The city’s top housing officials spent Wednesday trading barbs with the City Council, defending sweeping changes to the zoning code that would allow taller buildings and smaller parking lots for affordable and senior housing projects.
In November, a plan for a commercial revitalization of the south side of a block of Gansevoort Street, in the Meatpacking District, went before the Landmarks Preservation Commission. In a rare, but hardly unheard of occurrence, the hearing was paused before the commissioners could discuss the proposal. With the continuation of that session likely to come soon, YIMBY sat down with the architects behind it to talk about its place in the history of the area.
This year marked the 50th anniversary of the New York City landmarks law, which empowered the Landmarks Preservation Commission to designate landmarks and historic districts in the five boroughs. With 2015 coming to an end, we thought it would be a good time to review what the commission has protected this year. Six individual landmarks and four historic districts were designated, adding up to protection for over 2,000 more structures.
Central Harlem hasn’t seen quite as much development as the area southeast of 125th Street, but developers have finally started paying attention to the quiet and transit-rich blocks next to the City College campus. The latest project headed to the neighborhood is an 11-story residential building at 308 West 133rd Street, between St. Nicholas Avenue and Frederick Douglass Boulevard.
A plan to remake the south side of Gansevoort Street between Greenwich and Washington Streets got a big thumbs down from the public at a Landmarks Preservation Commission hearing on Tuesday. The plan from William Gottlieb Real Estate and Aurora Capital would bring more commercial and retail space to the block and would do so by demolishing two buildings and replacing them with new ones and modifying several others.