Tales of the Tenderloin: Theaters, Nightlife, and the World’s Longest Painting Once Graced 1205-1227 Broadway, Site of Future Virgin Hotel

4:00 pm on June 17, 2016 By Vitali Ogorodnikov

Over the past 200 years, Broadway was the center stage for many that came to make their fortunes in the big city. Foundations for the world’s second Virgin Hotel, part of billionaire Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Group, are underway at 1205, 1225, and 1227 Broadway, between West 29th and West 30th streets. The site’s relevance in the city’s history is rooted deeper than the new skyscraper’s supports. Before it housed the three 1920s office and retail buildings that graced the site until 2015, the block was home to a prominent theater row, a theater-museum built by John Banvard, once the world’s richest and most famous artist, and a number of other ventures worthy of remembrance and commemoration, undertaken by the gritty and relentlessly driven people that give New York its signature flair and energy.

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12 Lawton Street

Four-Story, Seven-Unit Residential Building Planned at 12 Lawton Street, Bushwick

3:00 pm on June 17, 2016 By Reid Wilson

Brooklyn-based AdriCo LLC has filed applications for a four-story, seven-unit residential building at 12 Lawton Street, in western Bushwick. The structure will measure 5,753 square feet and its residential units should average 609 square feet apiece, indicative of rental apartments. One unit will be located across the ground and cellar levels, followed by two units per floor on the second and third levels. Two more units will be located on the fourth floor, with one of them featuring space on an upper penthouse level. Robert Bianchini’s Forest Hills-based ARC Architecture + Design Studio is the architect of record. The 22-foot-wide, 2,010-square-foot lot is currently occupied by a two-story townhouse. Demolition permits have not been filed. The J train’s Kosciuszko Street stop is located three blocks away.

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26-22 97th Street

Two-Building, Four-Unit Residential Project Coming to 26-22 97th Street, East Elmhurst

2:00 pm on June 17, 2016 By Reid Wilson

Greenvale, N.Y.-based Jai Management has filed applications for two two-unit residential buildings at 26-22 – 26-26 97th Street, in East Elmhurst. One will stand two stories and measure 1,477 square feet, while the other will rise three stories and measure 1,672 square feet. Across both, there will be three full-floor apartments and a duplex. The units should average 787 square feet apiece, indicative of rentals. Queens-based  Nasir J. Khanzada’s engineering company is the applicant of record. The development will rise on an irregular 6,918-square-foot vacant plot straddling 97th Street just south of Astoria Boulevard. LaGuardia Airport is six blocks away.

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Kravis Research Building

Construction Underway on Rockefeller University’s Kravis Research Building at 1228 York Avenue, Upper East Side

1:00 pm on June 17, 2016 By Reid Wilson

Rockefeller University’s Stavros Niarchos Foundation-David Rockefeller River Campus expansion is now being constructed above the FDR Drive between East 64th and 68th streets, at 1228 York Avenue on the Upper East Side. The expansion consists of a two-story academic building and two acres of green space, according to the New York Times. The new building, called the Marie-Josée and Henry R. Kravis Research Building, will encompass 152,641 square feet. It will feature laboratories, two amphitheaters, offices, conference rooms, a dining area, and outdoor terraces. The new structure will connect to the university’s existing buildings. Rafael Viñoly Architects is behind the design. Construction is being accomplished with the Chesapeake 1000, which is the “largest marine crane based on the East Coast.” Completion is expected in 2019.

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34 East 62nd Street

Four-Story, Single-Family Townhouse Proposed at 34 East 62nd Street, Upper East Side

11:00 am on June 17, 2016 By Reid Wilson

Renderings have surfaced of a four-story, single-family townhouse planned at 34 East 62nd Street, in the Lenox Hill section of the Upper East Side. The plans come as the project was unanimously approved by Community Board 8’s landmarks committee earlier this year, DNAinfo reported. The townhouse will feature an elevator, a limestone façade, and a fifth-floor penthouse, and is being designed by Henry Jessup’s HS Jessup Architecture. The site can accommodate up to 8,030 square feet of residential space as-of-right. The Rye, N.Y.-based Woodbine Company, which acquired the vacant lot for $11.9 million in 2015, is the developer. It will eventually require approval from the Landmarks Preservation Commission, as it sits within the Upper East Side Historic District. The LPC will is currently slated be presented the project on on June 28.

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