Respondent previously relied on an agency email waiving excavation requirements. On March 11, 2015 a Department of Buildings inspection officer issued notices of violation to Monadnock Construction for thirty building sites along the length of Egan Street in East New York, Brooklyn. The notices were issued because the construction sites had begun excavation without notifying Buildings and obtaining excavation numbers for each site. Monadnock contested the notices and argued they submitted the necessary AI-1form to obtain a Buildings waiver of all excavation requirements for the thirty sites. Monadnock presented an email from a Buildings assistant plan examiner confirming the excavation requirements for “all Egan Street” were waived. The hearing officer decided in favor of Monadnock, finding they reasonably relied on the Buildings statements. Buildings appealed.
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Rendering of micro-unit interior. On the left, the canvas space, and on the right, the toolbox space. Image Credit: Office of the Mayor.
City’s proposed micro-unit pilot program criticized for lack of permanently affordable housing. On July 24, 2013, the City Planning Commission held a hearing on the City’s first micro-unit building, part of the Mayor’s adAPT NYC program. The development will serve as a pilot program to test the viability and marketability of 250- to 360-square-foot units in a single building. The City’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development proposed the plan to be built at 335 East 27th Street in Manhattan by Monadnock Construction and nARCHITECTS. The 10-story development will contain 55 pre-fabricated one- to two-person residential units; 22 units will be affordable for a period of 30 years and the rest will be available at market rates. The micro-units will have a studio-style design with a toolbox zone (kitchen, bathroom, and storage space) and a canvas zone, which will be an open space for eating and sleeping. (Read CityLand’s past coverage here.)
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Affordable housing project along West 52nd Street will include 96 apartments. On April 6, 2011, the City Council approved the Department of Housing Preservation and Development’s proposal to allow the Clinton Housing Association and Monadnock Construction to build a 96-unit affordable housing project at 533 West 52nd Street between Tenth and Eleventh Avenues in Manhattan. The eleven-story project, known as Clinton Commons, will provide a mix of studio and one- and two-bedroom apartments available for purchase by families earning between 80 and 165 percent of the area median income.
The project site is occupied by a one-story welding supply store, an industrial supply storage lot, and vacant one- and two-story buildings. A City-owned ten-story loft building at 549 West 52nd Street is adjacent to the site and houses artist studios, including the Women’s Interart Center and the Ensemble StudioTheatre. HPD requested that the site be designated as an Urban Development Action Area and asked the City to rezone the street’s mid-block portion, including the adjacent loft building, from M1-5 to R8A.
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