Neon illuminated sign ordered removed

Tanning salon had installed sign on 1884 building. Portofino Sun Center, an indoor tanning bed salon, affixed without permits a large neon sign outside its store at 104 West 73rd Street. The building, a Queen Anne style rowhouse built in 1884 and owned by George Hearn, is located within the Upper West Side/Central Park West Historic District.

Landmarks issued a Warning Letter to Hearn for the neon sign and an exterior garbage enclosure, also installed … <Read More>


Court dismisses late challenge to Museum’s renovation plans

Opponents filed claim 31 months too late. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, which leases the land in Central Park from Parks under an 1871 directive of the state legislature, proposed to renovate the museum in 2000 and presented a detailed plan to Parks and Landmarks. The plan called for a new loading dock, the addition of public cafeterias and new auditoriums. Parks Commissioner Henry Stern signed off on the plan in December 2002, noting that … <Read More>


Rear-yard variance upheld

Private for-profit school on the Upper West Side wanted to add a second story to a rear-yard building. Dwight School, a for-profit school located on West 88th Street, between Central Park West and Columbus Avenue, applied to BSA for a variance to add a second story to its gymnasium located in the rear yard. The expansion required a variance to exceed a 23 ft. height limit set for community facilities built in the rear yard. … <Read More>


Queens Hospital Center to get new senior care center

Private company to convert City building to 296-person senior continuum care center. Health & Hospitals Corporation, Citywide Administrative Services and the Margaret Tietz Nursing and Rehabilitation Center sought the disposition of City-owned land, a special permit to exceed a nursing home bed limit, and an exception to height and setback to permit the Skyline Commons project, a 296- person senior continuum care facility within the existing Queens Hospital Center in Jamaica Queens.

Queens Hospital Center, … <Read More>


Pergola Permitted; Planters Denied

Owner, without a permit, had installed a row of planters and pergola on mansard roof. 34 West 74th Street is located in the Central Park West Historic District and the Central Park West-West 73rd-74th Street Historic District. The structure is one of a row of eighteen Georgian Revival style rowhouses with Beaux-Arts style elements, designed by Percy Griffin and built in 1902. In 2002, after the Landmarks Preservation Commission issued a notice of violation … <Read More>


City Celebrates Opening of Far Rockaway Library

On July 30, 2024, Queens Public Library President and CEO Dennis M. Walcott, Representative Gregory W. Meeks, and other critical stakeholders celebrated the grand opening of the new Far Rockaway Library. The new library is located at the intersection of Central and Mott Avenues. This project was designed by architectural firm Snohetta. This project cost $39 million to be designed and constructed.