Developers licking their chops over CoJo's housing plan

From the Real Deal:

Predictably, a coalition of the city’s leading NIMBY groups blasted the City Council speaker’s proposal Thursday as a “top-down approach that would leave communities with even less democratic control over massive city rezonings” than they have now. 

Well, yes. That is exactly the point. 

Not to be anal, but this is not a direct democracy. It’s a republic. We elect leaders, who in turn run the government. We don’t let people with pitchforks decide what can be built where.

Riiiight, we elect representatives who vote on rezonings on our behalf. Unfortunately what Planning Together does is remove them, as well as community boards and the borough president, from the equation. Let's continue:

New York’s lone YIMBY group, Open New York, thinks Johnson’s plan should go further because “it fails to address longstanding practices that allow wealthier neighborhoods to block new housing and shunt demand elsewhere,” said board member Will Thomas. 

He was disgusted but hardly surprised by the letter from the anti-development groups including Village Preservation, Voice of Gowanus, Stop Sunnyside Yards, Soho Alliance and the Coalition to Protect Chinatown and the Lower East Side. 

“We encourage legislators interested in more equitable city planning to ignore complaints by wealthy NIMBYs who are primarily interested in protecting the status quo,” Thomas said.

Wealthy NIMBYs? I think you'd better take a closer look at who signed the letter.

I think MTOPP, Fight for NYCHA and the Flushing Workers Center and others on the list would be surprised to find out that they represent wealthy neighborhoods.

When they have to misrepresent who you are, it means they are up to no good.

Architects and engineers have a way to save Rikers plus provide it with ferry service.

Queens Chronicle

 
Can ferry boats be the way to stop a bruising battle over New York City’s jail problem?

A group of designers and engineers who live and work in Downtown Manhattan unveiled a plan last week that outlines in detail how to rebuild Rikers Island and use secure buses aboard ferries to transport prisoners to and from court.

It is one of the first specific, workable alternatives put forward by opponents to Mayor de Blasio’s sweeping plan to replace Rikers with four borough-based jails, including one in Kew Gardens behind the Queens Criminal Court building.

The City Council has scheduled a crucial vote on the mayor’s jail plan for next Thursday.

At bottom, the 49-page ferry proposal was drawn to upend the mayor’s $11-billion plan — $9 billion for the jails, plus $2 billion to repurpose Rikers as a multiuse city facility — that would take a decade to complete.

Local groups are bitterly opposed to the proposal that calls for the new jails in largely residential neighborhoods, as are criminal-justice reformers who want to see Rikers closed but oppose constructing new lockups.

The reimagining of Rikers calls for the city to demolish “every building” on the island and build a series of smaller, low-rise jails — each with a different level of security.

Renderings for a reconfigured Rikers include open spaces, sports facilities, a family center and a small farm.

Connecting a rebuilt island jail system with the boroughs by ferry “liberates Rikers” from the necessity of moving hundreds of prisoners being held on charges before conviction each day on long bus rides through city streets to the courts, said architect Bill Bialosky, a spokesman for the group.

A group of about a dozen volunteer architects and engineers has been working on the plan for about a month, meeting regularly at the Lin Sing Association, the century-old Chinese-American organization on Mott Street, with community leaders.

 Ferries, said Bialosky, are “the answer to the problem.”

Ferries would also be a good commuting alternative for the families and friends of prisoners.

Why didn't de Blasio and his bullshit city Economic Development Conspirators provide a ferry pier at Rikers in the first place? Well now you know. 

Architect draws up better plan for Astoria Park diving pool

From DNA Info:

The Parks Department has planned for years to pave over the shuttered pool and turn it into a performance space, a proposal approved by Community Board 1 and the Landmarks Preservation Commission in 2013.

But the plan has drawn criticism from some residents who would rather see the pool restored to its original use.

Andrew Tesoro, who runs the Manhattan firm Tesoro Architects, says he's come up with a design for the space that would keep it functional all year-round. He submitted it to the Parks Department earlier this month.

"As an architect, I object somewhat to the plans of the Parks Department," he said.

The diving pool should retain an "aquatic function" rather than be filled in, he added. "It should have at least other uses."

Tesoro envisions restoring Astoria Park's diving pool for swimming and using it as an ice rink in the winter, then adding a deck-like stage opposite the diving boards to use for events and performances.

