Far Rockaway firehouse & police station landmarked

From the Times Ledger:

A fire house and a police station both built in Far Rockaway in the early 20th century have officially been approved for landmark status following a unanimous 47-0 vote last week, according to City Councilman Donovan Richards (D-Laurelton).

After Hurricane Sandy in 2012, much of Far Rockaway was in need of redevelopment and surveyors from the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission researched the history of buildings in the area.

In 2017, Far Rockaway was rezoned and the 101st Precinct — formerly the 53rd Precinct — and the Engine Companies 264 & 328/Ladder 134 were seen as worthy for designation, according to the councilman’s office and the LPC.

“They carry history and have housed some of our most precious civil servants,” Richards said. “These sites will carry on the character that was set when the modern version of our community was first being shaped.”

The precinct — located at 16-12 Mott Ave. — and the fire station — located at 16-15 Central Ave. — publicly came under consideration as landmarks in March and the LPC held a hearing with members of the community in Manhattan one month later.

Boy, the LPC sure loves to designate Queens' unremarkable municipal buildings...and little else.

Brooklyn developer listens to community, is ok with landmarking

From Brooklyn Daily:

The confidentiality agreement that blocked the mystery buyer of the Angel Guardian Home in Dyker Heights from coming forward to reveal his intentions for the block-sized complex has loosened enough for him to speak exclusively to this paper about his plans for the site, and how the community’s voice helped shape them.

Developer Scott Barone credited this paper’s extensive coverage of local needs and concerns since the property’s purchase last year with informing his decision to include a senior center, affordable housing, senior housing and perhaps a school along with the market-rate condos he had originally planned for the entire site — as well as preserving the main building, which locals have been pushing to landmark to protect it from the wrecking ball.

“We really heard three things from the community at large: that they need schools and senior housing, that the Narrows Senior Center is something that’s important to this community as a whole, and that this building is important to this neighborhood, and we’re going to do everything in our power to keep it there,” said Barone, the founder and president of his eponymous management company, which has previously developed hotels, luxury apartments, and office and commercial buildings across the city.

The developer said that he has already had meetings with the Landmarks Preservation Commission about the century-old main building, but his current plans are to preserve it as part of the final design, though he’s not yet sure what would go there.

“It is our intention at this time to keep that main building in place,” he said, “and if it were to be landmarked, we’re okay with that.”

Barone said he expects to close the Angel Guardian deal within the next two to three months — pending approval from the Vatican — and that 60 percent of the block-sized property bound by 63rd and 64th streets and 12th and 13th avenues will be devoted to market-rate condos, with an additional 15 percent earmarked for affordable housing and the last 25 percent split between senior housing and perhaps a school.

Rockaway firehouse and police precinct up for landmarking

From the Times Ledger:

Two buildings in Far Rockaway were up for consideration as preserved landmarks last week in Manhattan.

The first was Firehouse and Engine Companies 264 and 328/Hook and Ladder 134, located at 16-15 Central Ave., according to the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission.

The second facility up for designation was the 101st Precinct Police Station — formerly the 53rd Precinct — located at 16-12 Mott Ave., which is five minutes away from the firehouse, according to LPC.

The Renaissance Revival-styled firehouse, affectionately called “The Big House” by locals, was built from 1911 to 1913 by architectural firm Hoppin & Koen.

Prominent architects Frances Hoppin and Terrence Koen designed the three-structure firehouse with limestone at the ground floor, three segmental-arched vehicle bays, red brick cladding on the upper stories, a cast stone entablature and a brick parapet, according to LPC.

The precinct is a combination of the Renaissance and Colonial Revival styles and was designed by the Police Department’s Superintendent of Buildings Thomas O’Brien, said LPC. It was built from 1927 to 1928.

Finally, some good news...

What a difference it makes not having Mary Beth Betts around!

LPC unexpectedly calenders Old St. James Church

Looks like the vote was unanimous. What took you guys so long?

