Under threat of funding loss, Landmarks gives approval for elevator in Grant’s Tomb Pavilion. The Landmarks Preservation Commission approved the design for an elevator installation at Grant’s Tomb Pavilion, a City individual landmark. The National Park Service sought a certificate of appropriateness for the addition of a glass-walled elevator on the pavilion’s north side. The tomb, including the pavilion, is currently one of the few federal landmarks without restrooms or a visitor center. The … <Read More>
Comedy Club Gets 15-Year Approval
Comedy club to move into converted slaughterhouse. The Board of Standards & Appeals approved a use variance application allowing a comedy club to move into 351 West 14th Street at the intersection of Hudson Street in Manhattan’s Meatpacking District. Currently, a four-story, 24- unit apartment building with vacant street retail space occupies the site. The comedy club will move into the vacant 7,915-square-foot retail space and increase its mezzanine by 1,345 sq.ft.
The project site, … <Read More>
Sephardic Community Center to Double in Size
Variances will allow full-service early childhood/daycare center, teen lounge, senior adult center, gyms and additional facilities. In 1978, the Board of Standards & Appeals granted variances to the Sephardic Community Center to allow community facility use in an R5 zoning district. The Center operates a 3-story, 42,495-square-foot space where it offers educational, athletic, and counseling services to the Orthodox Jewish Community and area residents. The location, 1901 Ocean Parkway, is in a primarily residential … <Read More>
Variance Approved in Anticipation of Area Rezoning
Project includes affordable housing and commercial development. Greater Allen Cathedral of New York and Allen AME Housing Corporation sought to construct a mixed-use project with affordable housing at 110-42 Merrick Boulevard directly across from the existing Cathedral in Jamaica, Queens. The proposed four-story development would include 54-units of affordable housing, ground floor commercial space, a community facility, and 53 parking spaces on a project site of 11 lots. Eight vacant commercial and residential buildings would … <Read More>
BSA Rebuffs Appeal Over Domestic Abuse Shelter
Group claimed shelter violated use limitations. A community group appealed the City’s Department of Buildings’ issuance of a permit allowing alterations to a Brooklyn building to accommodate a domestic violence shelter. Prior to the appeal and after the issuance of the permit, several parties, including the community group, sought an injunction in state court to prevent the shelter from occupying the building and from performing the permitted work. The court dismissed the complaint, finding that … <Read More>
Enrique Norten’s Design Approved for Park and 125th
Commission approves iconic design for 518-foot mixed-use development in Harlem. On September 8, 2004, the City Planning Commission approved a 493,646-square-foot mixed-use development containing 230 hotel rooms, 100 residential units, office space, retail space, and a 369-space public parking garage. To achieve the size and design, the developer, 1800 Park Avenue LLC, sought a rezoning of the project site to allow the hotel and an increased floor area as well as two special permits to … <Read More>