He came up with the idea after being approached by Kathleen Springer, an Astoria resident who's spearheaded a campaign to get the pool reopened, Tesoro said, noting the "spectacular design" of the Astoria Park Pool complex.

"It's important to take this precious resource and do as much as we can with it," Tesoro said.

Tesoro doesn't have an exact figure for how much the plan would cost to implement, but thinks it could possibly be cheaper or close in cost to the Parks Department's current plan for the site.

"Filling a 17-foot basin with gravel and then paving over half an acre of that with attractive material — that's not inexpensive activity," he said.

Be careful who you hire as an architect

From PIX11:

An architect from Queens was nowhere to be found after he promised to help a woman draft up new papers for her two-family home, so PIX11 stepped in.

Denise James said she was getting clobbered by taxes because the city considered her house a three family when it was really a two-family home. She needed an architect to draft new papers so she could get a new certificate of occupancy.

James found Alfred Mierzejewski, of Flushing, after reading good reviews of his services on the internet.

Mierzejewski said he wanted $10,000 to do the job. James gave him a $5,000 deposit in April 2015.

“Never hear from him till after three months. I keep trying to call him, text him, no response," James said.

When Mierzejewski finally did call her, he said he’d forgotten all about her. But somehow he still didn’t get around to completing the job. He gave James a handwritten note promising to refund her $5,000, but it never happened.

DOB to unveil new computer system

From Crains:

The city’s Department of Buildings is set to roll out a $29.6 million, state-of the-art computer system this summer that will eventually replace an outdated mainframe that relies primarily on paper to process all the construction permits, safety inspections and complaints for the city’s more than 1 million buildings.

“I think floppy disks are still accepted by one unit,” said Deputy Commissioner Archana Jayaram, who explained the new system, called DOB Now, to Crain's during a recent sit-down interview.

DOB Now was proposed in a 2015 policy brief called Building One City that promised to fundamentally reform the Buildings Department. City officials hope the system will help it shed its reputation of being antiquated, bureaucratic and inefficient, as well as make the construction process more transparent and allow the city to deploy its limited team of inspectors and auditors in a targeted way.

“This will address the ever-present myth that anything having to go through a regulatory process will be a nightmare,” said Department of Buildings Commissioner Rick Chandler.

The new system works by essentially streamlining and digitizing almost every filing—whether it has to do with safety, licensing, inspections or blueprints. Developers would also be able to book appointments with plan examiners online, and in some cases communicate via chat or video on the department’s website. Such feats would be unthinkable under the Buildings Department's current Building Information System, which has been in use since 1989. Prior to the late 1980s, the agency was using a 3-by-5-index-card catalog system to keep track of work.

City halts fire escape removal

From DNA Info:

The architect pushing to remove fire escapes from two SoHo buildings has been ordered to stop, according to city officials and records.

Joseph Pell Lombardi, an architect specializing in preservation of historic buildings, wants to remove the front and back fire escapes from 69 and 71 Greene St. as part of a renovation of the two buildings.

The Department of Buildings approved Lombardi's application for 69 Greene St. last week and Lombardi expected to meet with a plan examiner this week regarding 71 Greene St.

But the DOB issued a stop work order for 69 Greene St. after an inspection on Monday, records show. A DOB spokesman said Lombardi "failed an audit for code compliance."

The stop-work order specifies that Lombardi must verify tenant safety "such as egress and safety with active [construction] jobs," and specifically mentions sprinklers. It also mentions "conformance with approved jobs" and "performing permitted work in accordance with plans/permits."

FDNY disagrees with DOB's fire escape removal permit

From DNA Info:

An architect pushing to remove fire escapes from two SoHo buildings has received permission from the city to move forward with one of the projects, city records show.

The Department of Buildings approved Joseph Pell Lombardi's application to remove the fire escapes from 69 Greene St. last Thursday, records show.

Lombardi, a preservation specialist, wants to remove the fire escapes from 69 and 71 Greene St. as part of a renovation of the two buildings. He has said that the fire escapes are not old enough to be considered historic, and insists that they are unsafe.

But residents are concerned that removing them would affect their ability to evacuate in the event of a fire — their only other egress is an internal staircase made of wood — and an FDNY engineer has submitted written testimony to the city expressing misgivings about the fire escapes' removal.