More proof that landmarking doesn't hurt property value

From the NY Post:

Manhattan’s last intact Gilded Age mansion is up for sale — and it’ll only set you back $50 million.

But you will have to get in line, because there are already six potential buyers champing at the bit to purchase the Fifth Avenue limestone town house, The Post has learned.

There is even a working stove from 1905, the year the home — built by the same architectural firm that designed Grand Central Terminal — was completed for its first owner, R. Livingston Beeckman, a stockbroker and later governor of Rhode Island.

“Everything is virtually intact,” said real-estate agent Tristan Harper, who listed the property on behalf of Douglas Elliman, and gave The Post an exclusive tour last week. “Whoever buys it will own a piece of New York history.”

Harper wouldn’t reveal the identity of the interested parties, except to say they are “all extremely high-net-worth individuals of different backgrounds.” He said they all want to maintain the property as a single-family residence.

Furnishings, as well as the artwork, murals and wall paintings, are all included in the purchase price.

The city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission, which landmarked the property in 1966, called it a “superb example of the French classic style of Louis XV.”

So there are people out there who will spend tens of millions of dollars to own an historic home and all the old knick-knacks inside it? Amazing!

Bowne Street Church designated a landmark by LPC

From the Queens Tribune:

The Bowne Street Community Church is en route to being landmarked by the city after a decade-long wait.

The City Council’s Landmarks Committee, led by Councilman Peter Koo (D-Flushing), unanimously voted on Tuesday to approve the church’s designation. That was followed by a vote of approval by the Council’s Land Use Committee on Wednesday. The decision will be finalized with a full City Council vote next week, where the measure is expected to pass.

The designation was first sought by members of the community in 2002 after the church’s building committee proposed demolishing the building to allow the development of a 20-story residential building in exchange for a new church and a $1 million payment, according to Koo’s office. It was initially slated for designation in 2003 by the Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC), but had been delayed over negotiations and backlogged until this past December, when the LPC voted in favor of designation.

The original 2003 proposal would have designated the entire lot, including a parking lot and annex. That became a point of discussion throughout the church’s designation process as Koo worked with LPC to redraw the designation map to exclude the parking lot and annex, leaving the church with 100,000 square feet of potential development rights and still preserving the original structure of the Bowne Street Church. The current designation applies only to the exterior walls and windows of the church.

Judge rules that homeowner must fix up landmarked house

From the Daily News:

A Staten Island judge on Thursday ordered the owners of one of the city's oldest houses to fix it immediately or run the risk of having to pay fines of more than $8.5 million — 20 times the property's fair market value.

In a colorfully written, 22-page decision, Staten Island Supreme Court Justice Philip Straniere said the owners knew in 2009 when they bought the historic Manee-Seguine Homestead that the house and surrounding acres were landmarked and they would be responsible for maintaining the building.

Instead, he said, they adopted a policy of “demolition by neglect” and ignored prior court orders to make repairs and post bonds that could be used to fund fixes.

Straniere added that the owners never filed a hardship application with the city to get out of the landmark designation for the house, which was built starting in 1690 and designated a landmark in 1984.

Under the designation, the owners were allowed to build residential units on the two-acre, ocean-view parcel as compensation for maintaining the historic home — one of the six oldest houses in the city. But they did not do that, either.

"(The owners) do not have to take any steps to develop the property; that is their choice. But they are required by the statute to maintain it. They have not done so," the judge wrote.

He said the city's request for an injunction to block the owners permanently from “continuing their policy of ‘demolition by neglect’... is granted.”

Battle over Manhattan air rights floor price

From Crains:

Religious organizations have joined with developers to oppose the city’s intention to set a minimum price for air rights in midtown east. The air rights would be bought by developers from existing land owners and used to build taller office towers if the city goes through with its plan to rezone the neighborhood.

