Landmarks approves school’s expansion on Upper West Side

Stephen Gaynor School plans to expand and connect the Claremont Stables building on West 89th Street to its facility on West 90th Street. On March 20, 2012, Landmarks approved the Stephen Gaynor School’s proposal to build a rooftop addition on the individually landmarked Claremont Stables building at 175 West 89th Street.

The four-story, 1892 Romanesque Revival Claremont Stables building is on the north side of West 89th Street between Columbus and Amsterdam Avenues … <Read More>


MTA must compensate for taken trade fixtures

Fulton Street Transit Center. Image: Mary Gillen.

MTA claimed that compensation for trade fixtures in building taken for transit project would constitute improper windfall payment. Three restaurant tenants in a three-story building at 194 Broadway in Lower Manhattan sought compensation for their trade fixtures after the Metropolitan Transportation Authority acquired the property through eminent domain for its Fulton Street Transit Center project. The three restaurants were separately incorporated, but were owned by the same individual … <Read More>


Puck Building additions OK’d

Size and visibility of proposed rooftop additions reduced over course of several meetings. After multiple revisions, Landmarks unanimously approved Kushner Companies’ proposal to build rooftop additions on the Puck Building at 295 Lafayette Street in SoHo. The individual landmark occupies a full block on the south side of Houston Street and consists of two sections designed by architect Albert Wagner. The first section, built in 1886, rises to seven stories, and a nine-story rear … <Read More>


Rush to designate E. 10th St. failed to stop roof addition

315 East 10th Street. Image: Mary Gillen.

Building owner in district obtained permit to build rooftop addition prior to Landmarks approval. On January 17, 2012, Landmarks held a public hearing on, and later designated, the East 10th Street Historic District in Manhattan’s East Village. The district encompasses a row of 26 buildings from 293 to 345 East 10th Street between Avenues A and B.

Many of the buildings were built speculatively to attract wealthy residents … <Read More>


Nine-story building on Greenwich Street approved

403 Greenwich Street. Image: Courtesy of ma.com

Landmarks twice approved designs for new building on Tribeca site, but development stalled. On November 1, 2011, Landmarks approved a proposal to replace a two-story 1947 brick building with a nine-story residential building at 403 Greenwich Street in the Tribeca West Historic District. Landmarks in 2002, and again in 2009, approved buildings for the site, but neither proposal went forward. The 2009-approved proposal called for a six-story building … <Read More>


Building Big – East Side Access for the LIRR

One hundred and forty feet below Grand Central Terminal sandhogs have excavated caverns spacious enough to dock a Carnival Cruise ship. The caverns will eventually support eight tracks and four platforms to handle Long Island Rail Road trains carrying upwards of 160,000 daily commuters to and from Manhattan’s East Side. This enormous construction project will cost over $8 billion when completed. It will redraw New York City’s commuter map by adding 7.75 miles of new … <Read More>