Brownstoner is Brooklyn's most read
website about real estate, renovation
and neighborhood news. Read More»
Controversial Manhattan Beach McMansion Approved
Yesterday Sheepshead Bites reported on a Manhattan Beach property owner’s proposal to turn a 2,599-square-foot rectory into a 7,848-square-foot McMansion, a plan that was approved by the Community Board but which some in the neighborhood are against. The rectory, at 215 Exeter Street, was built in 1920 and sold off a couple of years ago by the church that used to own it. The new owner is seeking a zoning variance because the law only allows him to build out to 4,000 square feet in the spot. While the community board voted 26 to 5 to approve the plan, it’s opposed by the Manhattan Beach Community Group, and the Manhattan Beach Neighborhood Association president also spoke out the enlargement. The Manhattan Beach Community Group says the case being made for the giant house rests on incorrect data that was used to approve another super-sizing last year: “the evidence of similar sized structures (based on a Floor-Area-Ratio – or FAR – calculation) was based on faulty city data. The group cited an email a Department of City Planning official confirming that the data was inaccurate.” Meanwhile, Alan Ditchek, the president of the Manhattan Beach Neighborhood Association said the McMansion would be out of character: “Knowing the house as it is now, a former rectory, knowing the other houses on the block, if it was enlarged it wouldn’t conform with the other houses as they appear. …The zoning is being changed, without it being changed. People are building bigger houses than are permitted without our zoning being changed.” It sounds like the proposal still needs the blessing of the Board of Standards and Appeals before it can move forward.
92-Year-Old Manhattan Beach Rectory To Become McMansion [Sheepshead Bites] GMAP
Image from Sheepshead Bites
02/03/2012 9:00 AM
Comment
NYT Critic Calls For End to Parking Minimums
In a piece advocating for architects and planners to start conceiving of (primarily underused) parking spaces as potential public spaces, the Times’ new architecture critic Michael Kimmelman writes that New York zoning should stop requiring developers to build a certain number of parking spaces along with new buildings:
For big cities like New York it is high time to abandon outmoded zoning codes from the auto-boom days requiring specific ratios of parking spaces per housing unit, or per square foot of retail space. These rules about minimum parking spaces have driven up the costs of apartments for developers and residents, damaged the environment, diverted money that could have gone to mass transit and created a government-mandated cityscape that’s largely unused. …Cities should let the free market handle the construction of new parking spaces. People who buy or rent new homes can pay extra if they want someplace to park a car. Municipalities can instead cap the maximum number of lots or the ratio of spaces to dwellings and offices.
Kimmelman cites a recent Crain’s article that said spaces in the mandated parking garages at new Downtown Brooklyn developments Avalon Fort Greene and 80 Dekalb Avenue are only half leased.
Paved, but Still Alive [NY Times]
Photo by gawillia2
01/09/2012 9:00 AM
Comment
Marty: City Should Study More Residential for 4th Avenue
The Post has an article saying Borough Prez Marty Markowitz is testifying before the City Council today about how 4th Avenue can be improved beyond the zoning tweaks the Planning Dept. has on the table. The Post story notes that Markowitz will recommend that the city’s proposed “Special Fourth Avenue Enhanced Commercial District,” which will mostly require that new buildings have commercial space at street-level and is wending its way through ULURP, extend all the way south on the avenue rather than just to 24th Street. Of greater interest, however, is that Markowitz has also urged the city to look into rezoning the stretches of 4th Avenue left out of the 2003 and 2005 rezonings so they can accommodate residential builds. The borough president released a statement over the summer recommending that “City Planning conduct a zoning analysis into a greater amount of residential development along the west side of 4th Avenue between Douglass and 6th Streets and south of the Prospect Expressway to 24th Street.” (Zoning to allow for residential development between Douglass and 3rd Street was supposed to be changed as part of the Gowanus rezoning, but that initiative appears to have died when the Superfund designation came through.) The borough president’s focus on improving the avenue has also spawned the task force that’s currently holding meetings in various communities about ways to upgrade the avenue. The question, though, is whether groundwork is being laid for even more residential construction on the avenue.
