Three-story residential building OK’ed

BSA reduced building size, but included parking for each unit. The owner of 114 Walworth Street in an M1-1 district of Bedford Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, sought a variance to construct a six-story, 47-unit residential building with 24 parking spaces on a vacant 17,500-square-foot lot with 175 feet of frontage on Walworth Street. The site, formerly occupied by residential buildings, has remained vacant since the buildings were demolished.

The applicant argued that Walworth Street’s narrow 50-foot width … <Read More>


Primary/Intermediate school approved

School to address increased capacity. On July 27, 2005, the City Council approved a proposal by the New York City School Construction Authority for the construction of a 62,000-square-foot primary/intermediate school in the Canarsie section of Brooklyn. The project site consists of two privately owned parcels located on East 107th Street, between Flatlands and Avenue J. The first parcel is 17,000 sq.ft and contains a vacant two-story building previously used as a Yeshiva; the second … <Read More>


Ikea approval upheld

Citizens’ challenge dismissed. In February, 2005, five Brooklyn residents and the Coalition to Revitalize Our Waterfront filed a petition seeking to void the City’s approval of an Ikea superstore in Brooklyn’s Erie Basin, arguing that the environmental study was flawed, the zoning change constituted “spot zoning”, and the development was inconsistent with the City’s zoning plans. 2 CityLand 29 (Mar. 15, 2005).

Justice Karen S. Smith denied the petition, finding that the map amendment was … <Read More>


Smith, Gray & Co.Building

Rare, cast-iron building is significantly intact. On June 7, 2005, Landmarks designated the Smith, Gray and Company Building, located at 103 Broadway between Bedford Avenue and Berry Street in Brooklyn’s Williamsburg section. Constructed in 1870, the building opened as a retail store for Brooklyn’s largest manufacturer of ready-made clothing in the late 19th Century. The five-story building, designed by Brooklyn architect, William H. Gaylor, features a cast iron facade with tiered upper stories and segmental-arched … <Read More>


Munitions warehouse to be residential complex

Variance will permit 43-unit luxury apartment complex. Ira Weinstein, the owner of 2184 Mill Avenue, a 99,340-square-foot lot located on the northwest side of Strickland Avenue in an R3-1 district of Mill Basin, Brooklyn, sought a variance to convert a four-story, 100-year old munitions factory, currently used as a warehouse and retail showroom, into a five-story, 67,000-square-foot multiple dwelling with 45 luxury residential units, doctors’ offices, and a ground-floor restaurant.

Weinstein argued that commercial and … <Read More>


DUMBO BID approved

BID will encompass 366 properties and address sanitation, security and marketing needs. The Planning Commission unanimously approved an application by the Department of Small Business Services to create a DUMBO Business Improvement District. The proposed BID would encompass 366 properties containing 575 existing businesses bounded by DUMBO’s York, Old Fulton, Gold, and Bridge Streets and extending to the East River.

Under the proposed BID, businesses and industrial uses would be assessed $.05 per-square-foot and $.004 … <Read More>