Redevelopment of Modernist Plaza Approved after Revisions

Plan will make plaza a more accessible and inviting space for public use, adaptively reuse lower levels of former bank building for retail use. On August 4, 2014, The Landmarks Preservation Commission voted to allow alterations to One Chase Manhattan Plaza, an individual City landmark at 28 Liberty Street in lower Manhattan. The 1964 tower and two-and-half acre plaza were designed by the firm Skidmore Owings and Merrill, led by partner Gordon Bunschaft, … <Read More>


Development of Willets Point Blocked on Appeal

Appellate panel found the authorization for private construction on parkland did not extend to a shopping mall.  On October 9, 2013, the City Council approved Queens Development Group’s planned 10-story, 200-room hotel and 30,000-square foot mall complex on the Willets Point West site, formerly the location of Shea Stadium.  The site was once the north end of Flushing Meadows Park until the state legislature authorized the stadium’s construction in 1961.  The development would anchor further … <Read More>


Court dismisses challenge to Pierhouse development

Zoning restrictions were not violated. In 2006, Brooklyn Bridge Park Corporation entered into a project plan for developing a hotel and residential complex at Brooklyn Bridge Park.  The plan called for the development’s northern building to be limited to “approximately 100 feet”.  Following Superstorm Sandy’s flooding of Brooklyn Bridge Park, the development was redesigned to move basement mechanical equipment to the rooftop, in compliance with new zoning changes.  This increased the northern building’s height above … <Read More>


Amended Design for Redevelopment of Former Waterfront Sugar Factory Approved

Replacement of river-facing façade with new contemporary sculptural design changed to incorporate more masonry. On March 24, 2015, the Landmarks Preservation Commission voted to approve a proposal for altering the north façade and construction of a rooftop addition to a late 19th-century sugar factory at 10 Jay Street in the DUMBO Historic District. The factory was heavily altered in the 1940s, with a portion of the building including the original north façade demolished. A … <Read More>


Wide Community Opposition Voiced in Hearing on Three-Dwelling Development

Applicants sought to subdivide lot with existing home to construct to new buildings, and also build another dwelling on adjoining site. On February 17, 2015, the Landmarks Preservation Commission considered an application to develop three new free-standing homes in the Fieldston Historic District. The site is composed of two lots at 4680 Fieldston Road, with one lot, to be subdivided, currently occupied by a 1918 one-family home. According to the New York Times, … <Read More>


Waiver Granted to Build Housing Development on Unmapped Street

Seven of the proposed homes did not front on a legally-mapped street. On January 6, 2015 the Board of Standards and Appeals voted to grant the applicant, Block 7092 LLC, a waiver to allow construction of seven residential buildings on an unmapped street.  The buildings are part of a development of twenty-four two-story, one- and two-family dwellings and one three-story, two-family home located at the intersection of Turner Street and Crabtree Avenue in Rossville, Staten … <Read More>