Search Results for: Special District

New York City’s Parking Odyssey: A Play in Several Acts

Traffic congestion in 2013 stems in large part from how the City has allocated street space among motorists, pedestrians, bicyclists, CitiBike stations, pedicabs, and horse-drawn carriages. While changes to address street space allocations can be anticipated, the logic and purpose of the allocations have changed over time.

Act I – Suffocation on the Streets

Facing public streets “choked” with cars, the City in 1950 amended the 1916 Zoning Resolution to require developers of residential buildings … <Read More>

BAM South Cultural and Residential Tower Approved by Council

Local Council Member Letitia James reaches agreements with developers and City to increase affordable housing, preserve nearby public library. 22 Lafayette LLC and the NYC Economic Development Corporation proposed to develop a cultural space and residential tower and plaza at 113 Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn. The site for development is a triangular lot bounded by Flatbush and Lafayette Avenues and Ashland Place. The lot was previously the subject of a 2007 request for proposals… <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>

Local Preservationist Group Builds Support for Neighborhood Designation

SPLC Logo SMGrassroots campaign takes to the streets to build community support to preserve rowhouses from out-of-character development. On Saturday, June 1, 2013, the Sunset Park Landmarks Committee (SPLC) sponsored its third walking tour of Sunset Park, Brooklyn. The tour, which begins on 43rd Street and 4th Avenue and concludes on 8th Avenue and 60th Street, is one of the committee’s ways to gain support for the creation of a historic district in Sunset Park by the … <Read More>

Planning a Sustainable NYC: Howard Slatkin, Director of Sustainability, NYC Department of City Planning

Howard Slatkin, the director of sustainability for the New York City Department of City Planning, was a frequent visitor to NYC while growing up in New Jersey, but it was not until he moved to the City after studying history at Brown University, that he became interested in architecture and the social life of places. He earned a master’s degree in urban planning at Columbia University in 2000. At that time the concept of sustainability, … <Read More>

New Green Design Development Near Puck Building Approved

Commissioners embrace plan by CookFox Architects that would replace gas station, garage, bar and billboard. On April 9, 2013, the Landmarks Preservation Commission approved the issuance of a certificate of appropriateness for the construction of a new, seven-story building at 298-308 Lafayette Street. The three lots face the Puck Building and are at the corner of Lafayette and Houston Streets in the SoHo-Cast Iron Historic District Extension. The plan calls for the demolition of … <Read More>