The city wants to enforce a price floor because it stands to gain as much as 40% of the sale of air rights. It can use the money to improve streets and sidewalks as part of the proposed rezoning of the 78 blocks around Grand Central Terminal. Already there are concerns that allowing building owners to sell their air rights will create a glut that will depress prices. Developers would like to pay as little as possible, but the city wants to make sure it doesn’t allow redevelopment to happen without getting funds for upgrades.

“The floor price is a tool that ensures a minimum contribution will be made to east midtown’s public-realm improvement fund as part of each development-rights transfer,” a spokeswoman for the Department of City Planning said.

But even religious organizations in the neighborhood, such as Central Synagogue on Lexington Avenue, oppose the floor. They want to get the highest price they could in order to fund needed repairs to their landmarked buildings. And they support allowing air rights transfers over a larger area to do so—a policy they have long been pushing the city to adopt. But they worry that for small deals or if the market softens, the minimum amount might be higher than the going rate, in which case developers wouldn’t buy. Fewer transactions also would mean less money in the public-improvement fund.

Spare landmark, build on empty lot

From Brooklyn Daily:

Sunset Parkers want the city to arrest its plan to level the landmarked former 68th Precinct station house on Fourth avenue and build a school there — instead suggesting it erect classrooms on a parking lot for sale around the corner.

Preservation group Sunset Park Restoration penned a letter to the School Construction Authority on Aug. 25 proposing it use the carpark on the corner of 44th Street and Third Avenue as an alternative, because knocking over the castle-like landmark would be a great loss for the community, according to the group’s leader.

“There are alternatives that don’t involve loosing our crown jewel. That’s what’s so staggering to me,” said Tony Giordano, the executive director of the Sunset Park Restoration.

The landmark’s owner paid $6 million for the property last year, and Giordano assumes the city would pay as much — plus demolition costs — so it should instead save the dough and buy the empty lot, which is listed on commercial real estate website LoopNet.com for $2 million, Giordano said.

Council Member wants Coney Island Boardwalk landmarked

From the Daily News:

The City Council threw its support behind landmarking the Coney Island Boardwalk on Thursday, passing a resolution urging the city to protect the iconic stretch.

Councilman Mark Treyger (D-Brooklyn) got unanimous support for his resolution, although the Landmarks Preservation Commission has balked at making the move.

Treyger wants the landmark status in part to stop plans to convert much of the boardwalk from traditional wood planks into concrete and fake wood.

Sight of Steinway Mansion now obscured

Photos from George the Atheist

City planning to knock down school it landmarked

From Brooklyn Daily:

The city will knock over Sunset Park’s castle-like former police precinct to make way for 300 classroom seats, officials announced on June 13. School Construction Authority reps made the pitch to Community Board Seven, claiming the crumbling landmark at Fourth Avenue and 43rd Street would “probably have to come down” while also showing photos of schools the agency previously built atop demolished historic structures.

School Construction Authority reps refused to say the agency would definitely demolish the building, which would require a virtually unheard-of un-landmarking or for the city to condemn the derelict structure as a hazard. However, they did show locals photos of schools the agency build with an aesthetic nod to the historic buildings that they replaced, such as PS 133 in Park Slope, which rose from an older schoolhouse, and PS 30 in Bay Ridge, which succeeded the Green Church.

No, it's not that people hate you

From Yahoo/AP:

After months of searching to find a home for their mosque, a Muslim group settled on a century-old, three-story Tudor in a leafy neighborhood of a New York suburb, a fixer-upper they say would be perfect with the right renovations.

But not long after the sale went through last year, neighbors thought it was perfect just the way it was. A neighborhood group filed an application to have the building designated a city landmark and won final approval last month, meaning any exterior renovations will now have to go through a time-consuming permission process.

While city officials insisted the landmark status wouldn't prevent the home being used as a mosque, the Muslim organization saw something more sinister.

