Spotlight 5th Ave: Former Life of Number 555?
Does anyone know the history of this two-story building on 15th Street and Fifth Avenue that now is full of downward-doggers (how is the Yoga Institute anyhow?). It feels like a very serious, grown-up building that should have had some kind of civic purpose when it was first built. At the very least, we’re willing…
Does anyone know the history of this two-story building on 15th Street and Fifth Avenue that now is full of downward-doggers (how is the Yoga Institute anyhow?). It feels like a very serious, grown-up building that should have had some kind of civic purpose when it was first built. At the very least, we’re willing to bet it didn’t start out as a home for nail salons and gift stores. GMAP
R8A allows heights up to the street width. So as long as you have frontage on 4th Avenue, you can build up to 120′ with setbacks. R6B is much more restrictive about height, it allows maybe 40′, but I’m not sure.
Do these zoning codes carry height/floor restrictions with them?
It means you can build 22,532 square feet as of right. Of that, 17′ of the lot lies in an R8A zone which provides a FAR (Floor Area Ratio) of 6.02 and the rest lies in an R6B zone that provides a FAR of 2.0. It’s an irregular lot, so it’s a little hard to tell you what to multiply by what. Suffice it to say that length times width times FAR equals what you can build.
Just down 15th Street from here is an old Polish Church that is now up for sale on Massey Knakal (sp?). The zoning is listed as “This site is zoned R6B (17′ of R8A with a FAR of 2.0 (17’6.02).” Can someone explain to me what this means a developer can build there?
Thanks
Five bucks a day to work out (
or thirty-five a month) and it’s open until midnight almost every day. It’s also got a long and storied history in the bodybuilding world. 5th Ave. Gym needs to stay where it is through whatever comes. I hope the gentrification of 5th Ave. doesn’t push it out.
I love when I am walking down the street past this building and can hear the folks in the karate studio screaming out in unison. The first time I heard it, I couldn’t figure out what on earth was going on until I looked up and realized the studio was there.
So that’s how you got that ripped physique, Shahn. It’s all gonna go down the drain now!
Oops. Meant to write “know” not “no.” Sorry.
I’ve gone to 5th Avenue Gym in that building for over ten years. They have a new owner as of two years ago who has really fixed up the place. It’s still a mecca of hardcore bodybuilding in Brooklyn, but now it’s a lot cleaner.
The architecture? No idea.