Opposition claimed that costs associated with designation would be too burdensome. The City Council approved Landmarks’ designation of the Borough Hall Skyscraper Historic District in Brooklyn. The district includes 21 buildings along Court, Montague, Remsen, Joralemon, and Livingston Streets.

Business groups and property owners, including the owners of 186 Remsen Street and the residents of 75 Livingston Street, opposed the district. At Landmarks’ public hearing in February 2011, they argued that some buildings in the district lacked architectural significance, and expressed concern about the financial impact of land-marking. Local Council Member Stephen Levin and Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz supported the district, but asked Landmarks to consider removing 75 Livingston from its boundaries. In September 2011, Landmarks designated the district as originally proposed. 8 CityLand 142 (Oct. 15, 2011).  (read more…)

Owner of Federal-style building plans to redevelop site with sevenstory office building. On September 21, 2011, the City Council rejected Landmarks’ June 2011 designation of the Hardenbrook-Somarindyck House at 135 Bowery in Manhattan’s Lower East Side. The three-and-ahalf story Federal-style rowhouse was built circa 1817 and is owned by First American International Bank. Pursuant to the Charter the Council may modify or disapprove a landmark designation.

The bank purchased 135 Bowery in 2007 for just over $5 million intending to replace it with a sevenstory office building. It obtained permits for the new building in 2009 and gutted the building in preparation for demolition. Landmarks in June 2010 notified the bank that the property had been calendared for a public hearing in July. At the hearing, the bank opposed designation, arguing that the dilapidated building had undergone extensive alterations over the years and lacked architectural significance. A representative of local Council Member Margaret Chin testified that Chin supported designation. 7 CityLand 112 (Aug. 15, 2011).  (read more…)

Opponents argued designation would prevent congregation from restoring the deteriorating building. On May 12, 2010, the City Council approved Landmarks’ designation of the West Park Presbyterian Church at 165 West 86th Street in Manhattan. The red sandstone-clad building is considered one of the City’s best examples of Romanesque Revival-style religious structures. Landmarks unanimously designated the building in January 2010 despite opposition from West Park leaders and its congregation, who claimed that designation would prevent the congregation from repairing the deteriorating and now-vacant structure. West Park had partnered with a private developer to build a residential tower on a portion of the site, but the deal fell through after Landmarks calendared the building. 7 CityLand 10 (Feb. 15, 2010).

At the Council’s Landmarks, Public Siting & Maritime Uses Subcommittee public hearing on April 20, preservationists spoke in support of designation, while members of the West Park congregation and representatives from other local houses of worship opposed the action. Landmark West’s Kate Wood said the organization looked forward to participating in the adaptive reuse of the church into a productive and sustainable asset for the City. (read more…)

Property owners unsuccessfully petitioned for exclusion. On October 23, 2008, after contentious hearings at the Landmarks, Public Siting, & Maritime Uses Subcommittee, the full Council voted to approve the designation of seven more blocks for the West Chelsea Historic District.

When the matter was before the Landmarks Preservation Commission, several property owners in the area expressed opposition to the proposal, or asked that their property be carved out of the district. 5 CityLand 78 (June 15, 2008). At the Subcommittee hearing on October 2nd, a representative of the New York Terminal Warehouse Central Stores testified that the owners had planned to sell the property to Related Companies, developer of the nearby Hudson Yards project, for apartment conversion, and now stood to lose over $100 million. He called the designation “a political effort to stop development.” James Pastreich, owner of properties at 547 West 27th and 554 West 28th Streets, pleaded with Subcommittee Members to exclude the 28th Street site, which currently houses a bar. Pastreich wanted to use his air rights to build a six-story building at the site. (read more…)