Far West Village rezoning approved

Council down-zoned lots with pending development. The Council rezoned 14 blocks of Greenwich Village west of Washington Street, replacing manufacturing and commercial zoning in the area with contextual zoning districts. The proposal came from the Planning Department after Far West Village residents complained of the growing number of large development proposals that followed construction of the Richard Meier-designed, 205-foot luxury residential towers along West Street.

In the proposal, the Planning Department designed contextual commercial zones … <Read More>


York Ave. tower approved over opposition

New residential tower will be nine feet from adjacent co-op building. On September 28, 2005, the City Council approved a text amendment and special permit to allow construction of a 26-story, mixed-use building at 1129-1133 York Avenue in Manhattan. The proposal called for a zoning map amendment to change the site from C8-4 to C1-9 and a special permit to build a 100-space parking garage.

The developer, the Witkoff Group, plans to use HPD’s Inclusionary … <Read More>


Permit awarded to art school

Performing arts school to convert vacant three-story building. Montgomery Academy, a performing arts school located at 414 Utica Avenue, Brooklyn, sought a special permit to convert a vacant three-story commercial building on nearby Lefferts Avenue into additional school space. Montgomery stated that the building was necessary to accommodate increased enrollment.

Prior to submitting its application, Montgomery sought alternate sites, but failed to find any buildings that allowed a school as-of-right suitable with respect to size, … <Read More>


Two residences allowed on one lot

BSA accepts Buildings’ zoning interpretation of minimum lot area requirement. The Staten Island Borough Commissioner rescinded a stop-work order and approved construction of two, two-story single-family homes on one zoning lot in the Prince’s Bay section of the borough. A civic association in opposition appealed the approval to BSA.

At the BSA hearings, the civic association argued that the project did not meet the 3,800-square-foot minimum lot area requirement set in the City’s zoning code. … <Read More>


388-foot residential tower approved for West Street

Lower Manhattan parking lot to be replaced with 815,000-squarefoot residential/retail project. The Planning Commission approved a proposal of the Economic Development Corporation and the project developer, Edward J. Minskoff Equities, Inc., to replace a City-owned surface parking lot in Lower Manhattan with an 815,000-square-foot mixed-use project. Located on a 95,565-square-foot site bounded by West, Warren, Greenwich and Murray Streets, the proposal includes 402 condominium and rental units, a 400-space parking garage and 165,000 sq.ft. of … <Read More>


Zoning change to allow wind turbines and heliostats

Computerized heliostats will redirect sunlight from top of new green highrise down to Teardrop Park South. The City Council approved a text amendment that allows for a new class of permitted rooftop obstructions on residential buildings in the Special Battery Park City District in Manhattan: wind turbines and heliostats, which are mirrors that redirect sunlight to spaces cast in shadow.

The Battery Park City Authority has invested $355,000 to install three heliostats, eight feet in … <Read More>