This Monday, the City Planning Commission certified a major initiative to rezone Manhattan’s Soho and Noho Historic Districts. The goal of the initiative is to expand allowable residential density for multifamily buildings, spur the construction of income-restricted and permanently affordable housing, and increase available community facilities.
Herald Square may soon be home to a new 900-foot-tall skyscraper perched atop Macy’s historic Herald Square flagship store. In addition to the high-rise tower, the retailer this week announced that the proposed scope of work includes a $235 million investment in the surrounding neighborhood.
A new 153,000-square-foot e-commerce distribution center will soon take shape in Hawthorne, a sparsely populated village within Mount Pleasant, Westchester County. The project is located at 211 Saw Mill River Road and is expected to create 1,000 construction jobs, as well as 100 full-time and part-time positions when completed.
This week Governor Andrew M. Cuomo released new reconstruction options for revitalizing Pennsylvania Station in Midtown, as part of the proposed Empire Station Complex. The initiative is a massive undertaking by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, Amtrak, and NJ Transit to unify all three concourses into a fresh and modern space with FXCollaborative and WSP handling design. The existing Penn Station served 600,000 passengers daily and the redesign will accommodate the future influx of customers using both the existing Penn Station and the upcoming Penn Station expansion. The state projects ridership to grow to 830,000 daily users in 2038, about 54 percent of whom will be MTA customers using LIRR, Metro-North, and the subway, and 42 percent to be NJ Transit customers, with remaining four percent to be Amtrak customers.
Work is complete on Elizabeth H. Berger Plaza in the Financial District, and the newly built park is now open to the public. Designed by landscape architect George Vellonakis, the project involved the reconfiguration of streets to create a more pedestrian-friendly plaza, and is named in honor of the late Downtown Alliance president Elizabeth Berger. The green space is bound by Greenwich Street to the west, Edgar Street to the north, and Trinity Place to the east.