Markowitz Push for Massive Fourth Avenue Rezoning Heads to Council [NY Post]
11/16/2011 9:00 AM
Comment
Another Legal Challenge to Sunset Park Rezoning
The community groups that recently lost their legal challenge against the 2009 rezoning of Sunset Park have filed an appeal, according to The Eagle. The Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF) and South Brooklyn Legal Services say the 128-block rezoning has the potential to cause the displacement of Sunset Park’s low-income Asian and Latino communities, particularly on Third, Fourth and Seventh avenues, where the zoning was changed from residential to commercial. The groups charge the city didn’t properly conduct an environmental review as part of the rezoning. The Eagle quotes AALDEF staff attorney Bethany Li as saying the following: “Once you account for all the changes due to the rezoning, the amount of affordable housing and commercial space will significantly decrease. We hope the court will rule in favor of the Asian and Latino immigrants who want to preserve their Brooklyn neighborhood.”
Sunset Park Rezoning Case Heads to the High Court [Eagle]
Opponents of Sunset Park Rezoning Lose Legal Challenge [Brownstoner]
Photo by jacopast
10/17/2011 9:30 AM
Comment
Parking Spots in New Buildings Sit Unused
Crain’s ran an interesting story about how the parking spots that developers are required to build in new construction are often barely used. Examples include Avalon Fort Greene and 80 Dekalb Avenue, where the spaces in the mandated parking garages are only half leased. Avalon Fort Greene’s developer says he wouldn’t have built the 256-spot garage if he hadn’t been required to by city regulations. According to an old announcement from Avalon, spots in the building go for $275 a month. A Furman Center study cited in the article says developers always build the minimum number of spaces required. City Planning is preparing to release new recommendations about the parking requirements in new developments that, according to sources, are likely to make it so garages in Manhattan building are allowed to rent spots to non-residents. Parking requirements outside Manhattan may also be lowered.
Glut of Parking Spaces in City [Crain's]
10/04/2011 9:00 AM
Comment
Small Residential Projects OK’d in Gowanus
Late last week the CB6 Landmarks and Land Use Committee approved requests for a couple of zoning variances that will result in a bit more housing on Carroll Street between 3rd Avenue and Nevins Street. At 465 Carroll Street, pictured at right, the owner plans to build a three-story building with a mezzanine and four units total. The facade will be a “mixed red brick palate” with a stucco finish on the mezzanine. Also, don’t fear: no balconies! The owner of 455 Carroll, meanwhile, sought a variance to convert the second floor to residential while retaining commercial use on the first floor. The owner of the design company downstairs, which built the Gowanus dumpster pool, plans to live on the second floor. Could be a sweet pad. GMAP
Photos via Property Shark
09/26/2011 10:30 AM
Comment
Boerum Hill Rezoning is a Done Deal
Yesterday the City Council approved the 31-block rezoning of Boerum Hill, setting new height restrictions aimed at preserving the neighborhood’s character. The rezoning’s boundaries run from Atlantic Avenue to the north; Fourth Avenue to the east; Warren and Wyckoff streets to the south; and Court Street to the west. Most of the 31 blocks have been rezoned to allow a max height of 40 feet (50 with a setback) with exceptions like 3rd Avenue, where construction heights are now capped at 80 feet after a setback. Click through for a map detailing the new zoning.
City Council Approves Boerum Hill Rezoning [Eagle]
City Council Votes to Approve Boerum Hill Rezoning [Patch]
Brownstone Belt in Boerum Hill Downzoned [NY Post] (more…)
09/22/2011 9:00 AM
Comment
Opponents of Sunset Park Rezoning Lose Legal Challenge
Crain’s reported that last week a court ruled in favor of the city’s 2009 rezoning of Sunset Park. A legal challenge against the rezoning claimed that the city hadn’t performed a complete environmental review of the area getting rezoned and that the rezoning would encourage more luxury development and large chain stores, resulting in widespread residential and commercial displacement and gentrification among Sunset Park’s low-income Asian and Latino communities. Crain’s notes that the rezoning, which covers 128 blocks, imposed 50-foot height limits on most side streets while encouraging more density on main drags like 4th and 7th avenues. The groups that filed the lawsuit, five local churches and the Chinese Staff and Workers’ Association, are mulling an appeal of the decision.
Big Sunset Park Rezoning Gets Green Light [Crain's]
09/12/2011 9:00 AM
Comment
Beep OKs 4th Ave Zoning Tweak, Suggests Additions
Marty Markowitz threw his weight behind City Planning’s proposed amendment to 4th Avenue zoning—which is mainly aimed at encouraging more commercial uses in new developments—though Patch and the Eagle report that the borough president also made further recommendations for improving the thoroughfare. Markowitz doesn’t think trade schools or medical/dental labs should be allowed in the ground floors of new developments and that windowsill height should be lower to the curb than what’s currently proposed. More interesting, though, is that Markowitz wants additional stretches of 4th Avenue covered by the zoning: He says the west side of the avenue from Douglas to 6th Street and the blocks south of the expressway to 24th Street should be included, and developers should be “incentivized” to construct affordable housing. The blocks in question weren’t included in the 2003 Park Slope rezoning that’s resulted in so much residential construction on 4th Ave.
