The Brooklyn Public Library recently celebrated a grand opening for the Greenpoint Library and Environmental Education Center in north Brooklyn. Located at 107 Norman Avenue in Greenpoint, the center includes a new library, a public plaza, science learning centers for students, and flexible congregation spaces.
The New York Appellate Court ruled in favor of a group of developers, including JDS Development Group, CIM Group, L+M Development Partners, and Starrett Corporation, to build four more towers along the Two Bridges waterfront on the Lower East Side. One Manhattan Square, a similarly-scoped neighbor, was completed in early 2019, and stands alone as the rest of development came to a halt despite approvals from the City Planning Commission in 2016. Yesterday, the ruling found the buildings described in the applications did not conflict with applicable zoning requirements, with all four Judges siding against Manhattan Borough president Gale A. Brewer and the New York City Council, which challenged the approval in 2018, arguing that the new construction required special permits and had to go through the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP) process.
New York-based developer Extell has surpassed another milestone for 138 Willoughby Street, aka Brooklyn Point, in Downtown Brooklyn. Construction workers have now lifted and assembled the steel frame for the highest residential infinity-edge pool in the western hemisphere. The 27-foot-long pool is now in place on the roof deck of the 68-story, 720-foot-tall skyscraper, part of the third and final phase of the City Point complex.
Earlier this week, the City Council voted to approve a rezoning proposal that would allow landlords of the commercial properties with public pedestrian arcades along Water Street, between Fulton and Whitehall streets in the Financial District, to convert the arcades into retail space in exchange for renovating adjacent public plazas. The total amount of space that could be converted spans 110,000 square feet across 20 buildings, DNAinfo reported. The rezoning requires retail conversions of greater than 7,500 square feet to be approved through the city’s Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP). It also limits the amount of street frontage chain banks and drugstores can take up, and requires the entire height of the arcade to be built out. Future renovations to the existing public plazas in the area could include new seating and planters, among other upgrades.
Yesterday, the City Council’s Land Use committee voted through a contentious bill that would impose deadlines on the Landmarks Preservation Commission and its process of designating historic properties. Preservationists and their allies on the City Council overwhelmingly oppose the bill, Intro 775-A, because it would force the LPC to consider buildings and historic districts within two years of being calendared.