Watchtower’s full-block project approved

Watchtower reduced height to gain approval of complex. On December 2, 2004, following extensive negotiations between the developer and Council Members Leticia James and David Yassky, the City Council approved the 736,400 sq.ft. development proposed by the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc., subject to a height reduction. The modification, which reduced the street-wall heights of the Front Street buildings to 82 ft. and a maximum height of 110 ft. away from … <Read More>


Use variance for mini-storage facility denied

Site now used for b us parking lot. Enopac Holding LLC, which since 1995 operated a parking lot for 150- 180 school buses on its property located at 6055 -6065 Strickland Avenue in Brooklyn, sought a use variance from the BSA to allow the construction of six mini-storage buildings on the property. Although the site historically contained several heavy and light industrial uses, including a waste treatment facility, the City rezoned the area in 1996 … <Read More>


Claim of spot zoning and taking at Seaport rebuffed

Down-zoning in South Street Seaport upheld. Peck Slip Assoc. LLC, the owner of a surface parking lot at 250 Water Street, sued the City seeking to invalidate City Council’s down-zoning of the South Street Seaport area on a claim that the rezoning made 250 Water Street impossible to develop.

In April 2003, the City Council approved a South Street Seaport down-zoning, reducing the permitted height and mass of all future development in a l O-block … <Read More>


New building approved after two-story reduction

Four-story building will have 27 new dwellings. BSA approved a use variance, allowing the new construction of a four-story, 27-unit residential building with 14 underground parking spaces in an Ml-2 zoning district on the corner of North 7th and Berry Streets in Williamsburg. The building site, comprising two lots totaling 15,840 sq.ft., contains a former garage and a vacant one-story structure previously used as a food processing facility.

The original application, which sought a six-story … <Read More>


Draft EIS Adequate for Public Review

West siders sought to prevent public hearing on Hudson Yards Project. Hell’s Kitchen Neighborhood Association filed an article 78 petition to prevent the September 23, 2004 public hearing on the West Side’s No. 7 Subway extension and Hudson Yards rezoning and development project. The Association claimed that the Metropolitan Transit Authority and the Planning Commission, lead agencies for the required environmental review, had submitted an incomplete draft environmental impact statement and, as a result, prevented … <Read More>


Elevator at Grant’s Tomb Pavilion Approved

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>