One (More) Small Step for Fourth Avenue [Patch]
Markowitz OKs 4th Ave. Special District, But With Additions [Eagle]
New Buildings on 4th Ave May be Required to Have Retail [Brownstoner]
08/25/2011 10:00 AM
Comment
Plans for Rezoning Northern Bed-Stuy Unveiled
Last night at the CB3 Meeting, the Department of City Planning presented plans for rezoning 140 blocks of northern Bedford Stuyvesant, a move that follows the rezoning of the southern section of the neighborhood in 2007. As with the earlier rezoning, the point of this one is to try and ensure more contextual new development. The rezoning boundaries run from Quincy to Flushing and Classon to Broadway. The proposed new zoning is for R6B and R6A on avenues and wide streets, which limits developments to seven stories. R7A is planned for avenues and wide streets near transit, which allows for a max height of 8 stories and offers incentives for affordable housing. Myrtle Avenue will be zoned R7D, which carries a limit of 10 stories and requires ground-floor retail or community facilities. And new zoning was proposed for Broadway, C4-4A, with apartments (at a max of 10 stories) set back from the elevated train tracks and incentives for affordable housing. Commercial overlays currently exist on Dekalb, Bedford, Myrtle and Lewis, but the gaps in the overlays will be filled in.
The audience expressed a lot of concern that after the rezoning, the city-owned parking lots at the Tompkins and Sumner Houses would be redeveloped. The city is indeed looking at those lots as possible development opportunities, but reps said they would find ways to replace the lost spots. (Residents seemed doubtful that underground parking, which was suggested, would actually happen.) One resident expressed concern that the new zoning would limit the amount of housing that can be constructed, thus resulting in a shortage of low-income housing. Overall, the board continued to stress concerns about out-of-context developments like the one on Kosciusko, pictured above, and the need to limit the scale of new developments. So what comes next? The process will continue with an environmental review and then move on to the public review process. You can see a (very blurry) photo of the proposed new zoning after the jump. (more…)
05/03/2011 10:00 AM
Comment
Boerum Hill Rezoning OK’d at Public Hearing
Last night the City Planning Commission presented its proposal for the rezoning of Boerum Hill at a Community Board 2 public hearing, ultimately garnering approval from the board’s land-use committee. The rezoning covers 31 blocks from Court Street to 4th Avenue, and Pacific to Warren/Wyckoff. The neighborhood will be rezoned R6B, R6A and R7A. R6B has a maximum height of 50 feet after setback, R6A a max height of 70 feet after setback, and R7A is 80 feet max after setback. The boundary of the area is currently zoned R6 with a FAR up to 3. Under the new zoning, there will also be commercial overlays for mixed-use sections of Bergen and 3rd Avenue. (You can see the whole presentation here.) The only person who spoke out against the downzoning declared, “Brooklyn is really expensive!” He said imposing height limitations results in the creation of fewer apartments, driving up rents. However, the CB2 land-use committee voted in favor of downzoning. The proposal will now move on to the full board for review, after which it heads to the Planning Commission and ultimately the City Council for consideration.
Wheels in Motion for Boerum Hill Rezoning [Brownstoner]
Boerum Hill Looks to Downzone [Brownstoner]
Update on Boerum Hill Rezoning [Brownstoner]
Carroll Gardens Rezoning Close, Boerum Hill Wants In [Brownstoner]
04/21/2011 9:00 AM
Comment
Wheels in Motion for Boerum Hill Rezoning
Yesterday the Department of City Planning announced that it was beginning public review for a rezoning of Boerum Hill that’s aimed at “ensuring that all future development appropriately matches the existing scale of the neighborhood,” according to the press release. The rezoning’s boundaries run from Atlantic Avenue to the north; Fourth Avenue to the east; Warren and Wyckoff streets to the south; and Court Street to the west. Most of those 31 blocks would be rezoned to allow a max height of 40 feet (50 with a setback) with exceptions like 3rd Avenue, where construction heights would be capped at 80 feet after a setback. Community Board 2 now has 60 days to review the proposal. More details in this Eagle story.
