Landmarks Approves Plans to Replace 60-Year-Old Brooklyn Borough Hall Bank

The Commission’s approval to demolish the existing building was primarily based on the collapse and replacement of the building’s original curtain wall in 2006. On May 21, 2019, the Landmarks Preservation Commission considered and voted to approve revised plans to demolish an existing four-story building and construct a new 20-story building at 200 Montague Street in the Borough Hall Skyscraper Historic District in Brooklyn. Designed by Philip Birnbaum, the existing four-story Modern-style building was initially … <Read More>


Landmarks Calendars Six LGBT Historic Sites for Consideration

The six buildings are up for consideration in honor of the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots. On May 14, 2019, the Landmarks Preservation Commission held a calendaring hearing for five buildings in Manhattan and one building in Staten Island to consider for future designation. The six sites – the Gay Activists Alliance Firehouse, Women’s Liberation Center, the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center, the Caffe Cino, the James Baldwin Residence and the … <Read More>


Major Staten Island Project OK’d by City Planning Despite Significant Opposition; City Council Up Next

The proposed zoning actions were largely disapproved by the Community Board, the Borough President, and even Staten Island’s appointee to the City Planning Commission. The Department of City Planning, along with the Department of Housing Preservation and Development and the Department of Citywide Administrative Services filed an application requesting several ULURP actions to help implement the goals of the Bay Street Corridor Neighborhood Plan. The Neighborhood Plan is a comprehensive plan to … <Read More>


Private Development of City-Owned, Blighted Property to Bring 54 Units of Affordable Housing

The development seeks to activate the streetscape in the area by removing the existing dangerous condition posed by a long-abandoned railroad trench. On March 27, 2019, the City Planning Commission held a public hearing on an application by the Department of Housing Preservation and Development and developer Phipps Houses that will bring 54 units of affordable housing to the Melrose neighborhood of the Bronx. The application calls for the disposition of City-owned property, a rezoning, … <Read More>


Landmarks Calendars Five Buildings on Historic “Tin Pan Alley”

Proposed buildings were home to prominent sheet music publishers in the late 1800s and early 1900s. On March 12, 2019, the Landmarks Preservation Commission voted to add five buildings on West 28th Street between Broadway and Sixth Avenue to its calendar for consideration for landmark designation. The five buildings – 47 – 55 West 28th Street – represent a time when the street was known as “Tin Pan Alley” due to the noise … <Read More>


Landmarks Calendars Bay Ridge’s First Historic District

Historic district designation would ensure protections for the largely intact, over 100 year-old, block of limestone row houses.  On  March 26, 2019, the Landmarks Preservation Commission voted unanimously to calendar a proposed historic district in the Bay Ridge area of Brooklyn. The Bay Ridge Parkway – Doctor’s Row Historic District would be comprised of 54 row houses built in the early 1900s on Bay Ridge Parkway between 4th and 5th avenues. Constructed in … <Read More>