The Belnord Apartments
Banking group claimed proposed limitations on widths of new ground floor storefronts along Broadway, Amsterdam Avenue, and Columbus Avenue unfairly discriminate against banks. On June 21, 2012, the City Council’s Land Use Committee approved the Department of City Planning’s Upper West Side Neighborhood Retail Streets proposal. The proposal would establish two Special Enhanced Commercial Districts in Manhattan’s Upper West Side and establish limits on the widths of new and expanding ground floor retail stores, banks, and residential lobbies along portions of the neighborhood’s main commercial thoroughfares: Broadway, Amsterdam Avenue, and Columbus Avenue. One special district would cover the majority of Amsterdam Avenue between 73rd and 110th Streets and Columbus Avenue between 72nd and 87th Streets. The other special district would cover Broadway between 72nd and 110th Streets. The proposal would also apply a C1-5 commercial overlay to a portion of one block on Columbus Avenue in order to reflect existing uses.
City Planning created the proposal in response to community concerns about the proliferation of banks with large storefronts, new retail tenants combining multiple small storefronts, and new developments providing only single-tenant, ground floor space. According to City Planning, the proposal would reinforce the neighborhood’s diverse, multi-store character, and encourage an active streetscape on the three commercial corridors.
