Owner tries to evict tenants based on zoning while seeking to convert building to residential use. Amy Kreiling and Roy Williams leased a studio unit from Thames Realty, owner of a loft building located within a manufacturing zoning district in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Although the lease limited their use to business purposes, the tenants used the unit as their residence. Five years into the tenancy, Thames notified them that it wished to terminate the lease. When … <Read More>
Search Results for: Variance
Chelsea’s former Maritime Union to be 316-room hotel
Unique construction plan of 1964 building created hardship. BSA approved the plan by Hampshire Hotels and Resorts to convert the 162,123-square-foot former National Maritime Union building, located along West 17th and West 16th Streets near Ninth Avenue in Chelsea, into a 316-room hotel. The existing building, built under a 1964 variance approval, most recently housed a transitional youth shelter run by the Covenant House.
Located on an odd-shaped, 11- sided lot, the existing building contains … <Read More>
Council considers law to allow review of BSA decisions
Proposal would permit Council by a majority vote to review variances and special permits. The City Council’s Land Use Committee heard public testimony on July 24, 2007 on Local Law Intro. 261 to amend the City Charter’s review procedures on BSA decisions. The amendment, sponsored by Council Member Tony Avella, would give the Council the power to review BSA variances and special permit decisions if a majority of the full Council votes to take review. … <Read More>
Yeshiva ordered to close catering business
DOB wins appeal modifying C of O issued in error. Yeshiva Imrei Chaim Viznitz, located on 53rd Street in Boro Park, Brooklyn, operated a catering hall out of the basement of its three-story building containing its school and synagogue. The Department of Buildings applied to BSA to revoke the building’s 1999 certificate of occupancy. Buildings claimed that the certificate listed the catering use in error since the use was prohibited by the site’s residential zoning … <Read More>
City Comptroller faults BSA’s fee procedures
Problems found with the safeguarding, accounting and transfer of fees to the City. On June 12, 2007, City Comptroller William C. Thompson issued an audit report on BSA’s collection and reporting of revenues, concluding that BSA correctly determined and accounted for fees, but problems existed with the safeguarding of fees, the integrity of receipt systems, and the forwarding of funds to DCAS.
Application fees are the primary source for BSA revenues. In 2006, BSA … <Read More>
Historic Dumbo Buildings to Become Residential
Plan calls for partial demolition and conversion of three buildings into residential units. Ironworks LLC proposed to convert three vacant buildings located along Old Fulton Street in Dumbo into residential units. Built in the early 1800s, the adjacent four-story brick buildings sit within the Fulton Ferry Historic District, less than 75 feet from the Brooklyn Bridge. Due to their manufacturing zoning, conversion to residential use triggered the need for a variance from BSA.
Ironworks’ plan … <Read More>