After a year and a half of inactivity (except for flooding its neighbors) in the wake of the Board of Standards and Appeals rejection, our old buddy 614 7th Avenue aka the Minerva building is springing to life again. Last Tuesday, the owners (one of which is the charmer behind 338-342 42nd Street) filed plans with DOB for 11 new single-family buildings on the 100-by-100 lot—all with curb cuts for parking! This is a head-scratcher on several levels: 1) The 11 buildings total about 30,000 square feet of space and the 2.0 FAR for this lot only allows 20,000 square feet as of right; 2) Squeezing 11 buildings into this corner lot would make it impossible for every house to have a 30-foot rear yard as required by code; 3) The 40-foot-high buildings on 23rd Street would most likely violate the agreement that the former owner made (and that remains attached to the deed) not to block the view of the Statue of Liberty from Minerva in Green-wood Cemetery; 4) The 11 curb cuts would eliminate virtually all street parking on this entire corner. Are the developers purposefully trying to waste DOB’s time?
BSA Denies Vesting App for Minerva Building [Brownstoner] GMAP P*Shark
Yesterday’s BSA Hearing on Minerva Building [Brownstoner] DOB