"We feel that we are being targeted," said Arshad Shariff, chairman of the Islamic Community Center of Mid-Westchester. "And unnecessary obstacles and hindrances are being placed because we are Muslim."

No, it's because you were planning to fuck up an historic house that people in the neighborhood are attached to and admire. Get it?

Council set to stick its nose into landmarking process

From the NY Times:

As New York’s Landmarks Law enters its sixth decade, the City Council wants to rewrite the rules governing historic properties.

Despite a contentious fight over a package of revisions that stalled last year, the Council is again proposing a half-dozen recommendations to simultaneously streamline and expand the landmarks process. This month, the Council expects to vote on a bill creating timelines for the approval process.

The Council’s decision has drawn consternation not only among preservationists but also from the Landmarks Preservation Commission itself. At a hearing last year, Meenakshi Srinivasan, the chairwoman of the commission, called a number of the proposed changes overreaching. Ms. Srinivasan declined to discuss new proposals before any legislation was introduced, but acknowledged in a statement that some of the proposals had merit.

Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito countered that the Council wanted to ensure the changes cannot be easily rolled back by future administrations.

“It’s something that’s overdue,” Ms. Mark-Viverito, a Democrat who represents Manhattan and the Bronx, said in a recent interview. “That’s why we’re trying to balance the needs of the preservation community with the development needs of our growing city.”

Hmmm...do we notice the landmarks in this town or the nutty out of scale overdevelopment more? I'd say the balance is tipped in the developers' favor at this point. Which is just the way the council likes it.

Why not Neir's?

From the NY Times:

For most of its history, Neir’s notoriety was largely limited to the working class of Woodhaven. It is a friendly den of chatter, where neighbors are regulars, and camaraderie is enjoyed over cold pints of beer. On the outside, nestled on a quiet corner of a residential neighborhood, the place looks more like an aging two-floor townhouse than a tavern.

Daniel Goderich tends bar during a gathering of supporters for the tavern’s landmark status. Credit Nicole Bengiveno/The New York Times
But longtime patrons say that Neir’s does not get the recognition it deserves. Now they are campaigning for the tavern to be declared a New York City landmark because, they note, some historians believe that it is, in fact, the city’s oldest bar.

Neir’s, its patrons say, deserves the historical status of McSorley’s Old Ale House, which, its manager argues, is the oldest in operation, having served customers since 1854, and Fraunces Tavern, from 1762, which burned down and was rebuilt several times.

In 1829, when Queens was mostly farmland — and livestock, not the J train, rumbled down what became Jamaica Avenue — the manager of a racetrack called the Union Course opened a nearby tavern, the Blue Pump Room. It offered a drink to bettors before and after the races, years before McSorley’s served its first light or dark ale in Manhattan.

Over time, the Blue Pump Room went by different names — The Old Abbey, The Union Course Tavern, and finally, Neir’s Tavern — and had different owners, including the Neir family, who had immigrated to Woodhaven from Germany, the current owners say. The family bought the bar after the racetrack closed in 1898, and added a one-lane bowling alley, a ballroom and a hotel over the tavern. It was renamed “Neir’s Social Hall,” and a sign with that name is on display by a stage in the back room.

So, on a recent Saturday, a rally was held to try to win landmark designation for Neir’s. Standing in front of a cutout of Mae West, Mr. Gordon urged patrons to fill out postcards he had addressed to the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission. The commission rejected the bar’s application last year.

When Mr. Gordon applied for the designation last August, he cited Neir’s history and interior decorations, including its artifacts and antiquated ice-coil tap system. The tavern needed protection, he said, even if the commission could not prevent someone from buying it.

But the commission, a spokeswoman said, did not believe the bar rose “to the level of an interior landmark” because it “contains standard commercial finishes,’’ making it difficult, without proper documentation, to prove the tavern’s age.

