Court rejected neighbors’ article 78 challenge to nine-story mixed-use building adjacent to landmarked synagogue. Congregation Shearith Israel applied to BSA for a variance to build a nine-story mixed-used building adjacent to its landmarked synagogue at the corner of West 70th Street and Central Park West in the Upper West Side-Central Park West Historic District. In addition to the synagogue, Shearith Israel owns a four-story parsonage house to the south of the synagogue along Central Park … <Read More>
Court Decisions
Citizens Win Protection of Historic Tobacco Warehouse
Court ruled that the National Park Service unlawfully removed warehouse and adjacent building from park boundaries. In 2001, the National Park Service awarded to the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation a federal Land and Water Conservation Fund grant to help fund a cove restoration project in Empire Fulton Ferry Park in DUMBO, Brooklyn. The Park Service’s grant was contingent on the State Office of Parks agreeing that the restoration project … <Read More>
First Department sends adult zoning law back for trial
Adult businesses challenged constitutionality of 2001 amendments to City’s zoning resolution. A Department of City Planning study concluded in 1994 that the City’s adult entertainment businesses caused certain negative secondary effects, such as increased crime and decreased property values. In response to this study, the City amended the zoning resolution in 1995 to bar “adult establishments” from all residential zones and most commercial and manufacturing districts. Adult establishments were defined as commercial businesses whereby a … <Read More>
DEC ordered to admit site into brownfield program
- Courtesy of Ismael Leyva Architects.
Court previously overturned DEC’s denial of developer’s application and ordered additional analyses. A developer planned to construct a 341-unit mixed-use building on a 17,700 sq.ft. parking lot at 29 Flatbush Avenue in Fort Greene, Brooklyn. An environmental assessment of the site revealed the presence of lead and semi-volatile organic compounds. The developer subsequently applied to the State Department of Environmental Conservation’s Brownfield Cleanup Program.
DEC determined that the … <Read More>
Lower court reversed; Piers project moves forward
First Department rules NYSDEC was not an “involved agency” in project’s environmental review. In 2008, the City’s Economic Development Corporation selected MMPI Piers LLC, a subsidiary of Vornado Realty Trust, to renovate Piers 92 and 94 along the Hudson River between West 52nd and West 55th Streets in Manhattan. The piers have been used as exhibition space and for trade shows, and Pier 92 has served as a cruise ship dock when Piers … <Read More>
Building owner denied compensation from City
Buildings vacated apartment building’s occupants before MTA started construction work nearby on the Second Avenue subway line. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority, before performing certain construction work on the Second Avenue subway line, contacted Buildings regarding the building located at 1766 Second Avenue. MTA was concerned that drilling, excavation, and/or blasting for the new subway line could cause the already-leaning building to become unstable. Buildings declared the building “unsafe and an imminent peril,” and later issued … <Read More>