200 Amsterdam Avenue Rendering Image Credit: SJP Properties

Advocates applaud decision while developers find decision deeply flawed. On February 15, 2020, the Committee for Environmentally Sound Development and the Municipal Art Society of New York,  won an Article 78 case regarding the construction of a 668 foot, 52-story condominium building located at 200 Amsterdam Avenue on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. New York County Supreme Court Justice W. Franc Perry’s ruling requires the Department of Buildings to revoke the building permit and compel the developers, SJP Properties and Mitsui Fudosan America, to remove the floors that exceed what is permitted under the Zoning Resolution.

(read more…)

Artist Rendering of 550 Washington Nothern Site. Image Credit: CookFox Architects

Council Member Corey Johnson still feels hesitant about proposed St. John’s Terminal development and seeks more concessions by the developer. On November 1, 2016, the City Council’s Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises held a public hearing on the proposed 550 Washington Street rezoning and redevelopment, and the creation of a special district in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village. The proposed development would create three separate city blocks for five separate buildings which would include four mixed-use buildings and on the southern site the fifth building would be zoned for office or hotel space. Currently the four-story St. John’s Terminal Building occupies the site. The approval of the application by the City Council would also serve as a precondition for the transfer of development rights from the Hudson River Park Trust to the developer for $100 million. The transfer of development rights would be made possible by the creation of a special district which would include Pier 40 and the development site, which was part of the application heard. For CityLand’s previous coverage click here. (read more…)

Paul Selver testifies before the Board of Standards and Appeals. Image credit: BSA

Board distinguished the application from relevant case law.  On July 28th, the Board of Standards and Appeals voted to reopen and amend a variance for the applicant, 124 West 24th Street Condominium, to facilitate the conveyance of unused development rights.  The site from which the rights were to be transferred was the subject of a previous Board variance and could not be transferred without Board approval.

(read more…)

20-22 East 71st Street. Image credit: Friends of the Upper East Side Historic Districts

Permit would allow vacant commercial building to convert into a single-family residence.  On May 6, 2015 the City Planning Commission approved a special permit for Tower Management Holdings LLC to convert a vacant commercial building at 20-22 East 71st Street in the Upper East Side Historic District of Manhattan into a single-family residence.  The building was constructed as a single-family five-story townhouse in 1923, but was used as commercial offices from 1986 until 2007.  The permit exempts the building from requirements on inner courts and minimum distance between windows.

(read more…)

Architect rendering of the proposed building at 505 West 43rd Street. Image credit: ODA

The fifteen-story building would be built over an open rail cut in the Special Clinton District.  On March 24, 2015, the City Council Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises heard a proposal by 1818 Nadlan LLC to construct a new fifteen-story residential building at 505 West 43rd Street in the Special Clinton District of Hell’s Kitchen, Manhattan.  The proposed building would consist of two segments, one fronting on West 43rd Street and the other fronting on West 44th Street, containing a total of 105 condominium units.  Eight of the units are designated affordable, and a twenty-three space accessory parking garage is also available.  The proposal requests a special permit to construct over a rail line and waivers of the height, setback, rear yard obstruction, and street line planter requirements.

(read more…)

Architect’s rendering of One Vanderbilt Place and Grand Central Terminal. Image credit: Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates

Representatives from the project developers, Grand Central Terminal, and private citizens argued the proposal.  On February 4, 2015 the City Planning Commission held a public hearing on the proposed One Vanderbilt skyscraper project.  The proposed building would be 1,450 feet high and take up a block bounded by Madison Avenue to the west, Vanderbilt Avenue to the east, 42nd Street to the south, and 43rd Street to the north.  The project would also include transit improvements to the overcrowded Lexington Avenue subway station in Grand Central, as well as accommodate the projected influx of riders once the MTA East Side Access program is completed.  On December 11, 2014 Manhattan Community Boards 5 and 6, through the Multi-Board Task Force on East Midtown Rezoning, recommended denial of the project.  On January 29, 2015 Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer gave a conditional approval of One Vanderbilt after negotiating additional community benefits with project developer SL Green.

(read more…)