Features

Long Island City: Finally, an Emerging Skyline

4:00 pm on September 25, 2015 By Vitali Ogorodnikov

Satellite skylines across the water from Manhattan are a curious phenomenon: they appear to stay frozen in time for decades until they hit sudden, and typically large, growth spurts. As Lower Manhattan was still reeling from the tragedy of 9/11, Jersey City sprouted a forest of cranes. East of the Financial District, the current decade has ushered Downtown Brooklyn’s skyscraper renaissance, as its solitary peaks are now morphing into manmade canyons. Yet as 2015 draws to a close, Long Island City is set to command development watchers’ attention, and the region’s perpetual skyline underdog is about to undergo a complete overhaul.

The Past and Future of New York City’s Affordable Housing

3:00 pm on September 19, 2015 By Rebecca Baird-Remba

As the city edges towards its 2020 population forecast, the Museum of the City of New York is delving into our decades-long struggle to shelter the poorest residents with a new exhibit on the history of affordable housing. To celebrate the exhibit’s opening, the museum hosted a panel Thursday night, where a collection of real estate executives debated whether de Blasio’s ambitious plan to build or preserve 200,000 units would make a dent in the city’s affordable housing crisis.

Broadway Junction on the border of East New York and Ocean Hill, the first two neighborhoods where the city's new mandatory inclusionary zoning will take effect.

The Loophole in de Blasio’s New Mandatory Inclusionary Zoning Policy

10:00 pm on September 11, 2015 By Rebecca Baird-Remba

On the last day of July, the de Blasio administration quietly introduced a key piece of its plan to build 80,000 affordable units of housing: mandatory inclusionary zoning. The plan will require market-rate developers to set aside at least 25% of their units in each new building as affordable housing. As the city rezones several neighborhoods across the five boroughs, they’ll impose the policy along with the updated zoning—beginning with East New York.

Workers replace track on the L line in April 2015. Photo by Patrick Cashin via the MTA Flickr

Can Public-Private Partnerships Fill Holes in the MTA’s Budget?

10:00 pm on September 4, 2015 By Rebecca Baird-Remba

The Citizens Budget Commission released a report earlier this week that predicted the MTA wouldn’t be able to fully repair all 467 of its subway stations until 2067, with suggestions on how the transit authority could finance repairs faster. The group suggested raising money through public-private partnerships, which can be incredibly effective. But when they’re negotiated poorly, these partnerships can cost cities and states millions.

Summer Ends With Significant August Filing Uptick, 4,020 Units Added to Pipeline

8:00 am on September 3, 2015 By Nikolai Fedak

The latest numbers from the DOB show a major increase in year-over-year filings for August, and 2015’s running total has once again surpassed 2014’s, after falling behind in July. In terms of raw numbers, New York City saw new building applications submitted for a total of 4,020 units this past August, more than tripling last year’s figure of 1,281, and putting 2015’s running total of new units at 23,165 as of 8/31, ahead of 2014’s 21,099.

A view of 481 Midland Avenue from the street, rendering by AB Architekten

Designing a Resilient Home in Staten Island After Hurricane Sandy

10:00 pm on August 28, 2015 By Rebecca Baird-Remba

When a storm surge slammed into Aimann Youssef’s house on Midland Avenue in Staten Island during Hurricane Sandy, he was devastated. Nearly three years later, the 45-year-old Syrian immigrant is taking steps to rebuild his house at 481 Midland Avenue, even if he can barely afford it. Tribeca-based AB Architekten, headed by Alex Blakely, created a simple, modern design for the two-family home.

Flushing West, photo by the Department of City Planning

Checking In on the Flushing West Rezoning

7:00 pm on August 21, 2015 By Rebecca Baird-Remba

As the de Blasio administration walks back its plan to redevelop the auto shops and junkyards in Willets Point, community groups next door in Flushing are fighting their own battle over the city’s plan to upzone a short, heavily polluted swath of industrial waterfront near the end of the 7 train.

Fulton Transit Center Atrium, photo by Patrick Cashin for the

Fulton Transit Center’s Retail Will Finally Open in the Fall

8:00 pm on August 14, 2015 By Rebecca Baird-Remba

When the Fulton Transit Center opened last November, glowing reviews celebrated its 53-foot-wide oculus while lamenting its $1.4 billion price tag, which had doubled since the project’s inception several years before. Now, spokespeople from Westfield and the MTA tell YIMBY that retail will begin opening in the fall and continue through 2016. There will be about 20 stores ranging from retail and service providers to eateries and full service restaurants.

WeWork's Dock 72 at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, rendering by S9 Architecture/Perkins Eastman

The Past and Future of the Brooklyn Navy Yard

8:00 pm on August 7, 2015 By Rebecca Baird-Remba

When WeWork announced its plans to anchor a 675,000-square-foot office building on a vacant dry dock at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, a few critics came out of the woodwork to lament the yard’s gradually disappearing industrial tenants, like modular housing builder Capsys.

Rabsky's 10 Monteith Street, rendering by ODA

What the Rheingold Development Controversy Tells Us About Bloomberg-Era Planning

6:46 pm on July 31, 2015 By Rebecca Baird-Remba

Last night, a collection of Bushwick community activists, union members and neighbors sweated it out on folding chairs at a church on George Street to figure out how they would hold Rabsky Group—the developer of part of the Rheingold Brewery site—to the previous owner’s agreement to provide affordable units and funding for neighborhood schools and parks.

Pages: 1234567891011121314151617181920212223242526272829303132333435363738

Fetching more...

Features

What’s happening in your backyard?