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>
Board of Standards & Appeals
NYU wins variance for six story building on Wash. Sq.
- NYU’s proposed Center for Academic and Spiritual Life at 58 Washington Square South. Image: Courtesy of Machado and Silvetti Associates.
NYU claimed that academic center required taller street wall and larger floor plates in order to integrate with neighboring Kimmel Center. New York University applied to BSA for a variance to construct a six-story building, to be called the Center for Academic and Spiritual Life, at 58 Washington Square South in Manhattan. The 12,650 sq.ft. … <Read More>
Variance approved for six-story Tribeca building
Owner claimed that lot, which is occupied by a one-story building that could not be safely enlarged, was underutilized. 71 Laight Street LLC applied to BSA for a variance to build a six-story, eighteen-unit residential building with twelve accessory parking spaces at 412 Greenwich Street in Manhattan’s Tribeca North Historic District. The site is occupied by a one-story freight-loading structure built in 1956 and currently used for parking, which the owner would demolish in order … <Read More>
Two Queens four-story buildings grandfathered
BSA ruled that owner made sufficient progress on construction prior to downzoning. In late 2008, Buildings issued permits to Selvakumar Rajaratnam to construct two four-story buildings with seven dwelling units each at 37-45 and 37-47 98th Street in North Corona, Queens. On March 24, 2009, the City Council approved the North Corona 2 rezoning, which rezoned the site from R6B to R5A, and rendered the proposed buildings out-of-compliance with maximum permitted floor area, number of … <Read More>
Variance for office tower next to High Line granted
- BSA grants Romanoff Equities’ variance application for a ten-story glass tower next to the High Line. See story on page 8. Image: Courtesy of James Carpenter Design Associates (JCDA).
Property owner claimed that a complying development was difficult because the High Line crossed the lot. Romanoff Equities applied to BSA for a variance to construct a twelve-story, 215-foot tall office building at 437 West 13th Street, a site occupied by a portion of the … <Read More>
Front yard parking for attached home upheld
In a three-two decision, BSA found that side lot ribbon existed even though that portion of the zoning lot was not completely open to the sky. The owners of 846 70th Street applied to Buildings for a new 10ft. curb cut that would facilitate off-street parking in the front yard of their attached home. The home is one of 19 continuously attached homes in the Bay Ridge section of Brooklyn. Buildings granted the permit, finding … <Read More>