Landmarks Commission Torn on New Fieldston Houses
[Rendering of proposed House #1 as seen from Indian Pond.]
A proposal to subdivide a lot and construct three new houses in the Fieldston Historic District went before the Landmarks Preservation Commission on Tuesday. It was met with unanimous disapproval from the public and significant skepticism from the commissioners, who were concerned about the precedent that could be set by subdividing the lot, the density issues that would come with it, and the design of the houses as it relates to the architectural character of Fieldston. Ultimately, they agreed to pay a visit the site in person before voting on the proposal.
Landmarks Approves Bronx Post Office's Tranformation
[Rendering of changes to the building]
The Bronx General Post Office has been given the green light for redevelopment as retail, office, and restaurant space, with a portion carved out for the post office to remain. The Landmarks Preservation Commission approved a revised proposal on Tuesday—not a surprise, as the project was well on its way to approval when it was presented last month.
Bronx Post Office Nears Its Future As a Dining and Retail Mecca
The Bronx General Post Office is close to getting the go-ahead for rebirth. The grand 1937-built building on, well, the Grand Concourse, was designated an individual landmark in 1976 (warning: PDF!). Its lobby, with 13 lovely New Deal-era murals, was designated an interior landmark in 2013 (warning: PDF!).
In 2014, Young Woo & Associates paid $19 million to the U.S. Postal Service for the site, and yesterday the developer brought his plan—which includes a total revamp of use including office space, shops, restaurants, and a rooftop terrace—before the Landmarks Preservation Commission. The commissioners were mostly supportiveof his ideas, but concerns did arise: chiefly, what will go on the roof, some of the signage, and proposed new stairwells near what is currently the loading dock.
Site Aims to Demystify Hart Island's Tons of Anonymous Graves
The Hart Island Project has launched its website that attempts to bring a name, face, and story to the 62,200 people buried in mass graves on the notoriously inaccessible Bronx island since 1980. "It's about lifting these people out of anonymity," Hart Island Project director Melinda Hunt told the Daily News of the site that launched on December 10, "We're creating history through storytelling." The site allows visitorsto peruse stories and photographs contributed by family and friends of those buried on the island as well as search plots for their own lost. The project used data obtained through freedom of information requests to begin mapping the locations of some 60,000 bodies.
2014's Most-Viewed Properties; Fight to Beautify City Island
ALL OVER—StreetEasy has put together a list of the ten most-viewed properties on the site in 2014, and while some were expected—the $118.5 million three-apartment combo at the Ritz-Carlton in Battery Park City, the $100 million CitySpire penthouse that has been languishing on the market for nearly 600 days—others were truly a surprise. Earning a spot on the list, a random $999,000 two-bedroom apartment in Chelsea, and a $2.5 million apartment at Harlem's The Adeline. Claiming top honors on the list, if its ordering is to be taken as significant, is the unsellable Sky Garage penthouse, which dropped its ask to $20 million in August (pictured above). See the rest of the list here. [StreetEasy]
CITY ISLAND—The Bronx enclave that has obtained Top Two status in the illustrious Curbed Cup is rallying behind another cause: beautifying the entry way to the island, whose appearance is currently marred by a dilapidated dock and a graffitied barge. Some residents believe the land could be used more productively, like to house concession for kayak and canoe rentals. The City Island Civic Association has submitted the idea to the Department of Environmental Conservation, but the land is owned privately. The association is rallying for the land to be transferred to the public. [NY1]
Effort To Open Hart Island to Public Gets Boost From Lawsuit
Hart Island, the notoriously difficult-to-access potters field in the Bronx, may soon avail itself to visitors. Family members of the deceased have been appealing the city for years about transferring jurisdiction of the island from the Department of Corrections to the Parks Department, which would open the small swath of land near Curbed Cup contender City Island to visitors via ferry. The Bronx Timesreports that momentum around making the island accessible to the public is building, which has been spawned in part by a federal lawsuitfiled by the New York Civil Liberties Union that is seeking more access to the burial grounds "based on the belief that the city's policy limiting visitors violates constitutional rights of due process and religious exercise," as well as by advocacy group Hart Island Project's new GPS system that would help visitors identify over 62,200 unmarked graveson the island via smartphone.
