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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City Planning Commission hearing testimony at the June 8th hearing. Image credit: CityLand

The proposed rezoning would facilitate the development of a mixed-use building where an unoccupied, deteriorating building currently stands. On June 8th, 2016, the City Planning Commission held a public hearing on an application to amend the City’s zoning map to facilitate the construction of a 13-story mixed-use building at 255 Houston Street, located on the Lower East Side in Manhattan.

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Carol E. Rosenthal, Real Estate Partner. Image credit: Fried Frank

The results are in, and two of the de Blasio administration’s key land use initiatives, Zoning for Quality and Affordability and Mandatory Inclusionary Housing, are not receiving a welcome reception at community boards and borough boards.

In fact, as of this writing, according to CityLand’s vote tracker of the city’s 59 community boards, 45 have voted to oppose Zoning for Quality and Affordability and 38 have voted to oppose Mandatory Inclusionary Housing. Four of the five borough boards have voted to oppose these proposals, with the remaining borough board, Staten Island’s, to vote on December 10. Many borough presidents have issued statements critical of the proposals as well. Such strong opposition is striking as the proposals were thoughtfully crafted and aim to generate more affordable housing, something that everyone seems to want. What’s going on? (read more…)

Henry Street Firehouse sitting to the right of Henry Street Settlement headquarters. Image credit: CityLand

Community facility will provide on-site social services and improved access to need-based financial benefits.  On August 13, 2015, the City Council adopted a resolution to rehabilitate a vacant firehouse and convert it into a community facility.  The Department of Housing Preservation and Development submitted the Urban Development Action Area Project proposal to the City Planning Commission on March 31, 2015.  The four-story firehouse is located at 269 Henry Street in the Lower East Side neighborhood of Manhattan and has not been used since 2002.

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Door of Bialystoker Center and Home for the Aged. Credit: CityLand.

Retirement home served the Lower East Side’s Jewish community from 1931 until it closed in 2011. On February 12, 2013, the Landmarks Preservation Commission held a hearing on the potential designation of the Bialystoker Center and Home for the Aged at 228 East Broadway in Manhattan, as an individual City landmark. Built between 1929 and 1931 to designs by architect Harry Hurwit, the Art Deco Bialystoker Center was built by a Jewish benevolent society, established in 1921. The Center initially focused on relief efforts in Europe and the assistance of recent immigrants to New York. In constructing the building, an essential component was the incorporation of a home for the aged to support the existing Jewish immigrant community in the City.

The ten-story building is clad primarily in brick, with terra-cotta ornament and a limestone base. The building features an ornate entrance and bas relief rondels bearing symbols of the Twelve Tribes of Israel. The Landmarks staff noted that the building was one of the few buildings in the area to emerge unscathed from the Seward Park urban renewal projects of the 1960s.

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Map of East Village/Lower East Side Historic District. Credit: LPC.

Support and opposition to landmarking reiterated at City Council level. On January 31, 2013, the City Council’s Land Use Committee voted to approve the Landmarks Preservation Commission’s designation of the East Village/Lower East Side Historic District in Manhattan. The district includes approximately 325 buildings, and is composed of two distinct sections on each side of First Avenue. On October 9, 2012, Landmarks approved the designation after modifying the boundaries of the proposal initially presented to the Commission. Landmarks found the area significant for its pre-Depression residential architecture and its social history as a home to successive waves of immigrant communities, as well as an epicenter of bohemian life. At Landmarks’ June 26, 2012 public hearing, the vast majority of speakers testified in support of designation, though some local religious institutions opposed, including the Catholic Worker, the St. Stanislaus Bishop and Martyr Roman Catholic Church, and St. Mary’s Orthodox Church.

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