Earth Pledge Executive Director Leslie Hoffman Talks About Making the City a Green Place, One Roof at a Time

Manhattan’s first green roof, installed in 1998, sits on top of the 1902 Georgian townhouse at 122 East 38th Street in Murray Hill, the home of Earth Pledge, a New York based nonprofit that promotes green building technologies. Founded by Theodore Kheel to support the 1992 United Nations Earth Summit in Rio, Earth Pledge now sponsors the Greening Gotham program, an initiative to get New York City developers, building owners, and government officials behind green … <Read More>


Queens rezoning receives ULURP certification

Down-zoning proposed for 135- block area of northeast Queens. On July 10, 2006, the Planning Commission certified as complete City Planning’s proposal to rezone 135 blocks of the Douglaston and Little Neck neighborhoods in northeast Queens. The area is generally bounded by Grand Central Parkway to the south, Douglaston Parkway, Alley Pond Parkway and Alley Pond Park to the west, Long Island Sound to the north, and the Nassau County line to the east. Under … <Read More>


Two Queens neighborhoods down-zoned

Middle Village and Glendale rezoned to allow in-context residential development. The Planning Commission approved another outer-borough rezoning intended to preserve established scale, protect low-rise character, and curb inconsistent development in residential neighborhoods. A majority of the rezoned area, 105 blocks along Metropolitan Avenue and the Long Island Railroad, will be predominantly rezoned R4-1 to allow only one- and two-family dwellings. Another 60-block area, bounded by Juniper Valley Road, Juniper Boulevard South, 78th Avenue, and 80th … <Read More>


Queens residential area protected

196 blocks of Cambria Heights down-zoned. On July 27, 2005, the City Council unanimously approved a down-zoning, impacting 196 blocks of Cambria Heights, Queens. It is the first rezoning initiative in this neighborhood since 1961 and the fifth Queens neighborhood down-zoned by the City in 2005.

Designed to closely match the size of existing development, the down-zoning’s new residential districts (R2A, R3A, R3-1, and R4B) decrease the size and density of asof- right buildings. The … <Read More>


Owners oppose designation of Queens buildings

Owners claimed designation will force them to close their business or hinder needed repair. On March 15, 2005, Landmarks held public hearings on its proposed designations of two separate commercial buildings in Queens: the Sohmer & Co. Piano Factory building in Long Island City and Elmhurst’s Jamaica Savings Bank.

The six-story Sohmer & Company Piano Factory building, built in 1886 and designed by Berger & Baylies, has a unique mansardroofed clock tower, making the building … <Read More>


HPD Announces Addition of Over 1,200 Affordable Units Through Completed Projects and Projects In Development

The addition furthers the City’s goal of financing 200,000 affordable households by the end of the de Blasio administration. On December 3, 2021, the Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) announced the creation of an additional 1,221 affordable homes between two completed projects in Queens and two projects that have broken ground in the Bronx and Brooklyn.