http://www.planNYC.org/ PlanNYC | New York City Planning Information Portal en-us ja3n@earthlink.net http://www.plannyc.org Although state and federal housing officials ruled that the NHP Foundation and the Greater Allen Development Corp. did not have the financial resources or managerial capacity to run Starrett City, both submitted bids to purchase the development. Starrett City Associates, the owners, has stated that they agree and have also rejected the two bidders. Still in the running is a group comprised of The Cogsville Group, the Christian Cultural Center, the Housing Partnership Development Corp. and The Clarett Group, and a group comprised of Citigroup Inc., Westbrook Partners, the Central Labor Council and the Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty. The owners of Starrett City say they will make their final decision in cooperation with U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the state Division of Housing and Community Renewal. 2008-10-03 15:05:00 http://www.plannyc.org Due to construction, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey announced that the World Trade Center PATH station will be closed on weekends during the summer from 2009 to 2011. This is in addition to the closing of the No. 1 subway line for part of 2010. 2008-10-03 13:30:00 http://www.plannyc.org The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey released its report with new timelines and cost estimates for the World Trade Center site redevelopment project. The project will take two years longer than last projected, with most major construction not complete until 2013, and it will cost $1.5 billion more than previously thought. The Freedom Tower is projected to be completed six to eight months later than projected before, in late 2013, and the transit hub will not be completed until 2014 at a cost of $3.4 billion. 2008-10-03 10:20:00 http://www.plannyc.org Developer General Growth Properties (G.G.P.) has promised that it will build a school in the South Street Seaport as one of the community amenities it will build along with low-rise retail and a boutique hotel on Pier 17. G.G.P. would put the school in the three-story Fulton Market building, in which G.G.P. previously suggested building a second floor community center. Their new plan is that the school and community center could share the building. However, before the city approves the school, the plan must be approved by government groups such as the Landmarks Preservation Committee (LPC) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The LPC will review G.G.P.’s plan at the end of October. Moving the Tin Building and increased density in this historic district is likely to be a cause for concern at the Landmarks Commission. 2008-10-03 00:00:00 http://www.plannyc.org Hunter College’s Center for Community Planning and Development has released a report that finds problems with the City Planning Commission’s (CPC) draft environmental impact statement (D.E.I.S.) for the rezoning of the East Village and Lower East Side. Hunter’s study says that the secondary study area did not produce correct conclusions about effects on neighbors and support arguments that the rezoning is “racist” and that 45% of area households are too poor to meet affordable housing rents. Opponents of the rezoning will likely use the report as grounds for a lawsuit against the rezoning plan. Once the CPC review is complete the rezoning plan will start the public review process. 2008-10-03 00:00:00 http://www.plannyc.org The City Planning Commission (CPC) has passed the Willets Point redevelopment plan, and on November 12th the City Council is expected to vote on the plan. A letter sent to council members by the Flushing Willets Point/Corona LDC states that Willets Point is currently polluted and under used, but area business owners disagree and some see it as a ploy to use eminent domain. Bono Sawdust Supply Co. owners Jack and Jake Bono think that the city did not make an effort to keep up the area or enforce building codes. The Bonos also believe that a portion of Willets Point will be used as parking for the new Mets stadium, but the city has not suggested this. Many of Willet’s Point’s 250 business owners are unwilling to be relocated and some council members say they will not vote for the plan if eminent domain is not addressed. 2008-10-02 23:00:00 http://www.plannyc.org Developer Larry Silverstein, who has a contract with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to build three towers and 6.2 million square feet of office space at the World Trade Center (WTC) site, has a long-term lease to finish construction by 2013. If the towers are not complete by then, the Port Authority has the right to claim the buildings. However, no announcement was made about Silverstein’s plans when the timeline for the rest of the WTC redevelopment was released on Thursday. Silverstein and the Port Authority have been in preliminary discussions to renegotiate the lease, and Port Authority Executive Director Chris Ward stated that the market will decide the schedule for Silverstein’s construction. 