City seeking developer for 46-acre site in Staten Island’s Farm Colony – Seaview Hospital Historic District

Developers asked to incorporate historic preservation into proposals for Brielle Avenue parcel. The City’s Economic Development Corporation on March 6, 2012 issued a request for expressions of interest for the redevelopment of an approximately 46-acre site located on Brielle Avenue in the Willowbrook neighborhood of Staten Island. The majority of the property was originally used as an institutional work farm for the poor, known as the New York City Farm Colony, but has been … <Read More>


Westchester Square BID gains Council approval

New Business Improvement District approved after Council recommended second comment period. On February 29, 2012, the City Council approved the Department of Small Business Services’ plan to create the Westchester Square Business Improvement District in the Bronx. The district will include 145 businesses along portions of East Tremont Avenue, Williamsbridge Road, and Westchester Avenue in the northeast Bronx. The district will have first-year budget of $320,000, with $120,000 allocated to sanitation services, $95,000 to administrative … <Read More>


Court finds City discriminated in housing project

Judge enjoined City’s redevelopment proposal for area straddling Williamsburg and Bedford-Stuyvesant. In December 2009, the City Council approved the Department of Housing Preservation and Development’s redevelopment proposal for the Broadway Triangle Urban Renewal Area in South Williamsburg, Brooklyn. The seventeen-block urban renewal area was created in 1989 and is primarily located within Community District 1, with a six-block portion within Community District 3. CD 1 is predominately white with a large Hasidic community, and CD … <Read More>


City renews efforts to redevelop Kingsbridge Armory

The Kingsbridge Armory at 195th Street and Jerome Avenue. Image: Cityland

Previous redevelopment proposal defeated after Bronx leaders objected to project’s impact on community and developer’s refusal to agree to living wage provision. On January 12, 2012, the Economic Development Corporation issued a request for proposals for the redevelopment of the long-vacant Kingsbridge Armory in the Kingsbridge section of the Bronx. The 575,000 sq.ft. landmarked building features an open hall with high ceilings and 180,000 … <Read More>


The Department of City Planning opens the door on parking policy

Parking in Manhattan is a controversial subject. The Department of City Planning weighed in on the topic when, in December 2011, it released a study of parking within Manhattan’s core business districts. City Planning reported that there are fewer off-street parking spaces than there were years ago. In 1978 the Manhattan core had 127,000 off-street public parking spaces; in 2010 there were only 103,000.

The reduction in spaces resulted in part from environmental policies that … <Read More>


Admirals Row Plaza project approved by Council

Admirals Row Plaza project view on the corner of Navy and Nassau Streets. Image: Courtesy of GreenbergFarrow.

Community and labor groups supported project, but sought assurances that Brooklyn Navy Yard would not lease space to Wal-Mart. On November 29, 2011, the City Council approved the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation’s Admirals Row Plaza project at the corner of Nassau and Navy Streets in Brooklyn. The six-acre site is located at the southeast edge … <Read More>