Boerum Hill Looks to Downzone [Brownstoner]
Update on the Boerum Hill Rezoning [Brownstoner]
03/29/2011 9:00 AM
Comment
New Life for 9 Old Fulton Street
The row of historical Dumbo buildings on Old Fulton Street have a long and storied past; as of late there was concern the owner of #11-15 was going through the process of “demolition by neglect.” We also knew 9 Old Fulton, which was destroyed years ago in a fire, had applied for a permit to demolish what was left of the building and build a new four-story structure. The rendering above was presented to CB2′s Landuse Committee last night along with a request to construct a residential building in an area zoned for manufacturing. (The plan itself was approved by the LPC a year ago, according to this Post article.) The owner of the site said the design, which includes a penthouse addition on the roof and ground-floor commercial space, was “not the most practical for us,” but he thought it was “best in keeping with the community”—and, of course, LPC guidelines. The variance was approved by the Landuse Committee; now it just needs to be voted on by the full board. No word on when construction will start. GMAP
02/17/2011 9:00 AM
Comment
Chilly Reception for Variance Request on Adelphi
In 2006 a developer paid $1,550,000 for the 45-foot-wide lot at 74-76 Adelphi Street in Fort Greene with the intention of building a seven-story, 16-unit residential building. Unfortunately for him, he didn’t get his act together fast enough and only managed to start construction two days before the area was officially rezoned to R5B in an effort to keep development more in line with the existing low-density architecture in the area. Needless to say, he didn’t get enough done in two days for DOB to consider the project vested under the old zoning and he was shut down.
Fast forward more than three years later to last week’s CB2 Land Use meeting: A representative of the developer appears to make the case for being allowed to proced with the original seven-story building, claiming economic hardship based upon the $133,000 “soft” costs already invested in the project way back when. Not surprisingly, the motion was not well received: Several neighbors, the Fort Greene Association, and Council Member Letitia James (who questioned the validity of the documents provided by the developer and said the request was “highly suspicious” after three years of site inactivity) all registered their opposition and the Land Use subcommittee voted to disapprove the variance. In the meantime, the construction site still has some open DOB and ECB violations. You can see how much work has been done at the site after the jump. (more…)
01/26/2011 11:01 AM
Comment
Boerum Hill Looks to Downzone
In the wake of the rezoning of Carroll Gardens, which was finalized in 2009 and encouraged new buildings to stay in the range of 30 to 40 feet, Boerum Hill is now looking to protect its blocks against any incoming high rises. The Brooklyn Eagle reports on the proposal to downzone the neighborhood to a 50 foot limit after residents realized “Boerum Hill was the last brownstone area that was not more fully protected. The Boerum Hill Association has been working with the Department of City Planning, where the only point of contention is the rezoning of the 3rd and 4th Avenue corridor. Currently, the blocks between 3rd and 4th are zoned at a maximum of 75 feet, and the DCP says the area has “more mixed character” than the rest of the neighborhood and should remain zoned as is. Regardless, the downzoning request is expected to reach City Council by June at the earliest.
50-Foot Limits Help Keep Brownstone Neighborhoods in Scale [Brooklyn Eagle]
Photo by noflashes
11/29/2010 10:32 AM
Comment
Update on the Boerum Hill Rezoning
Last fall, the Boerum Hill Association formally expressed interest in getting a piece of the downzoning action that so many neighborhoods in Brownstone Brooklyn have been in on in recent years. According to The Brooklyn Paper, the Department of City Planning just briefed the Boerum Hill Association on how such a rezoning might look: New buildings on side streets in the 29-block area (which would be bounded by Atlantic Avenue, Warren Street, Court Street and Third Avenue) would be capped at 50 feet while those on commercial stretches like Court Street and Smith Street would be limited to 70 feet. Community Board 2 and local public officials have already expressed support for the plan, though City Planning still needs to finalize the boundaries and other specifics before it can come up for review by the City Council and Mayor’s office.
06/21/2010 10:14 AM
Comment
Spencer Street Condo Saga Drags On
This week City Limits checks in on the unfortunate drama surrounding the Spencer Street Condos in Bed-Stuy. As will come as no surprise to anyone who’s been tracking the story since the early days of the Brooklyn real estate boom, there are no happy endings in sight. To refresh: In 2005, residents who’d bought their condos at 201 Spencer Street the year before from developer Mendel Brach (he of Finger Building fame shame) found out after closing that the building had been illegally overbuilt by four stories by exploiting a “community facility” provision in the code that allowed developers to build extra square footage for educational and religious purposes; in this case, Brach claimed he was going to house teachers from a nearby yeshiva. Department of Buildings failed to catch Brach’s maneuver at the time, approving the building for occupancy just long enough for the unsuspecting condo buyers to close on their units. They’ve all been trapped, unable to sell, for five years.
