By Matt Chaban 8/21/12 10:45am

Best Laid Plans

Too big, too fast? (DCP)

Midtown Slowdown: Councilman Garodnick Asks City to Take Its Time on Rezoning Midtown for Superscrapers

Easy does it. That is the message from Councilman Dan Garodnick, echoing concerns of two Midtown community boards, that the Bloomberg administration is moving too fast in its plans to rezone Midtown East to allow for taller skyscrapers.

The Councilman, who represents the eastern flank of Manhattan, applauded the plan in a letter [PDF] to Planning Commish Amanda Burden last week shared with The Observer, but he worries to plan is so complex, it needs more time to be considered. The Department of City Planning argues there is enough time to get the job done before the Bloomberg administration is out in a year and a half. Read More

By Matt Chaban 8/16/12 6:16pm

Sodom by the Sea

Fun out of the sun.

Mayor Bloomberg Makes a Splash: Scaled-Back Aquarium Gets City Funding

Mayor Michael Bloomberg took a stroll down the boardwalk this afternoon to the New York City Aquarium in Coney Island, where he announced that new city and private funds would help pave the way for an expanded aquarium, complete with a fancy new shark tank.

“From the start, the exciting expansion and renovation of the New York Aquarium has been a vital part of our efforts to revive Coney Island,” Mayor Bloomberg said. “The project is going to make the Aquarium much more visible and visually exciting to Coney Island’s thousands of visitors—from those strolling the Boardwalk to others visiting the Aquarium itself.” Read More

By Matt Chaban 8/14/12 11:52am

Best Laid Plans

Now that's a skyline. (William Weber/Curbed)

Another Look at the Quite Possibly Insane Midtown Skyline of the Future

Back when we did our big report one what the Bloomberg administration has in store for Midtown East under an in-the-works rezoning, we came up with a little dream/doomsday scenario of what that might look like. Then, when the city officially unveiled the plans, they revealed that some sites could potentially see buildings as big or bigger than the Empire State Building, and they produced their own images of this brave new world.

Now, our pals over at Curbed have come up with their own rendering of a Midtown of the future, which are equally exciting and terrifying, depending on where you stand on cool new skyscrapers and the crowds and shadows that come with them. Read More

By Matt Chaban 8/10/12 11:15am

Hail yes

London's new ride, with access for all.

Even Though London Will Have Accessible Nissan Cabs, TLC Says ADA Makes It Impossible

The Bloomberg administration continues to fight efforts to make all of its Taxis of Tomorrow accessible. But a funny thing just happened. Our perennial rival London just unveiled its own new version of their iconic black cabs. It just so happens to be designed by Nissan, and looks very much like our own. But as Capital New York deftly points out, theirs is different in one important one: The cabs are handicapped accessible. Read More

By Matt Chaban 7/31/12 2:42pm

Under Development

Ain't she a beaut': 49-51 Chambers Street.

Stringer Opposes Sale of City Buildings He Finally Has the Power to Stop—If Big Name Developers Don’t Get in the Way

In his ongoing push for efficiency, efficiency, efficiency in city government, Mayor Bloomberg announced a plan during his State of the City address in January to consolidate city departments downtown.

The proposal not only helps co-locate agencies, improving collaboration, but also saves the city money on operating expenses, as much as $100 million over the next 20 years according to the city’s projections as it vacates three historic buildings around City Hall. The Bloomberg administration is further enriching the city’s coffers by selling off the properties to private developers.

Borough President Scott Stringer has complained that the property is not being put to better use, as public land has elsewhere in the five boroughs has been, and so he has voted against the sale of the buildings as part of the public review process for their disposition. Read More

By Matt Chaban 7/12/12 6:00am

Best Laid Plans

6 Photos

Eastside Sweet Spot

How About Another Empire State Building or Two? City Outlines Mega Midtown East Rezoning

It’s the moment developers, planning geeks, and perhaps the entire city without knowing it, has been waiting for all year: the unveiling of the city’s plans, first hinted at in the mayor’s State of the City address, to remake the face of Midtown Manhattan.

It is big. No, really big. Bigger than almost anything the city has ever seen. Empire State Building big. While that will not be the case for every tower that is eventually built through the program, it could be for at least a few. Read More

By Matt Chaban 7/09/12 4:33pm

Doll Houses

The city will try and build a building for micro-apartments on a lot along First Avenue and East 27th Street. (Bing Maps)

Would You Ditch Your Squalid Share for a 300-Square-Foot ‘Micro-Apartment?’

It has long been a cliche that New York City apartments were no bigger than shoeboxes, even as sprawling units and reconstituted townhouses quietly replace them in this booming, bourgeoisie town. Still, every so often a YouTube video goes viral showing someone making due in 150 square feet or less. As the city continues to grapple with a shortage of apartments, the Bloomberg administration has embraced the less-is-more approach. They’re trading Gracie Mansion for Malibu Stacy’s Dream House.

The mayor wants to adAPT the city’s housing stock to the 21st Century, as a new pilot program announced today is known, by allowing developers to create smaller apartments than regulations currently allow.

For much of New York’s history, landlords and developers were building small, often substandard apartments to serve the city’s soaring population—a fact anyone who has ever lived in a Lower East Side tenement can attest to. Zoning and building regulations rose up to combat these unfit dwellings, but now there is a demand for more apartments than the city, either through publicly financed housing projects or privately built developments, can afford to build.

The new adAPT program takes a plot of land in Kips Bay and a few zoning modifications to try and solve these problems. Read More

By Matt Chaban 6/08/12 4:43pm

Best Laid Plans

Might Midtown, 1935. (Ephemeral New York)

Never Mind Midtown, We’ve Been Arguing About Skyscrapers for As Long As We’ve Been Building Them

What perfect timing our good friend Christopher Gray has. No sooner has the city begun debating in earnest the merits of whether or not Midtown East should be upzoned to allow for ever bigger skyscrapers than The Times’ Streetscapist reminds us that such debates, always fervent, are as old as the skyscrapers themselves, stretching back a century and a half. Read More