220-Property Extension to West End-Collegiate Historic District Approved [Update: Council Landmarks Committee Approves with Minor Changes]

Commissioners voted unanimously to approve district two years after initial hearing, though split on the inclusion of modern apartment complex. On June 25, 2013, the Landmarks Preservation Commission voted to approve an extension to the West End-Collegiate Historic District, encompassing 200 buildings. The extension more than doubles the size of the previously designated district, and lies to the north and to the south of the original district, between 70th and 79th Streets, and … <Read More>


BSA Approves Upper West Side Townhouse Addition

Owners’ plan to enlarge fourth-floor co-op violated multiple dwelling law. In December 2010, Felix and Lisa Oberholzer-Gee sought a building permit to enlarge their 1,000-square-foot, fourth-floor co-op in a five-unit townhouse at 159 West 78th Street in Manhattan’s Upper West Side. The Oberholzer-Gees proposed building a set-back, 646-square-foot rooftop addition. Buildings denied the permit because the plans violated the multiple dwelling law’s restrictions on enlargements of converted dwellings. The Oberholzer-Gees applied to the Board … <Read More>


Planning Commission signs off on new nursing home in the Upper West Side

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 However, the building’s physical plant is outdated and … <Read More>


Massive Riverside Center mixed-use project modified

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 … <Read More>


Council modifies controversial Westside plan

Planning Commission approves modifications. On September 17, 2007, the City Council approved, with modifications, the plan to rezone 51 blocks of the Upper West Side. Two days later, the Planning Commission gave its final approval to the plan, finding no objections to the Council’s modifications.

The plan, the result of a two-year collaborative effort between City Planning, HPD, Landmarks, the Manhattan Borough President and local residents, sought to address concerns over out-of-character construction in the … <Read More>


New, Eight-story Building Planned for Mid-block Site Along Columbus Avenue

Plan that will replace heavily altered three-story 1894 structure close to being approved; Commissioners asked to see some revisions. On July 19, 2016, Landmarks considered a proposal to redevelop a lot at 466 Columbus Avenue in the Upper West Side/Central Park West Historic District.  The site is occupied by a commercial building constructed in 1894. The building was altered in 1961, and a third story added. Further alterations designed by Gruzen Samton were … <Read More>