Category: Articles
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Older Than You Think
There has been a lot of excitement in some circles about the recent release of the City’s PLUTO dataset into the public realm. For those of who are not planning/geography nerds, PLUTO is the compilation of lot-level information on every building parcel in New York City – everything from use, zoning and height to assessed…
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East Williamsburg, Queens
PS 71, East Williamsburg, L. I. Photo: via ebay Map Last week, Gothamist had some fun with a Kalmon Dolgin real estate listing that purported to be in East Williamsburg when it was in fact in Ridgewood, Queens. I’m sure Kalmon Dolgin was just fluffing their listing, as Gothamist said, but, there is a bit…
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Greenpoint Landing Lands Tonight
Greenpoint Landing (via Crain’s) Architect: Handel Architects Greenpoint Landing – the 22-acre development at the north end of the Greenpoint waterfront – is scheduled to make its public debut at a Community Board 1 meeting this evening*. From what I’ve heard to date, the project itself is largely as of right – the number of…
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Schizo Skyline
Stephen Jacob Smith is back, this time arguing that Two Trees’ Domino plan is somehow flawed because the upland zoning in Williamsburg is not dense enough. Where to begin – again? But despite the best efforts of SHoP and Two Trees, the plan does not succeed in aping the natural parabolic shape of an organic…
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Churches United Benefit
Churches United for Fair Housing is having its 10th Anniversary benefit tomorrow evening at Giando. You should go and support them.
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Atlantic’s Credibility Crisis
Wow – Atlantic Cities let someone with no clue about development in Brooklyn write about development in Brooklyn. The basic premise of the article is that zoning (both use and FAR limits) is making housing more expensive by restricting the amount of new housing that can be constructed. In other words, the classic libertarian argument…
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Monster Island Going Down – What’s Next?
Monster Island, prepped for demolition. The block-sized property on Kent Avenue between Metropolitan and North 1st is finally getting demolished. Sidewalk sheds and permits went up early this week, and demolition of one of the River Street buildings was in progress as of yesterday. What the future holds for this site is unclear. The property…
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Rethinking Building Code, Post Sandy
From the Times, some opening thoughts on revamping the building code in a post-hurricane city. The focus for now is on how to build better in a rising-sea level world, versus just not building in Zone A at all (as a rather silly recent “resolution” from Community Board 1 wants). As the Times notes, some…
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Greenpoint Developer Wants to Build 10 Huge Towers, Giant Bridge
Vernon Avenue Bridge (demolished in 1954) Source: Novelty Theater It’s not exactly new news, but Gothamist has a piece up on the proposed mega-development at the top of Greenpoint. Not news because what’s proposed is exactly what the city approved in the 2005 waterfront rezoning. Aside from the proposed bridge to Hunters Point, the only…
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Neil Smith, 1954 – 2012
It has been 10 days since I heard about the death of geographer Neil Smith, and this is the at least the tenth time I have tried to sit down and write something about my old friend. I first met Neil about 28 years ago, when he was a newly-minted assistant professor on the sinking…