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In the Rezone

By Stephen Jacob Smith 4/23 10:46am

In the Rezone

At least one developer wants to build more housing at their Hudson Yards site.

Tip of the Iceberg? Silverstein Wants More Housing at Hudson Yards

With the 7 train extension set to see its first train at 34th Street and 11th Avenue next June, developers are rushing to line up financing and break ground on millions of square feet in new projects. The New York Times took a look over the weekend at the progress at Hudson Yards, but they buried some news deep within the story: at least one landowner—Silverstein Properties, which owns a 90,000-square foot site at 41st Street and 11th Avenue—wants zoning rules changed to allow it to build more housing and less office space.

For an area with poor transit links, the desire to shift from commercial to residential is not surprising. Though there will be a new subway station at 34th Street and 11th Avenue, successful office locations generally require not only transit, but redundant transit. Read More

By Stephen Jacob Smith 4/22 3:41pm

In the Rezone

The Municipal Art Society is worried that the Midtown East upzoning would allow development that would block views of the Chrysler Building, among other landmarks.

Much Ado About Nothing? Midtown East Rezoning Not All That Grand

Based on the arguments made by those both for and against the Midtown East rezoning—a “sweeping proposal,” wrote New York magazine architecture critic Justin Davidson, with “swollen ambitions for the skyline”—one might think that the proposed land use change, which would affect 78 blocks between Second and Fifth Avenues and East 39th and East 57th Streets, would be a dramatic revision of New York City’s most hallowed business district.

Crain’s New York Business calls the plan “essential.” The Post’s Steve Cuozzo, ever a friend to big real estate, says it’s “vital to the city’s future, a way to ensure that Manhattan’s most desirable commercial zone can compete in the future with global capitals like London and Shanghai.” Read More

By Stephen Jacob Smith 3/29 3:24pm

In the Rezone

Bushwick's urban fabric hasn't changed much since the early 20th century, and Community Board 4 would like to keep it that way.

Drumbeat to Downzone Bushwick Continues, Despite Skepticism on Affordable Housing

The Williamsburg and Greenpoint rezonings in the 2000s allowed for tens of millions of square feet of new residential development—between 30 million and 32 million square feet, Vicki Been at NYU’s Furman Center told The Observer—but for developers looking to meet the torrent of demand flooding into northern Brooklyn, it hasn’t been anywhere near enough. Builders Read More

By Kim Velsey 6:23pm

In the Rezone

Hudson Square

It’s Official! Hudson Square Has Been Rezoned

This afternoon, the City Council voted to approve the Hudson Square rezoning. The rezoning—a plan five years in the making that allows for the creation of a denser, mixed-use district with significantly more residential and retail development—is now in effect. Bordered by Tribeca and Soho, there’s little doubt what the rezoning will mean for Hudson Square’s future. Behold New York’s next hot neighborhood.

Full Council approval was largely a formality after the Council’s land use and zoning and franchise committees voted to approve the plan last week, but it was significant: the last step in a lengthy approval process that will transform a neighborhood currently characterized by old printing plants and quiet sidewalks. Read More

By Kim Velsey 3/13 11:31am

In the Rezone

Hudson Square just got hotter.

Holy Trinity! City Council Committees Give Hudson Square Rezoning Stamp of Approval

For years, Hudson Square has been that increasingly rare thing in Manhattan—a sleepy neighborhood. Even as demand for office space has surged, Hudson Square has been largely distinguished by its proximity to more happening neighborhoods and the entrance to the Holland Tunnel. Soon, all that will change.

This morning, the City Council’s zoning and franchise committee approved the Hudson Square Rezoning and the full land use committee followed suit soon after, paving the way for full City Council approval (probably later this month). The decision, however, was not granted without modifications—more affordable housing, open space funding and an agreement from the Landmarks Preservation Commission to vote on the northern section of the South Village Historic District by the end of the year. Read More

By Kim Velsey 3/07 3:44pm

In the Rezone

Hudson Square,

Hudson Square On Hold: City Council Postpones Vote, Could a Landmarking Compromise Be In the Works?

