Search Results for: Brooklyn

Council nixes designation of Cass Gilbert warehouse

Council overrode mayor’s veto, claiming Cass Gilbert-designed building is unworthy of designation. On December 5, 2005, Mayor Michael Bloomberg vetoed the City Council’s vote rejecting the Landmarks Preservation Commission’s designation of a Williamsburg, Brooklyn warehouse. The Council gathered sufficient votes on December 8th to override the mayor, calling the building simply unworthy.

Landmarks had unanimously designated the Austin Nichols & Co. Warehouse building in September 2005 over the objection of the owner and Council Member … <Read More>

Variance approved for Mill Basin synagogue

Community opponents raised issues of parking and building height. Sephardic Center of Mill Basin proposed to construct a new 1 0,800 square-foot, two-story synagogue to replace its 20-year old, 6,800-squarefoot synagogue on the corner of Strickland and Mill Avenues in Mill Basin, Brooklyn. As proposed, the new synagogue would exceed the permitted floor area by 5,384 sq.ft., exceed the district’s permitted height by seven feet and fail to provide sufficient parking.

The Center claimed that … <Read More>

Bensonhurst developments win grandfathered status

Four developments exceeding zoning get green light to proceed over community objection. In June 2005, the City Council rezoned 120 blocks of Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, removing the ability to construct large as-of-right residential towers without any height limit along Bensonhurst’s smaller residential streets. 2 CityLand 86 ( July 15, 2005) .

Four developers with projects underway timely sought BSA’s approval to grandfather their development plans and allow construction to proceed on buildings that violated the new … <Read More>

Transfer of historic Admirals Row approved

Commission approved 34-acre transfer to the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation. The Department of Small Business Services and DCAS proposed to acquire and transfer an additional 34 acres to the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation to be added to the 262-acre area currently under its management. A majority of the area to be transferred, 28 acres, contains the former U.S. Navy’s Hospital Annex. The remaining six acres, currently owned by the U.S. National Guard, contain … <Read More>

Council votes down rezoning for Bed-Stuy site

Citing a need for jobs, Council rejects proposal to rezone manufacturing site for 49 new housing units. On October 27,2005, the City Council overturned the Planning Commission’s approval of an application to rezone a vacant, 19,680-square foot site from manufacturing to residential to facilitate the development of 49 units of housing in Bedford -Stuyvesant.

The applicant, Middleland Inc., argued at the hearing before the Council’s Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises that the site was unique. … <Read More>

Gilbert-designed warehouse designated

Preservationists fear City Council will overturn Landmarks’ designation. Landmarks voted unanimously on September 20, 2005 to designate the Austin, Nichols & Co. Warehouse despite extensive opposition from its current owner, Council Member David Yassky and former City Council Member Kenneth Fisher, who appeared on the owner’s behalf. Constructed in 1913 along the East River in Brooklyn, the six-story reinforced concrete Austin Nichols building is attributed to Cass Gilbert, the architect of the Woolworth Building and … <Read More>