Reconstruction Approved for Restaurant Damaged by Hurricane Sandy

BSA granted a use variance to demolish previous restaurant damaged by Hurricane Sandy and permit construction of a one-story restaurant and additional parking spaces. On June 24, 2014, the Board of Standards and Appeals granted a use variance to Puglia by the Sea, a restaurant, located at 750 Barclay Avenue in the Annadale section of Staten Island. BSA approved the application for Puglia to demolish the original restaurant, which was severely damaged by Hurricane Sandy, … <Read More>


Mayor de Blasio’s Land Use Appointments Carousel Continues

Mayor de Blasio has re-structured the City’s land use administrative hierarchy to further his affordable housing agenda. On July 22, 2014, Mayor Bill de Blasio nominated Margery Perlmutter to serve as Chair of the Board of Standards and Appeals. This was the Mayor’s latest appointment  to City land-use positions, all of which will bear heavily on the Mayor’s expansive affordable housing agenda, a ten-year plan designed to preserve some 200,000 units of affordable housing.


Fourth Time’s a Charm for New Merchant’s House-adjacent Building

Commissioners concluded that safeguards were sufficient to protect against damage to museum, and design would be unobtrusive within the historic district. On April 8, 2014, the Landmarks Preservation Commission conferred for the fourth and final time on the appropriateness of an approved development at 27 East 4th Street in the NoHo Historic District Extension. The planned eight-story building adjoins the Merchant’s House, an 1832 dwelling and individual and interior landmark currently open to … <Read More>


Landmarks Does Not Approve New Building for NoHo Historic District Despite Revisions

Applicants take measures to ensure construction does not harm adjacent Merchant’s House. At a public meeting on February 11, 2014, the Landmarks Preservation Commission reviewed a revised proposal for a new building at 27 East 4th Street in the NoHo Historic District Extension.  The applicants returned with a revised plan following Commissioners’ comments at a public hearing on March 12, 2013 (Read Cityland past coverage here). 


Building’s Refusal to Permit Advertising Sign on Eagle Electric Building Upheld.

Eagle claimed huge sign visible from Queensboro Bridge was not an accessory sign.  The Eagle Electric Manufacturing Company, in 1936, constructed a 1,950 square foot sign on the rooftop of its plant located at 23-10 Queens Plaza South, Queens. The plant is located in the M1-9/R9 Special Long Island City Mixed Use zoning district and within 200 feet of the Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge. Eagle ceased operations in 2000; the plant where the sign is … <Read More>


Author Ralph Ellison’s Former Riverside Apartment Complex Considered for Landmarking [UPDATE: Beaumont Designated]

See below for update.

Residents, local cultural organizations, and preservationists testified in support of designation of ornate Arts & Crafts-style apartment building; owners deny any architectural significance. On June 18, 2013, the Landmarks Preservation Commission held a hearing on the potential individual landmark designation of the Beaumont Apartments, at 730 Riverside Drive at the corner of 150th Street, in Harlem. The building was constructed in 1912-1913 to the designs of George and Edward Blum, … <Read More>