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.
During a raucous and packed public meeting on Tuesday night, developer Avery Hall Investments laid out their plans for a seven-story apartment building with retail and a grocery store, which will replace a Key Food at 120 Fifth Avenue in Park Slope.
The City Council held its first day of hearings Tuesday on mandatory inclusionary housing, a major citywide policy that will mandate affordable units in all new developments planned on rezoned land. Several council members grilled Deputy Mayor Alicia Glen, HPD Commissioner Vicki Been, and City Planning Director Carl Weisbrod on the program, railing about the lack of low-income units and union labor and demanding better protections against tenant harassment and displacement.
Back in October, the Landmarks Preservation Commission heard a proposal that would remake a good chunk of West 29th Street between Broadway and Fifth Avenue. It would include restoring two landmarks and construction of a 64-story mixed-use tower. The hearing in October was paused because of the late hour and lack of quorum, and when it resumed on Tuesday, it became clear that one aspect of it was the big stumbling block.
In December of 2014, YIMBY reported on applications for an 11-story residential building at 1766 Second Avenue and a six-story one at 1768 Second Avenue, in the Yorkville section of the Upper East Side, on the corner of East 92nd Street. Now, Curbed NY has on-site renderings of the project, which has received the go-ahead by the Department of Buildings. The latest filings call for 30,127 and 14,104 square-foot buildings, respectively, with a combined total of 25 residential units, all of which would rent at below-market rates. Units will average 1,348 square feet apiece and will come in two- and three-bedroom layouts. There will also be a total of 3,676 square feet of ground-floor retail space. Extell Development is developing and Curtis + Ginsberg Architects is the architect of record. Two five-story tenement buildings were demolished in December and completion is expected in mid 2017.
