Last Tuesday, the Landmarks Preservation Commission approved work to allow the single-family conversion of 38 Bethune Street. While some West Village garage conversions before the LPC recently have been contentious, this project was not controversial.
Condo developers have radically reshaped 23rd Street in Chelsea over the last couple years. The newest arrival will be a 15-story project at 128 West 23rd Street, next to Anbau’s Citizen condos between Sixth and Seventh avenues.
A rendering of the base has been revealed, along with new details, of the 1,100-unit mixed-use development proposed at 321 East 96th Street, located in East Harlem near the border of the Upper East Side. The latest plans call for a 1.3-million-square-foot complex featuring a 68-story tower, DNAinfo reported. It includes a total 270,000 square feet of space for three academic facilities: the School of Cooperative Technical Education (COOP Tech), a vocational trade school currently located on-site in a four-story building, and Heritage School and Park East High School, two public high schools with existing facilities nearby.
Full renderings have been revealed of the six-story, 505-key TWA Hotel, a redevelopment of the vacant TWA Flight Center at John F. Kennedy International Airport, in Queens. A groundbreaking ceremony was also recently held for the project, Curbed NY reported. Beyer Blinder Belle is behind the design, which incorporates much of the existing airport terminal, designated an individual and interior landmark. MCR Development and JetBlue Airways Corporation, the developers, are leasing the terminal from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. Since the terminal is owned by the Port Authority, approval from the Landmarks Preservation Commission is not required, although the project had to pass the city’s Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP). Completion is expected in 2018.
As Mayor de Blasio’s initiatives to create affordable housing continue to fail, bright spots for advocates of a better and more inclusive New York City are few and far between. In the Two Bridges area of the Lower East Side, JDS, Extell, CIM, L+M, and the Starrett Group are planning five new towers with 700 affordable units. NIMBYs don’t care. Despite all that affordable housing, red herrings went flying at a community meeting last night, and the echo chamber of outrage reverberated all the way onto the internet.
