Eric Palatnik testifies before the Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises on the Sollazzo Plaza rezoning. Image credit: NYC.gov
Approval permits demolition of old farmhouse to make way for a shopping center. On December 15, 2014 the City Council Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises voted unanimously to approve rezoning for portions of a block to permit the construction of a retail shopping center. The rezoned portion is bounded by Forest Avenue to the north, Monsey Place to the south, Richmond Avenue to the east, and P.S. 22 to the west.
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Architect rendering of the proposed Astoria Cove development project. Image Credit: Studio V
The project was approved by City Planning despite opposition from the Community Board, Borough President, and the local Council Member. On October 20, 2014 the City Council Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises will hold hearings on the proposed Astoria Cove mixed-use development project. The project, designed by Alma Realty, is the first project subject to Mayor de Blasio’s mandatory inclusionary zoning housing requirement. Despite the requirement, the project has faced opposition from community groups and elected leaders arguing the designated affordable units are too expensive for current Astoria residents.
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- Admirals Row Plaza project view on the corner of Navy and Nassau Streets. Image: Courtesy of GreenbergFarrow.
Community and labor groups supported project, but sought assurances that Brooklyn Navy Yard would not lease space to Wal-Mart. On November 29, 2011, the City Council approved the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation’s Admirals Row Plaza project at the corner of Nassau and Navy Streets in Brooklyn. The six-acre site is located at the southeast edge of the Brooklyn Navy Yard, near the New York City Housing Authority’s Farragut, Ingersoll, and Whitman Houses.
The mixed-use project includes the construction of three new buildings and the rehabilitation of two of the site’s existing, but severely deteriorated, historic structures. The Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation will convert an 1830s Timber Shed and a Civil War-era Naval Officers’ Quarters into retail and community facility use, respectively. A new five-story building will provide space for a supermarket and light manufacturing uses. Two other two-story buildings will provide retail space, and a 266-space parking lot will occupy the site’s interior.
The project required approvals to allow the City to acquire the federally owned property, and to then lease it to the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation. The Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation applied to rezone the property from M1-2 to M1-4 and requested special permits for signage and parking. (read more…)
- Twelve-story affordable housing on West 117th Street in Harlem. A nine-story condo building will face West 116th Street. Image: Courtesy of GreenbergFarrow.
Two-building project will include market-rate condominiums on West 116th Street and an affordable rental building on West 117th Street. On August 17, 2011, the City Council approved L+M Development Partners Inc.’s proposal to develop two mixed-use buildings on a through block lot between West 117th and West 116th Streets, in the block between Fifth Avenue and Malcolm X Boulevard in Harlem. The midblock project will be developed on a lot currently used by an adjacent building as a parking lot and a basketball court. L+M requested a rezoning to facilitate the construction of a twelve-story condominium building fronting West 116th Street and a nine-story affordable housing building fronting West 117th Street. (read more…)
State Senator Tony Avella and community group argued that rezoning would lead to undesirable uses. On July 28, 2011, the City Council approved TD Bank’s rezoning proposal to facilitate the construction of a one-story bank building near the Cross Island Parkway in Whitestone, Queens. The proposal established a C1-2 commercial overlay on the majority of a triangle-shaped block zoned R3A and generally bounded by the Cross Island Parkway Service Road, 15th Avenue, and 148th Street. The rezoning area comprises portions of four lots occupied by a non-conforming lumberyard, a gas station, and an automotive repair facility operating pursuant to a BSA variance. Pursuant to a 20- year lease, TD Bank plans to replace the lumberyard site with a 3,849 sq.ft. bank building with parking for eighteen vehicles.
Queens Community Board 7 and Borough President Helen M. Marshall supported the proposal. Marshall, however, recommended that TD Bank use landscaping to screen the bank’s parking lot from adjacent residential properties. (read more…)
