Residential building and hotel replace former NoHo gas station sites. BSA approved two development proposals in NoHo, Manhattan for an eight-story residential building at 363 Lafayette Street and a 16-story mixed-use building, to be occupied predominantly by a hotel, one block away at 4 East 3rd Street.

Developer 363 Lafayette LLC applied to BSA to construct a 30,519-square-foot building with 17 residential units and ground-floor retail on a 5,549-square-foot, manufacturing- zoned lot fronting Great Jones, Lafayette and Bond Streets. The developer argued that the odd shape of the lot, which narrows from a 26-foot width along Great Jones to a 6.5-foot width on Bond Street, impacts usable floor area, requires additional stairs and elevator shafts and increases construction costs, necessitating the variance. Residents at 20 Bond Street opposed, complaining that the building’s design would block 20 lot-line windows in their building. Community Board 2 asked that artist live/work spaces replace some residential units.

The developer submitted a second design that reduced the number of blocked lot-line windows at 20 Bond Street down to three. BSA approved the revised design, finding that the oddshaped and small lot created a hardship, and the proposed residential use fit the neighborhood’s character.

At East 3rd Street and Bowery, developer Woodcutters Realty almost completed construction of a 78,543-square-foot building. The development plan included an over 70,000-square-foot hotel, 7,331 sq.ft. of residential space and 1,130 sq.ft. of community facility space. The hotel space extended onto the residential portion of the split-zoned, 12,084-square-foot lot, necessitating a special permit.

Woodcutters applied to BSA to legalize its development plan, arguing that construction of an independent residential building on the small 2,295-square-foot residentially- zoned portion was infeasible. BSA agreed, granting the special permit and finding as-of-right uses on the residential portion infeasible.

BSA: 363 Lafayette Street (64-06-BZ) (March 13, 2007) (Greenberg Traurig, for 363 Lafayette LLC); BSA: 4 East 3rd Street (266-06-BZ) (Feb. 27, 2007) (Friedman Gotbaum, for Woodcutters). CITYADMIN