That same FDNY engineer, John Yacovone, sent an email Wednesday to the building's management company, Esquire Management, "respectfully request[ing] that you cease and desist" with any alterations to the building geared toward the fire escape removal, after worried tenants reported construction workers nailing the door to the second floor fire escape shut last Monday.

Steinway Mansion getting hemmed in

From the Queens Chronicle:

Paperwork dated March 28, 2014 says another proposed detail is a perimeter wall of 34 feet in height.

There are also DOB applications, most filed on July 30 of last year, to demolish existing structures on 11 sites in the mansion’s vicinity and construct two-story buildings; most have a representative from Caliendo Architects and either Loria or Lucchese listed. In some cases, such as at 18-30 42 St., 18-36 42 St. and 18-27 41 St., the same Steinway Mansion owners are not listed, but someone appearing to be of the Loria or Lucchese family is.

The owners listed for the proposed new buildings record the same address as that listed on the paperwork for the Steinway Mansion, while the business names are not identical.

The Friends of Steinway Mansion, which advocates for placing the building at the heart of a potential cultural district, speculated on its Facebook page that the warehouses could be rented.

Lucille Hartmann, district manager of Community Board 1, said that they have been receiving calls from residents asking, “What’s going on?” but stressed that the board knows nothing. She noted that as the mansion, while beloved, is a private property, owners are under no obligation to share with the public.

Trib honors Caliendo

From the Queens Tribune:

Gerald Caliendo’s architecture business started with four employees, but has since grown into one of the premier establishments in the industry.

Caliendo was one of the honorees of the Queens Tribune’s third annual Business Achievement awards, held on Monday at Queens College.

The company, Gerald Caliendo Architects, started in 1994 in Briarwood, looking to get established in the architect business.

Since then, it has grown to about 45 employees and work on projects citywide.

In an interview with the Queens Tribune, Caliendo partially credits that growth to working with Phil Agusta, former commissioner of the Boards of Standards and Appeals.

He said that working alongside Agusta enabled him to learn the ins and outs of zoning and variance laws, something other businesses know little to nothing about.

You can click the tag below containing his name to see his proud Queens Crap history.

This is my favorite Gerry story of all time.

Developer changes plans for Whitestone site

From the Wall Street Journal:

Developers of waterfront sites throughout the city are building towers as high as possible, but the New York-based development firm Edgestone Group is taking a low-density approach in Whitestone, Queens, in response to pressure from the community.

Edgestone Group has decided to scale back its plans to build housing on an 18-acre waterfront site, one of the largest development sites in the borough. Last month, the developer presented a plan to the local community board to build 107 mostly two-family townhouses on the site overlooking the East River.

But after what project architect Joseph Sultana concedes was “a barrage of complaints,” Edgestone has decided to revise its plans to include an undetermined number of single-family homes. “We are back to the drawing board,” said Mr. Sultana.

The concession, unusual for a developer, underscores the strong anti-density sentiment in this middle- and upper-class enclave, distinguished by single-family homes and views of the Bronx-Whitestone Bridge. Residents typically view increased density with caution, said Joe Sweeney, chairman of the community board’s consumer-affairs committee.

LiMandri's current gig is helping developers

From Crains:

The former head of the Department of Buildings is aiming to help developers adapt to the city’s new building codes, which were implemented late last year.

Robert LiMandri, who ran the city's Department of Buildings for five years before joining architecture firm Vidaris last year, has established a new division within Vidaris that will focus on assisting developers clear the requirements.

Mr. LiMandri said the codes have created an extra hurdle for builders at a time when construction is booming and the Department of Buildings is backlogged with projects waiting for approval.

“There’s confusion about the changes,” Mr. LiMandri said. “It has become a lot more stringent.”

A big element of the new codes include making buildings safer, but these changes have had a direct influence on design. Developers constructing glassy high-end residential towers, for instance, have to design and install enhanced fire-protection systems to compensate for the bigger window lines, which can feed a blaze. Additionally, emergency elevators, which are used to evacuate a building in the event of a fire, require a special design that will properly ventilate smoke.

“More and more, builders are looking for experts to help them vet their designs” before handing them to the Buildings Department, Mr. LiMandri said.

