BSA granted a two-year special permit to allow CrossFit NYC to operate in the cellar level of an existing 31-story mixed residential and commercial building. The building, located on the corner of Columbus Avenue and West 67th Street, Manhattan, is partially within a C4-7 zoning district and partially within an R8 zoning district. Neither zoning districts permit the use of physical culture establishments. The building owner and CrossFit NYC, the lessee, appealed to Board of Standards and Appeals for a special permit to allow the development of their gym in the cellar of the building. CrossFit NYC planned to use the gym to hold classes, instruction and programs for physical improvement, body building, weight reduction, and aerobics. (more…)

Jewish Home Lifecare project site.

Community board argued that Commission should require Jewish Home Lifecare’s to seek special permit for new facility on West 97th Street. Jewish Home Lifecare, a health care provider for the elderly, planned to build a new 414-bed nursing home on West 97th Street between Columbus and Amsterdam Avenues in Manhattan’s Upper West Side. Jewish Home Lifecare operates a 514-bed facility at 120 West 106th Street. However, the building’s physical plant is outdated and inefficient, and Jewish Home Lifecare planned to relocate to a new 24-story facility on West 97th Street. The building would be located on a parking lot surrounded by the Park West Village Apartments. The proposed building would comply with the zoning requirements of the area’s underlying R7-2 district. However, Jewish Home Lifecare needed the City Planning Commission to issue a certification to the Department of Buildings in order to avoid seeking a special permit to build the facility, which, if required, would trigger public review pursuant to the City’s Uniform Land Use Review Procedure.

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Developer agreed to fund larger on-site school and provide on-site affordable housing. On December 8, 2010, the City Council’s Land Use Committee modified Extell Development Company’s proposal to develop a three million sq.ft. mixed-use project on a site bounded by West 59th and West 61st Streets and West End Avenue and Riverside Boulevard in Manhattan’s Upper West Side. The project, known as Riverside Center, will include five buildings, ranging in height from 31 to 44 stories; 2.75 acres of publicly accessible open space; and an on-site public elementary school. Extell will also extend Freedom Place South and West 60th Street.

The 8.2-acre project site comprises the three remaining undeveloped parcels of the Riverside South development plan first approved by the City in 1992 to govern the redevelopment of the rail yards extending from West 59th Street to West 72nd Street. To facilitate the project’s development, Extell submitted multiple applications including modifications to height and setback requirements and special permits for 1,800 below-ground parking spaces. (more…)

Opposition to garage led to reduction in public parking spaces. On April 23, 2007, the City Council voted to approve the special permit application of developers Continental Equities and Brack Capital for a 190- space public parking garage to be located within the 200-unit, as-of-right luxury condominium project currently under construction at 555 West 59th Street between Amsterdam and West End Avenues.

The original proposal called for the entire garage to be public parking. It would use 47 double-car stackers, have ten reservoir spaces and be accessible from curb cuts on West 60th Street. When the project reached the Planning Commission, the developers responded to opposition from Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer and Community Board 7 by offering to reserve 80 spaces for use by the project’s residents. During the land use review process, Community Board 7 asked that 152 spaces be set aside for residents, leaving only 38 public parking spaces; Stringer asked for at least 80 accessory spaces. In its final approval of the permit, the Commission incorporated the developers’ offer into the final conditions, making a minimum of 80 spaces accessory to the building’s residents. (more…)

The proposed height provision had, as approved by the Planning Commission, been applicable citywide. On February 28, 2007, the City Council approved the four linked applications for the mixed-use development of West 60th Street Associates, LLC with significant modifications to the developer’s proposed citywide zoning change on bulk.

West 60th originally proposed a zoning text amendment that would allow developers of general, large-scale developments located in certain commercial districts to modify the height factor calculation, a bulk measurement, if it resulted in better site plans and open space. As approved by the Planning Commission, the new bulk waiver special permit would apply to ten community districts in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens. 4 CityLand 4 (Feb. 15, 2007). (more…)