Hudson Square has, by and large, been a largely uncontentious rezoning (despite being the largest private rezoning in the city’s history). In comparison to the bitter battles already being fought over Midtown East, the process looks positively kumbaya. But given the City Council’s decision to delay their vote on the rezoning  this morning, we suspect that approval will be contingent on at least a few concessions.

Could one of those compromises involve landmarking at least part of South Village? The Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation has argued that the adjacent neighborhood’s low-rise historic architecture will be the biggest casualty of a more vibrant Hudson Square (or as some of the neighborhood’s hip tech and media companies have taken to calling it—Soho West). Read More

By Kim Velsey 1/31 2:00pm

In the Rezone

What will it mean for development in the South Village? (Trinity Real Estate)

Should Hudson Square’s Rezoning Have to Wait for the Designation of a Historic District?

There is no doubt that the Hudson Square rezoning, if and when it is approved, will reshape what is arguably the last remaining swath of downtown Manhattan’s formerly industrial landscape. Preservationists, however, are not concerned with the fate of the neighborhood’s old printing plants, but rather, that of the quaint district that borders Hudson Square to the northeast.

The Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation claims that development and demolition plans in the as-yet unlandmarked South Village—a chunk of Soho bounded by West 4th to the north, Sixth Avenue to the west, West Broadway to the east and Watts Street to the South—have been speeding up as the rezoning moves through the approval process. Read More

By Matt Chaban 11/27/12 1:32pm

In the Rezone

Towers will be slightly smaller than initially proposed following an agreement between the borough president and Trinity. (Trinity Real Estate)

Hudson Square Hallelujah: Scott Stringer Approves Trinity Rezoning with Shorter Towers, More Open Space

The new towers in Hudson Square are going to look more, well, square.

That is after Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer wrangled a deal with Trinity Church to reduce the size of new towers as part of a rezoning the rectors are undertaking in the formerly industrial neighborhood just north of the Holland Tunnel. This was among the concessions extracted by Mr. Stringer before giving the project his conditional approval, which he signed yesterday as part of the rezoning’s public review process.

The buildings will be a bit wider, though, so as not to lose their density, but they can only rise to 290 feet, rather than 320 feet. Stocky towers instead of slender spires, basically. But that is in many ways fitting with the areas already stolid building stock of former printing plants, which typified the neighborhood for a century before it became a popular haven for Soho expats and minor celebrities (hello James Gandolfini and Lou Reed!).  Read More

By Kit Dillon 10/12/12 12:38pm

In the Rezone

Goodbye desolation, hello development. (Flickr)

The SPURA Has Landed: City Council Approves 47-Year-Old Urban Renewal Project

Yesterday, in a unanimous vote 47 years in the making, the Seward Park Urban Renewal Area has finally been approved by the City Council. SPURA, that massive parcel of barren (or in City Council speak, “under-developed”) city-owned land in Lower Manhattan, will now become a 1.65 million square foot mixed-use development. It’s a change that, according to the project’s backers, will create 1,000 housing units, 1,000 permanent jobs and 5,000 construction jobs. Read More

By Jonah Wolf 9/27/12 3:08pm

In the Rezone

SPURA springs eternal. (NYC EDC)

Hip Hip SPURA! Land-Use Committee Approves LES Development After 40-Year Slog

It took 40 years, but the transformation of the Seward Park urban Renewal Area, better known as SPURA, may finally be here. While everyone seemed excited at the prospect of this finally happening, the opinions were far from unanimous about what the city came up with for its plan for the seven undeveloped acres south of Delancy Street on four forlorn parking lots.

But there was unanimity today, when the City Council’s land-use committee approved the 1.65 million-square-foot plan for SPURA by a vote of 16-0. Attendees of last week’s public hearing on the development south of the Williamsburg Bridge will be relieved to hear that 50 additional affordable housing units (offset by another 50 at market rate prices) have been added to the project, for a total of 1,000 units, half of which will be affordable, half not. The administration also agreed to that now de rigueur piece of rezoning negotiations, a new public school.

Read More