2008-10-02 17:00:00 http://www.plannyc.org Despite the fact that no actual construction has been completed on the new Transit Hub at the World Trade Center site, $174 million has already been paid to architects and engineers for the design process. This information and more is expected to be released as part of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey’s report on the progress of the redevelopment of the World Trade Center site. The report is also expected to say that the project is about $1.7 billion over budget and that the 911 Memorial will be completed for the most part by 2011. 2008-10-02 00:00:00 http://www.plannyc.org The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, in its report on the World Trade Center redevelopment, is expected to recommend suspending train service south of Chambers Street on the No. 1 Line. The train line runs under the World Trade Center site and could be shut down as early as the summer of 2009. This could have significant impact on travelers from the Whitehall Ferry Station trying to get to and from the West Side. 2008-10-02 00:00:00 http://www.plannyc.org Twenty-five workers protested the job retraining program at LaGuardia College that is part of Mayor Bloomberg’s Willets Point redevelopment plan. Willets Point is currently mostly industrial, and the employees mostly work in the automotive industry. The city wants to retrain workers in the hotel industry, as the rezoning will change the area’s businesses. The protesting workers would prefer to move with the 260 businesses that are being forced out of the area rather than be trained in a new field. 2008-10-01 21:00:00 http://www.plannyc.org Developer Larry Silverstein, who plans on building three office towers at the World Trade Center site by 2012, says that the current state of the financial market is not a deterrence from attaining this goal and many in the real estate business confirm the need for downtown office space. Work has started on Towers 3 and 4 but Silverstein’s Tower 2 could be held up by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey’s delayed construction of a vehicle screening center, utilities and roads. Speculation also exists that Silverstein will need additional funds. 2008-10-01 03:40:00 http://www.plannyc.org Residents and area leaders find community advantages in the plans of the two remaining bidders for Starrett City, or Spring Creek Towers. Westbrook Partners has teamed up with the New York City Labor Council and has promised to improve services at the complex and to keep apartments affordable beyond the 20-year legally required minimum. The Cogsville Group and its bid partner, the Christian Cultural Center has pledged to redevelop the church's 11 acres next to the complex. 2008-10-01 00:05:00 http://www.plannyc.org A scoping meeting is set for the Kingsbridge Armory project where the public will be able to comment on what should be included in the Environmental Impact Study (EIS). At the Thursday hearing, residents will be able to provide input on how expansive the study should be, and what elements such as traffic, environmental impacts and economic issues should be explored. Some locals are encouraging residents to attend the hearing so they can advocate for a greater impacted area to be studied. 2008-10-01 00:00:00 http://www.plannyc.org Sam Schwartz, president and CEO of Sam Schwartz Engineering and writer of the New York Daily News’ “Gridlock Sam” column, has been hired by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to coordinate pedestrian and motor traffic around the World Trade Center site while rebuilding of the area is taking place. Schwartz will work with area business and community leaders who have expressed concerns about likely future disarray and he will help the Port Authority's new WTC Program Logistics Office with management of site logistics between various WTC projects. 2008-09-30 22:00:00 http://www.plannyc.org The seven-year real estate boom that has transformed many of New York City’s changing neighborhoods has finally ended because of the credit crisis and the financial market’s problems. One of the indicators that the boom has ended is that Standard & Poors has cut the rating on the bonds used in Tishman Speyer’s 2006 purchase of $5.4 billion of Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village. The rating was said to be dropped because of a decrease in property value and quick exhaustion of reserve funds. 2008-09-30 17:00:00 http://www.plannyc.org The city’s 421-a tax abatement program is allowing the David Marks Development Group's to set prices lower than average in its Conrad building at 342 East 110th Street in East Harlem. One and two-bedroom condos range in price from $399,000 to $560,000. The average price for a one-bedroom condo in East Harlem and Harlem was $530,039 and the average for a two-bedroom was $891,060 in 2007. Builders throughout the city were rushing to take advantage of 421-a tax abatements before the requirements became stricter on June 30. The Conrad is scheduled to be complete in January of 2009. 