Council Subcommittee Hears Testimony on One Vanderbilt

Representatives of the project and the Department of City Planning spoke during a four-hour hearing.  On April 13, 2015 the City Council Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises held a public hearing on One Vanderbilt, a proposed 1,450-foot commercial tower in East Midtown, as well as an accompanying proposal to rezone five blocks of Vanderbilt Avenue to create the Vanderbilt Corridor.  The building will be located adjacent to Grand Central Terminal, bounded by East 42nd Street … <Read More>


Extension to 1971 Historic District Enters Designation Process

Landmarks vowed to continue engagement with the community and property owners in advance of hearing on extension of the Mount Morris Park Historic District. On April 14, 2015, the Landmarks Preservation Commission voted to add the Mount Morris Park Historic District Extension, to its calendar, the first step in the formal designation process. The district lies between 118th and 123rd Streets, bounded by Lenox Avenue and Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. Boulevard.


My Rules for Thee, But Not for Me: The City Destroys a City-Owned Landmark

The Castle on the Concourse is doomed. Had any other owner of a designated landmark abandoned his property to the elements like this, the Landmarks Preservation Commission would have sued him for “demolition by neglect.” But here the commission is helpless. The owner is the City of New York, and while the city fully expects owners of designated properties – private homeowners, businesses, landlords, or institutions – to adhere to standards set by the LPC, … <Read More>


Simeon Bankoff: Taking the Context out of Contextual Zoning

In March 2015, the City Planning Commission announced a proposal called Zoning for Affordability and Quality, which broadly calls for three principal changes in the current citywide zoning resolution. The plan proposes to change and enlarge definitions of senior housing to include more types of housing providers than currently permitted. It also proposes to increase buildable space for senior housing in some instances. The proposal also seeks to lessen or some instances no longer mandate … <Read More>


Support Voiced for Designation of 100-year-old Carnegie Library [UPDATE: LPC Grants Designation]

Library was the first in the nation devoted solely to the needs of children. On April 7, 2015, the Landmarks Preservation Commission held a hearing on the potential individual landmark designation of the Stone Avenue Branch of the Brooklyn Public Library, at 581 Mother Gaston Boulevard in the Brownsville neighborhood. The Library completed in 1914, to designs by architect William B. Tubby, is one of 21 public libraries in Brooklyn whose development was funded by … <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>