5Pointz: The Anti-Rebellion Message of the Graffiti Dispute

Graffiti has become much more than spray-painted tags and quickly disappearing pieces on train cars and underpasses. In some quarters it is now high art. Highly prized are works by Shepard Fairey, the artist behind the “Hope” poster Fairey made for Barack Obama’s presidential campaign, Jean-Michel Basquiat, who began as a graffiti artist and whose works today command huge prices, and Banksy, whose street works are carefully preserved.  These dramatic changes in the nature and … <Read More>


Council Passes Contentious Pfizer Sites Rezoning in Williamsburg

A former Pfizer factory site in South Williamsburg will be developed into a mixed-use building and public plaza. On October 31, 2017, the City Council passed the Pfizer Sites Rezoning land use actions by a vote of 38-6. The zoning map and text amendments will convert the former Pfizer factory site, currently used for parking, into a mixed-use building and plaza. The project area, totaling 182,366 square feet, is bounded by Walton Street to the <Read More>


135-Foot-Tall Building Proposed for Corner of Broadway and Canal

Application would see demolition of 3 structures, construction of new 8-story development, and restoration of an 1823 Italianate building. On October 24, 2017, the Landmarks Preservation Commission considered an application concerning three properties at the corner of Canal Street and Broadway in SoHo-Cast Iron Historic District. The applicant proposed to demolish existing buildings, at 419421 Broadway and 301 Canal Street, and develop a new 135-foot-tall commercial structure. The new building … <Read More>


Owner Defeated Tenants’ Loft Claim

Tenants sought loft law protection by claiming that two attached structures on one zoning lot were two separate buildings. A two-story building was constructed at 538 Johnson Avenue in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn in 1916 using timber and wood planking. A four-story building was constructed adjacent at 75 Stewart Avenue in 1919 using concrete columns, beams and slabs. The four-story structure abuts the eastern wall of the two-story structure, and the stairwell in the … <Read More>


Strong Community Support Voiced for Twin Commercial Buildings which Housed Studio of de Kooning, and other Post-WWII Artists

Attorney for owner threatened to seek demolition through a hardship application should landmarks designate the property and not permit a visible addition. At its meeting on October 17, 2017, the Landmarks Preservation Commission held a hearing on the possible individual landmarks designation of two twin adjoining buildings at 827 and 831 Broadway. Completed in 1867, the buildings were designed by architect Griffith Thomas for tobacco-company heir Pierre Lorillard in an Italian palazzi-inspired design. Built … <Read More>


Proponents of Meat Market Plan Prevail

Landmarks Commission approved redevelopment of five buildings in the Gansevoort Market Historic District. On June 7, 2016, the Landmarks Preservation Commission approved the redevelopment of a block face of the Gansevoort Market Historic District between Greenwich and Washington Streets in Manhattan. The work, spanning five buildings, entailed the addition of three additional stories on a two-story building at 60-68 Gansevoort Street, a new 82-foot-high building  at the corner of Washington Street replacing a bus … <Read More>