2008-09-30 12:45:00 http://www.plannyc.org Construction on the Sands Street bike path, a protected entrance to the Manhattan Bridge, was scheduled to begin in 2006, but ground has yet to be broken in DUMBO. The city’s Department of Design and Construction (DDC) works with contractors to carry out Department of Transportation (DOT) projects such as this, and although DDC stated that Demicco Bros. had been given the contract, the firm says that it had never formally been given the contract. The Sands Street path is now under a $4.6 million contract with Trocom Construction 2008-09-30 11:00:00 http://www.plannyc.org Despite giving two groups an extension to develop plans for Pier 40, it appears that the Hudson River Park Trust Board does not support the new proposal, although they have not taken an official vote. This process has been going on for six years and the Board had already issued two Request for Proposals. The Board may seek to change the legislation creating the Hudson River Park to allow for a longer lease term, which was the original hold up in awarding the bid to the Related Companies. It is not clear, however, if the Related Companies are still interested in the site. The Pier is deteriorating quickly. 2008-09-30 00:00:00 http://www.plannyc.org A report that is set to be released on Thursday by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is expected to say that the cost of the World Trade Center redevelopment site will be over budget by about $1.7 billion. The PATH station is contributing about $500 million to the over budget. The Freedom Tower is also expected to be $100 million over anticipated costs. 2008-09-30 00:00:00 http://www.plannyc.org A group of “opinion makers” including union leaders, community organizers and elected officials have sent a letter to all membes of the City Council urging them to act quickly to approve the plan to develop Willets Point. The group of 75 hopes to persuade members of the Council to vote in favor of the plan, despite the fact that a majority have already signaled that they will oppose it. 2008-09-30 00:00:00 http://www.plannyc.org Last week the city put out a $43 million bid to rebuild Queens Plaza and make it safer. Plans include completely redoing the street grid, redesigning intersections and sidewalks, creating a 1.5 acre park and a protected bike lane. Two historic millstones which are currently cemented in a sidewalk along Queens Plaza North will also be displayed in the park. 2008-09-29 21:00:00 http://www.plannyc.org Even though the State Appellate Court rejected the Empire State Development Corporation and Forest City Ratner’s motion to dismiss an eminent domain lawsuit filed by property owners and tenants affected by the Atlantic Yards development, Barclay’s bank remains committed to paying $20 million for naming rights of the Nets new basketball arena. It is thought that there is a clause in the contract that Barclays has the right to back out if ground is not broken on the arena by the end of November. 2008-09-29 15:20:00 http://www.plannyc.org The city is attempting to reopen and expand a jail on Atlantic Avenue, but the community is fighting it. The city signed a $32.5 million deal with architecture firm Ricci Greene Associates is trying to avoid going through the full environmental review and uniform land-use review procedure (ULURP) as a new mayor will start in 2010 and this could kill the jail expansion plan. The city would like the jail on Atlantic Avenue so that it is accessible to Downtown Brooklyn courts and lawyers, but could face law suits if it fails to go through ULURP. 2008-09-29 15:00:00 http://www.plannyc.org The Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC) filed a motion to dismiss the eminent domain lawsuit against the Forest City Ratner’s Atlantic Yards development, but on Friday the State Appellate Panel rejected ESDC's motion. Forest City Ratner chair Bruce Ratner has said that Atlantic Yard construction will begin in December, but the necessary land for the project cannot be acquired without use of eminent domain. 2008-09-29 11:20:00 http://www.plannyc.org State records show that salaries of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation (LMDC), the state agency created to oversee World Trade Center (WTC) rebuilding, total over $4.2 million annually. Mayor Michael Bloomberg has recently called for the dissolution of the LMDC and the transfer of its responsibilities to other state and city agencies. Most of the $2.7 billion in federal funds for rebuilding the WTC has been allocated, but LMDC spokesman Michael Murphy has stated that there is steal legal responsibility to monitor how the money is spent. 2008-09-29 10:00:00