Making sure that projects are approved expeditiously has become a major concern for developers, given the rising costs of land, building materials and labor. There is mounting pressure to quickly get through the construction process in order to alleviate carrying costs. Developers also want to complete their projects while the real estate market is still hot.

New year, new building rules

From the Queens Chronicle:

A revision of the New York City building codes sent dozens of architects scurrying to file applications with the Department of Buildings just before the new regulations went into effect New Year’s Eve.

In order to have permits and other construction plans reviewed under the 2008 Construction Codes, developers had to send in their applications by Dec. 30, with all filings submitted on or after Dec. 31 being scrutinized under the 2014 iteration of the city’s regulations.

Hundreds of architects from across the city flooded the DOB with filings in the days leading up to the changeover, with many of the applications in Queens involving the construction and/or demolition of smaller structures, between one and four stories high.

The change in building codes comes eight years after the previous edition was enacted, with many of the alterations having to do with safety inspections and standards, reorganizing and rearranging passages and new technology,

Requirements in the new codes include the installation of temporary fire hydrants near large construction sites, professionally designed monitoring plans for excavation work, and the banning of scaffolding work in sustained winds 30 mph or stronger.

Build first, get permission later

From the Queens Chronicle:

Architect Gerald Caliendo on Thursday told Queens Borough President Melinda Katz that the owner of a South Ozone Park home needed a variance on the property so that he could receive a certificate of occupancy from the city.

“There is a two-story building directly behind it,” Caliendo said during a land use public hearing. “So it is still in context with the neighborhood.”

He said the second floor of the house at 106-02 Sutter Ave. was constructed by a previous owner and is against the current zoning laws for the area.

The owner of the house never received a variance for the addition, Caliendo said.

Community Board 10 unanimously voted in favor of allowing the variance back in April.

Geraldine Ferraro School design is an improvement

The new school on Metropolitan Avenue and Tonsor Street in Ridgewood is coming along and I have to say the design is a step up from the recent school designs built.

The curve is cool.

And there's even a port-a-jane amidst the port-a-johns!

Margery Perlmutter headed to BSA

From the NY Observer:

Mayor Bill de Blasio has tapped Margery Perlmutter, a land use attorney and architect, to be commissioner of the Board of Standards and Appeals — as well as swapping out a previous nominee for the Landmarks Preservation Commission due to potentials for her to recuse herself from votes.

Ms. Perlmutter’s name was submitted for approval to the City Council Monday night, the mayor’s office told the Observer, along with two picks for the LPC.

Ms. Perlmutter is a partner in the land use practice group at the law firm Bryan Cave LLP, where she helps shepherd clients through the city’s zoning and land uses processes, including the types of appeals she’ll soon oversee. She previously worked as an architect for two decades, and sits on the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission. She did not respond immediately to a request for comment.

While it’s not the highest profile appointment, the BSA wields significant power — it can grant zoning variances, special permits, and reviews appeals to the determinations of the Department of Buildings.

The mayor’s office will also announce Tuesday two new nominations to the Landmarks Preservation Commission — and the rescinding of one prior nomination, Marcie Kesner. The firm where Ms. Kesner works, Kramer Levin, had enough clients with business before the city that there was concern she’d have to recuse herself from LPC votes often.

In the meantime, Mr. de Blasio has nominated Adi Shamir Baron and John Gustafsson for spots on the LPC.

A sunken forest for Arverne?

From Capital New York:

The architects behind a "double dune" system envisioned for parts of the Rockaways are pushing an even more ambitious proposal for the barrier peninsula: a sunken Forest.

"It's more for animals than for people, but the part for the people is primarily resiliency against flooding and sea surges," said Walter Meyer, who runs Local Office Landscape Architecture with his wife, Jennifer Bolstad.

Last Wednesday, Meyer, Bolstad and the developers they are working with presented their Sunken Forest-like proposal to the public at a charter school in Far Rockaway, part of a larger bid to win community and government backing for a mixed-use development called Arverne East.

Arverne East, in turn, is the latest in a multi-phase plan to build a new neighborhood on more than 300 city-controlled acres between Beach 32nd and Beach 84th streets in the Rockaways. That partially complete neighborhood is already home to than 1,000 families, but the Arverne East portion has been hampered by, among other things, the real estate crash.