The LPC: As arbitrary and capricious as they wanna be

Hey Crapunzel,

You have probably heard that the Pepsi Cola sign in LIC has achieved Landmark status, but consider this from The NY Times story:

"The Artkraft Strauss Sign Corporation reconstructed the sign in 1993, after heavy damage was inflicted by a winter storm."

I am certainly not an expert on NYC Landmarks but this appears to be a contradiction of a previous decision by the landmarks commission concerning Old St. James Church of Elmhurst.

If the Pepsi sign was totally reconstructed and granted Landmark status why hasn't St. James, whose appearance has hardly been altered since the 18th century, been treated in the same manner?

I guess the Manhattanites have decided that an ancient Elmhurst church isn't as cool as a 20th century LIC commercial sign. Go figure.

Adios,

philipe the confused

Yes, Philipe, I think you have nailed it.

Steinway heir is part of REBNY

From the Queens Chronicle:

“There’s this neighborhood of warehouses and in the middle, on top of this hill is this incredible old house,” said Miles Chapin, the great-grandson of Steinway & Sons co-founder William Steinway. “It’s really outstanding.”

The mansion was declared a landmark by the city in 1967, which means its facade cannot be altered without approval from the Landmarks Preservation Commission. But the rules don’t say anything about the yard around the estate.

Not long after Philip Loria, an attorney in Astoria, and his business partner Sal Lucchese bought the mansion plus an acre of land for $2.6 million in 2014, rumblings began about possible development.

Last spring, residents noticed some trees had been cut down and the warehouses began to appear, forming an L-shape around the front and side of the mansion.

The new buildings hit the market in late February with a price tag between $1.8 and $2.3 million each. Ranging from 3,600 to 5,400 square feet, the structures promise a modern design with state-of-the-art features.

Loria said the warehouses, which have generated a good deal of interest from potential buyers, are a “perfect fit” for the location.

“The area called for that type of development,” he said.

For his part, Chapin understands the allure of the mansion. But he also understands the economic realities and the influence of the real estate market. In addition to being a Steinway heir, Chapin is also a real estate agent and co-chairman of the Real Estate Board of New York’s Queens Residential Committee.

While he said the best use of the site may be to preserve the land as a community resource, he recognizes the greatest value, in financial terms at least, likely lies in building warehouses on the site.

“There is no better example of free market capitalism than the real estate market in New York City,” he said. “This is a city of progress. Anytime something is gained, something is usually lost.”

Perhaps no one would understand that better than William Steinway, who was himself a successful businessman with various business interests throughout Queens.

“There are all kinds of ironies involved with any use or reuse of the Steinway property,” Chapin said.

Photo from George The Atheist

Developer destroys facade of Elks club in response to landmarking push

From LIC Post:

Unique exterior details were illegally torn from the former Elks Lodge on 44th Drive this morning just days after the local community launched an effort to landmark the property and stave off development.

Construction workers took jackhammers to the building, located at 21-42 44th Drive. An elk head, one of the building’s unique exterior details, has been hacked off.

According to DOB documents, the work was taking place without proper permits. By Monday afternoon, police had arrived to enforce a stop work order from the Department of Buildings, an officer told the LIC Post.

Council Member Jimmy Van Bramer, who wrote a letter to the Landmark Preservation Commission requesting landmark consideration of this property, called the illegal alteration “a disgraceful act of civic vandalism.”

He reached out to the DOB and Mayor’s office to have inspectors visit the location and issue a stop work order.

Landmarked areas are as dense as non-landmarked areas

NYU Furman Center Historic Districts Brief by crainsnewyork

From Crains:

Landmark districts in New York City are just as dense at nearby areas that are not designated historic, according to a study released Monday.

The NYU Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy found that about 3.5% of the city's properties are protected by the landmarks law. Properties with such a designation require approval from the Landmarks Preservation Commission before an owner can make alterations.

Though landmarked areas had far fewer rent-regulated apartments than the rest of the city, they were built up to roughly the same density than adjacent neighborhoods, according to the report.