Extell has been exceedingly silent when it comes to details regarding New York City’s soon-to-be tallest tower at 217 West 57th Street, besides a minor press release last month indicating the building would be dubbed Central Park Tower (despite…
Fifteen years ago, the city emptied out the block-long Prospect Plaza housing project in Ocean Hill, Brooklyn, promising to redevelop and move the 1,500 former residents back in. Last year, NYCHA finally demolished the four dilapidated apartment towers and began construction on 364 units of affordable housing. YIMBY recently stopped by the site on Park and Prospect Places between Saratoga and Howard Avenues. Phase 1 of the development has taken shape on the north side of Prospect Place, and windows are already going in on both buildings.
The half-century-old Landmarks law has played a valuable role in protecting the historic fabric of New York City’s neighborhoods, but it also limits the production of housing—particularly affordable housing—in neighborhoods with large historic districts.
The conversion of 555 West End Avenue from the former St. Agnes School for Girls to a residential building with 12 to 15 units is well on its way to approval, but not there quite yet. The Landmarks Preservation Commission liked a lot of the proposal presented on Tuesday, but wants less visibility when it comes to the rooftop additions, particularly the mechanical equipment.
The city has had grand plans to build a Utica Avenue subway line for nearly a century, and on Wednesday, de Blasio resurrected the idea of extending the 4 train out as far as Kings Plaza in Mill Basin, bringing trains to a transit-starved area of southeastern Brooklyn.