Public Library entrance plaza to be redesigned

Landmarks approved the proposal, finding that the access changes were well integrated into the building’s design, thus eliminating any discernable impact on the perception of the building from the street. The geometric paving, due to its simple repetitive pattern, would be in the spirit of the original plaza design. Landmarks, noting that the kiosk’s footprint aligns with the pattern of the plaza paving and that the water feature, when off, blends with the material of … <Read More>


Additional floor approved for Tribeca hotel

80-room luxury and extended stay hotel approved for vacant site. On August 19, 2003, Downtown Hotels LLC, with principals Robert DeNiro, Ira Drukier and Richard Born, obtained a permit to build a six-story brick and terra cotta luxury hotel on a vacant lot at 377-383 Greenwich Street at the corner of North Moore within the Tribeca West Historic District. The six-story building, with a small penthouse setback from the street, received strong support from Landmarks … <Read More>


SoHo ad must come down

Vinyl wall advertisement installed without approval. In response to a June 2, 2004 warning letter, the owner of 600 Broadway, an 1883 loft building located in the SoHo-Cast Iron Historic District, sought to legalize the installation of a Steve Madden vinyl wall advertisement installed on the buildings’ north wall without Landmarks’ approval. Landmarks issued permits to 600 Broadway in the past for wall advertisements including a 47’ x 55’ sign at the east end of … <Read More>


Carriage-house replication approved in Clinton Hill

New two-story house okayed for vacant lot. Geoffroi Flournoy, of BRP Development Corp., sought Landmarks approval to build a twostory, red-brick building at 302 Waverly Avenue, a vacant lot in the Clinton Hill Historic District, Brooklyn. Following three public hearings in 2001 through 2003, the new building was approved based on the design’s replication of other two-story carriage houses within the district.

In approving, Landmarks noted that the design’s proposed cornice, red brick and large … <Read More>


New 18-story building approved for West 21st Street

Modern apartment building in traditional manufacturing district approved. The Brodsky Organization applied for a permit to build an 18- story apartment building in the Ladies’ Mile Historic District on a vacant lot at 4-10 West 21st Street, which had been rezoned in August 2004 to permit as-of-right residential development. Hugh Hardy, of H3Hardy Collaboration Architecture, LLC, designed the 93,000 sq.ft. building to contain 62 apartment units, 105 parking spaces and 6,000 sq.ft. of retail space. … <Read More>


Claim of spot zoning and taking at Seaport rebuffed

Down-zoning in South Street Seaport upheld. Peck Slip Assoc. LLC, the owner of a surface parking lot at 250 Water Street, sued the City seeking to invalidate City Council’s down-zoning of the South Street Seaport area on a claim that the rezoning made 250 Water Street impossible to develop.

In April 2003, the City Council approved a South Street Seaport down-zoning, reducing the permitted height and mass of all future development in a l O-block … <Read More>