A decade ago, the New York City Housing Authority emptied out 22 decaying tenement buildings on the south side of 114th Street in central Harlem, sending residents to public housing elsewhere in the city. Those long-vacant buildings, part of Randolph Houses, have now been renovated and filled with residents, and workers have begun revamping 14 brownstones on the north side of the block.
2015 marked the 50th anniversary of the New York City landmarks law. There were occasions to celebrate, and the Landmarks Preservation Commission designated six individual landmarks and four historic districts. 2016 was considerably busier for the commission. It designated 40 individual landmarks and two historic districts, including 12 new Midtown East landmarks and 26 sites from its backlog. Here are all of them, for you to take in as the year comes to a close.
As Mayor de Blasio’s initiatives to create affordable housing continue to fail, bright spots for advocates of a better and more inclusive New York City are few and far between. In the Two Bridges area of the Lower East Side, JDS, Extell, CIM, L+M, and the Starrett Group are planning five new towers with 700 affordable units. NIMBYs don’t care. Despite all that affordable housing, red herrings went flying at a community meeting last night, and the echo chamber of outrage reverberated all the way onto the internet.
Two years ago, the Landmarks Preservation Commission floated the idea of clearing its backlog of items from before 2010 by simply de-calendaring all of them. That was not well-received, to put it lightly. So, they devised a series of steps to actually address those 95 items. That process nearly came to an end today, with the designation of 10 new city landmarks.
Over the past few years, Long Island City has developed a proud skyline, and the Steven Holl-designed Hunters Point Library will become its latest iconic public building. The space will serve as a much-needed civic hub in this still-developing waterfront residential district. Recently, we had an opportunity to tour the site, which will soon become one of the city’s most striking public spaces.
