Owner made substantial progress on rear addition and commercial conversion prior to Sunset Park rezoning. In June 2009, the owner of a four-story residential building at 517 53rd Street in Sunset Park, Brooklyn obtained an alteration permit to build a 1,768 sq.ft. addition to the rear of the first floor and cellar in order to convert the two floors to commercial use. Nearly four months later, the City Council approved a rezoning in Sunset Park … <Read More>
Board of Standards & Appeals
Nine-story, partially constructed hotel grandfathered
Developer had not completed hotel when City Council approved rezoning in Dutch Kills. In December 2007, Buildings issued Dutch Kills Partners LLC a permit to build a nine-story, 57-room hotel at 39-35 27th Street in the Dutch Kills section of Queens. The proposed hotel complied with the zoning requirements at the time. In October 2008, the City Council approved the Dutch Kills Rezoning, changing the site’s M1-3D zoning to M1-2/R5B, and putting the proposed 24,713 … <Read More>
Variance granted for threestory residential building
Owner claimed that narrow lot adjacent to elevated rail line could not accommodate conforming manufacturing use. Hayden Hester applied for a use variance to construct a three-story residential building on a vacant lot at 1978 Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn. Hester’s proposal called for a 4,200 sq.ft building with five dwelling units on a lot twenty feet wide and zoned for light manufacturing. A Long Island Rail Road elevated rail line runs along Atlantic Avenue in … <Read More>
Court Street development grandfathered
Developer did not fully complete foundations of twelve-building development before the City Council approved the Carroll Gardens/ Columbia Street Rezoning. Between May 2008 and October 2009, the Clarett Group obtained permits to build a 119,271 sq.ft. development consisting of eleven four-story townhouses and a seven-story mixed-use building at 340 Court Street in Brooklyn. The 43,753 sq.ft. site is located on a lot with frontages on Union, Court, and Sackett Streets. On October 28, 2009, the … <Read More>
Midtown’s Central Synagogue wins variance
Opponents of Central Synagogue’s enlargement cited concerns about location of entrance for synagogue’s breakfast for the homeless program. Central Synagogue applied to BSA for a variance to build a two-story addition on top of its nine-story Community House at 123 East 55th Street, which is across the street from the synagogue’s sanctuary. The Community House is one of four tax lots that were merged into a single 17,321 sq.ft. zoning lot. The other buildings on … <Read More>
Variance denied for Park Slope project
Developer wanted to build three additional townhouses after discovering concrete bunkers during construction of as-of-right development. 25 Garfield Sparta LLC applied to BSA for a variance to build three townhouses on a through-block lot at 580 Carroll Street in Park Slope, Brooklyn. In 2007, the developer obtained permits to build an Enrique Norten-designed five-story condominium at the site that would front Garfield Place, provide open space along Carroll Street, and include nine underground parking spaces.… <Read More>