Residents are trying to negotiate with Brach to gain air rights from neighboring properties, a move that would bring the Spencer Street buildings into compliance, but Brach will only negotiate if residents let him off the hook for $10,900,000 in damages he owes them from a 2009 lawsuit. In the meantime, he’s chipping away at his debts a little bit at a time: $280 a month of Brach’s wages at his bakery job are garnished to pay condo owners. That comes out to a whopping $3.88 per unit. Despite having had a hand in creating the situation, the DOB isn’t being too sympathetic with residents now: they could allow special variance or rezoning to bring the buildings into compliance with zoning regulations, but haven’t for fear of sending the wrong message; nor has the state filed any criminal actions against Brach. “When you deal with these city agencies, I’m learning, logic goes out the friggin’ window,” said one of the unlucky condo owners. “They make the rules. They make no sense to anybody else and they can change the rules when they want.”
Saga of The Worthless Condo [City Limits Magazine]
Banned Devloper Pays Settlement from Bakery Wages [Curbed]
Subpoena for Fraudulent Spencer St Developer [Brownstoner]
A Big F-in Mess on Spencer Street [Brownstoner] GMAP
Lock Him Up and Throw Away the Key [Brownstoner]
The Bottom Line on Developer Abuses [Brownstoner]
Photo by Marc Fader.
05/19/2010 10:00 AM
Comment
Superfund Decision No Boost to Gowanus Rezoning
It may be a moot point since no one will be able to finance any construction in the area for quite some time, but the EPA’s decision to add the Gowanus Canal to the Superfund list isn’t doing anything to speed along the proposed rezoning of the area either. Here’s what a Department of City Planning spokesperson told the Architect’s Newspaper on Tuesday:
We’ve just gotten the news and we’re continuing to work on understanding the impacts of the designation on the potential for moving forward with a rezoning to facilitate appropriate development and remediation. Clearly, the Superfund designation adds a layer of additional complexity (and uncertainty) to an already very complex process.
This on the heels of a similar statement made to us last summer:
Certification of the Gowanus Rezoning Proposal into the public review process is temporarily on hold to allow the City to focus on the alternative cleanup plan for the Canal, the potential for Superfund listing, and to better understand the relationship of this process to the rezoning. We still intend to advance the rezoning plan, and the EPA has also strongly encouraged the City to move forward with rezoning. Once there is a better understanding of the overall process of canal cleanup, the rezoning plan can move into the ULURP process.
You can read more about the mixed-use rezoning plan for the 25 blocks along the canal here.
03/05/2010 9:00 AM
Comment
Brouhaha in Carroll Gardens Over School Expansion Plan
The Hannah Senesh School’s desire to build a two-story addition to its facility on what is now a city-owned courtyard has provoked a firestorm of criticism from some Carroll Gardens residents, a population that hasn’t been known to shy away from not-in-my-front-yard battles. At issue in the neighborhood’s latest development skirmish is a Local Law amendment outgoing Councilman Bill de Blasio plans to introduce that would permit the school to sidestep the mandated setback at its 1st Place and Smith Street property for a build-out. Although a rep for the Councilman says this would be a one-time exception to the rules and regs, outraged community members think it could set a precedent for building over the area’s front yards. And the language from the opposition has gotten fiery! Some quotes, c/o the Eagle: We have worked so hard to save our courtyards, only to be sold out by our councilman; “Can you believe that here is the city’s new public advocate [de Blasio] selling off the neighborhood that he still represents — courtyards that have been protected by law since 1845!”; and “Imagine if more owners of corner properties should claim the right to build on their corner garden?” De Blasio is expected to ask the Council to approve the amendment on Wednesday.
Historic Gardens Threatened by Precedent-Setting Proposal [Brooklyn Eagle]
‘Carroll’ Crusade [NY Post]
Councilman Angering Many in Carroll Gardens [PMFA]
Duped in Carroll Gardens [CG CORD]
12/07/2009 9:00 AM
Comment
8104012
Feb 09, 2012 | 11:02 AM