Owner altered window and facade details to gain Landmarks approval . On April 12, 2011, Landmarks approved Fishman Holdings’ revised proposal to construct an eight-story building on a vacant lot at 87 Chambers Street in the Tribeca South Historic District. The through-block building will front Reade Street to the north. The lot had been occupied by a store-and-loft building that Fishman originally planned to convert … <Read More>
Three-building project on former railway site will include 141 affordable rental apartments. On April 6, 2011, the City Council approved a proposal by the Department of Housing Preservation and Development to allow Phipps Houses to develop a three-building affordable housing project on two vacant through-block lots in the East Tremont section of the Bronx. Phipps will construct an eight-story residential building and a ten-story mixed-use building at 1155 East Tremont Avenue, and a … <Read More>
Developer agreed to community request to exclude bar or restaurant from ground floor of mixed-income project. On March 23, 2011, the City Council approved Bruce Terzano’s proposal to develop a two-building mixed-use project at the corner of Wythe Avenue and South 3rd Street in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. The mixed-income project will include a six-story building with 61 market rate apartments and ground floor commercial space, and a smaller six-story building with eighteen … <Read More>
Meenakshi Srinivasan’s background in architecture and urban planning serve her well as chair of the Board of Standards and Appeals. With a staff of 20, including five commissioners, BSA reviews 400 to 500 applications per year, including appeals of final decisions made by the Department of Buildings, applications for variances from the zoning resolution, applications for certain special permits, and vested rights claims.
A native of India, Srinivasan’s early interest in art, science, and mathematics … <Read More>
Community board wanted developer to exclude bars from mixed-income housing project. On February 16, 2011, the City Planning Commission approved Bruce Terzano’s plan to redevelop the southeast corner of a block bounded by South 2nd and South 3rd Streets and Kent and Wythe Avenues in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. The proposal included constructing a six-story building with 61 market-rate apartments and ground floor commercial space, and a smaller six-story building with eighteen affordable apartments.
To facilitate the … <Read More>
BSA approval needed before converting landmarked Times Square office building to a hotel. In September 2010, Highgate Holdings LLP sought an alteration permit to convert the former Knickerbocker Hotel at 1466 Broadway in Times Square to a 395-room hotel. The Knickerbocker Hotel, originally owned by John Jacob Astor IV, operated from 1906 until the prohibition era, when it was converted to office space. In 1979, BSA approved a plan to convert the Knickerbocker into a … <Read More>