Now, after Hurricane Sandy, the developers are re-imagining the project with the 50-acre nature park as one of its most beguiling features.

BSA chair is now head of LPC

Photo from Pardon Me For Asking

From Wall Street Journal:

Mayor Bill de Blasio is set to nominate an urban planner to guide the Landmarks Preservation Commission, as the 49-year-old agency attempts to balance the mayor's pro-development agenda with its mandate of preserving New York's built history.

The mayor has chosen Meenakshi Srinivasan, who for the last decade has been chairwoman of the New York City Board of Standards and Appeals, an agency that makes often highly technical decisions about granting exemptions to zoning for individual lots, according to city officials. Ms. Srinivasan also spent 14 years at the Department of City Planning.

The nomination is set to be announced Friday. It still needs City Council approval.

The selection of Ms. Srinivasan signals a desire by the administration to have the commission be more in tune with planning concerns. That includes the mayor's pledge to promote new development around the city as a way to create both affordable housing and jobs.

Ms. Srinivasan, a native of India, is an architect.

There are hidden houses on 31st Street

I just found out today that Teddy's Florist, my favorite flower shop that has been in the same location on 31st St. for 30 years, will be moving to 35th or 36th and Ditmars to make way for - get this - a Bank of America. Rumor also has it that there will be an 8-story condo behind it where a quaint, old home now sits. (The DOB BIS didn't have any details besides this, a plan to create two tax lots on one zoning lot.)

The architect is John Schimenti, the same one who made the zoning "mistake" with the 8-story monstrosity.

Kind regards,

NS

Actually as per plans that were filed (and rejected) last month, it appears the plan was to locate a restaurant here. - QC

Craphouse owner compares it to renaissance painting

From the Daily News:

The owner and designer behind Queens’ first ever energy-efficient “passive house” rebuffed critics of the three-story home’s Lego-like façade Tuesday.

The future home of Tom Paino and his partner at 45-12 11th St., which Paino called “The Climate Change Row House,” features black, grey and white tiles in a sky pattern that local bloggers maligned in a barrage of posts last week.

But Paino compared the naysayers to yokels who attacked three-dimensional paintings during the Renaissance.

“People tried to throw rocks at the pictures because they weren’t used to paintings that had depth,” he said. “This house is going to be an example in the architecture world.”

But Paino’s design provoked viral putdowns on the web last week. Real estate blog Curbed ran a post about the house entitled , "Could this row house be the ugliest building in Queens?,” and popular local blog Queens Crap wrote that the house must have been designed by "Frank Lloyd Crap" in a Wednesday post.

A more supportive blogger admired the façade because the cloud design "reminds me of Legos," but Paino said he isn't paying any of them any mind.

"I have no idea who these people are," said Paino. "All I can tell you is that the façade is dramatic enough so that people walking by stop to look at it."

Ah, leave it to the Daily News to feel it necessary to get the crapmaker's side of the story when blogs poke fun at the crap. Here's the major part of the story that they left out:

Tom Paino bills himself as a preservationist. In fact, he was once a board member of the Greater Astoria Historical Society. For years, he claimed he was "restoring" his early 20th century rowhouse. Instead, he rebuilt it like this. Hypocrisy knows no bounds, especially in Queens where actual preservation is a joke, and this house is a punchline. But at least people are stopping to look at its dramatic façade!

You can either laugh at this stuff, or cry.

Craphouse may be demolished

From Curbed:

Because of a filing error and lack of oversight, it seemed like the godawful tumor house at 1882 East 12th Street near Avenue S in South Brooklyn was going to stay put. But the Department of Buildings finally stepped in last month and ordered a structural review of the unfinished building, which has plagued the neighbors for nearly eight years. However, architect Shlomo Wygoda and the owner, Joseph Durzieh, did not play nice and refused to submit to a structural review. Since he could submit no proof that the building was sound, a tipster tells us, the DOB issued an emergency order to demolish the structure over concerns about the stability of the foundation walls.

However, this does not mean the wrecking ball will arrive tomorrow. The Borough Commissioner has the ability to stop the demolition if the architect can comply and make the site safe. It seems highly unlikely that Wygoda and the owner will suddenly have a change of heart.