the Landmarks Preservation Commission considered a revised plan for a mixed-use development at 70 Henry Street in the Brooklyn Heights Historic District. The site is currently occupied by the Brooklyn Heights Cinema in a one-story building dating to 1895 that has undergone extensive alterations. Landmarks previously considered a development plan for this building on November 27, 2012, but was unable to reach consensus on either the appropriateness of the proposed demolition or the design of the planned new five-story structure.

Cinema owner Ken Lowy stated that a new theater would be incorporated into the planned new building designed by an architect that he worked with. Lowy also said that local Assembly Member Joan Millman had provided a letter in support of the project. (read more…)

Rendering of Proposed Mixed Use Tower, located at 217 West 57th Street, New York. Image Credit: Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture.

Skyscraper to be built as-of-right, but requires Landmarks to review and approve its impact on adjacent individual landmark. On October 22, 2013, the Landmarks Preservation Commission voted to issue a certificate of appropriateness to Extell Development, despite one dissenting vote,  to allow a portion of a new planned tower to cantilever over the individually landmarked American Fine Arts Society building, located at 215 West 57th Street in Midtown Manhattan. The tower, which is intended to rise to over 1,400 feet, will house a Nordstrom department store at its base, and residences and a hotel above the store.  The French Renaissance-style landmark building has been continuously occupied by the Art Students League of New York since its construction in 1892.

The cantilevered portion of the building would be visible from multiple street vantages. The cantilever would extend 28 feet into the landmark lot, approximately one-third of the lot. The section intruding into the air above the Art Students League would start at 290 feet above the street and 195 feet above the roof of the art school, which is equivalent to “20 stories of air.” The cantilever would be set back 80 feet from the street wall.

At the public hearing, Gary Barnett of Extell stated that the project, which would constitute “a significant addition to the New York City skyline,” would create over 1,300 jobs and generate over $1 billion in tax revenue for the City over 20 years. Barnett said the proposal would in no way detract from the landmark. Preservation Consultant Bill Higgins argued that the cantilever and the landmark would “exist in different planes of urban experience.”

Architect Gordon Gill, of Adrian Smith and Gordon Gill Architecture, said the glass-faced building would be composed of cantilevers, including a “sky lobby” 139 feet above the street. He said the cantilever over the landmark would give the building “a sense of scale” and a “modulation of the texture” of the otherwise sheer side façade.  Gill said the transparent façade of the new building would provide “a contrast” to the stone-clad landmark, and “add texture and animation to the street.” (read more…)