On Tuesday, the Landmarks Preservation Commission took another step towards clearing its formerly 95-item backlog of sites calendared pre-2010. The commission designated seven properties in two boroughs – Staten Island and Manhattan. There was also a non-backlog designation.
The last of the concrete has been poured for the New York Wheel, the 630-foot-tall Ferris wheel under construction next to the Staten Island Ferry Terminal in St. George. After four years of delays, CEO Rich Marin and his crew of investors are ready to start building the huge tourist attraction on the island’s North Shore.
Staten Island has long been the city’s slowest-growing borough, but the administration of Mayor Bill de Blasio is pushing it to develop more housing. Last Wednesday, the Department of City Planning organized a public forum on the mayor’s plan to rezone Bay Street, an industrial swath of Staten Island’s north shore, in order to encourage new apartments and retail.
Property owner Raymond Masucci, doing business as an anonymous Staten Island-based LLC, has filed applications for two three-story, two-family houses at 211-215 Raritan Avenue, in Dongan Hills, located on Staten Island’s East Shore. One will measure 3,874 square feet and the other will measure 3,900 square feet. Across both, the the full-floor apartments should average a family-sized 1,236 square feet apiece. Staten Island-based Calvanico Associates is the architect of record. According to the Buildings Departments, a single-story house on the 94-foot-wide plot of land was demolished in March. The project is located six blocks from the neighborhood’s Staten Island Railway station.
Steven Shapiro’s Staten Island-based FAS Building Corporation has filed applications for twin three-story, two-family houses at 49-53 Speedwell Avenue, in Bulls Head, located in west-central Staten Island. From south to north, they will measure 3,868 and 3,952 square feet respectively. Across the development, the full-floor residential units should average a family-sized 1,191 square feet apiece. Each house will come with a 223-square-foot, single-car garage, in addition to two other off-street parking spaces. Staten Island-based Calvanico Associates is the architect of record. The 90-foot-wide plot, on the corner of Sideview Avenue, was occupied by a single-story home until it was demolished earlier this year.