FreshDirect Breaks Ground on Bronx Facility Amidst Protests
On Monday, online grocer FreshDirect broke ground on its contested500,000-square-foot facility on East 132nd Street in Mott Haven. The ceremony was attended by Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr., who has been an outspoken proponent of the project since 2012 when Mayor Bloomberg offered the online grocer $128 million in public subsidies to keep the company and its 3,000 jobs in New York rather than see it move from Long Island City to New Jersey. DNAinfo reportsthat the ceremony was also attended by some 30 protestors—others report about 100—who believe the company's new facility and truck traffic will further compromise the already sub-standard air conditions in the Bronx's infamous "Asthma Alley."
Curbed Cup Elite Eight: (8) Tribeca vs. (16) City Island
Half the field has already been eliminated in the Curbed Cup, our annual award to the New York City neighborhood of the year. This week we'll have two matchups apiece on Monday and Tuesday—with the polls left open for 24 hours—and by Wednesday only four contenders will be left vying for the prestigious fake trophy. Let the eliminations continue!
Emerging victorious after its bout with Downtown Brooklyn, Taylor Swift-approved Tribeca is ready to fight again. With its beautiful condoconversions and under-construction starchitecture (Herzog and de Meuron, our man RAMS, et al.), the area is shrouded in scaffolding and chockablock with construction.
Then, after a giant upset over No. 1 seed West Chelsea, there's the Bronx's City Island. The somewhat ramshackle seaside community is about to see its first new condos in 15 years. You know what? Those folks know how to organize, seeing as how they managed to convince officials to drastically scale down designs for a new bridge. Despite that, they're eager to be more than a day-trip destination, hoping to attract artists, developers, and entrepreneurs to a quaint place within the five boroughs where the cost of building and living is simply lower.
Has Tribeca already arrived? Should the underdog, the up-and-comer, continue to advance? You decide.
Bronx Post Office Makeover May Mean New Shops, Restaurants
Young Woo & Associates have filed plans to begin the redevelopment of the Bronx General Post Office, and if they go through, it looks like the building will soon be a catchall commercial space. The redesigned interior of the 80-year-old building will have office space, retail, restaurants, and a rooftop terrace, according to Welcome2theBronxand YIMBY.
The filings note that 7,500 square feet will be added to the landmarked 143,000-square-foot building. Restaurants, retail, and area retained by the Post Office—the landmarked lobby—will occupy the building's first floor, cellar, and basement, with offices on the second through fourth floors, and all topped off by a rooftop restaurant and lounge. The existing parking structure will also be rehabbed and have 54 spaces. While it all sounds well and good, the plans have yet to be approved by the Department of Buildings.
· First Step in Redevelopment of The Bronx General Post Office Begins[W2tB]
· Permits Filed For Bronx General Post Office Redevelopment, 560 Grand Concourse [YIMBY]
· Young Woo & Associates Pay $19M For Bronx Post Office [Curbed]
· All Bronx General Post Office coverage [Curbed]
The filings note that 7,500 square feet will be added to the landmarked 143,000-square-foot building. Restaurants, retail, and area retained by the Post Office—the landmarked lobby—will occupy the building's first floor, cellar, and basement, with offices on the second through fourth floors, and all topped off by a rooftop restaurant and lounge. The existing parking structure will also be rehabbed and have 54 spaces. While it all sounds well and good, the plans have yet to be approved by the Department of Buildings.
· First Step in Redevelopment of The Bronx General Post Office Begins[W2tB]
· Permits Filed For Bronx General Post Office Redevelopment, 560 Grand Concourse [YIMBY]
· Young Woo & Associates Pay $19M For Bronx Post Office [Curbed]
· All Bronx General Post Office coverage [Curbed]
POPULAR
Resplendent Riverdale Home Offers 'Quiet Opulence' For $3.5M
Our semi-regular feature, Monday Mansion, examines the most interesting mega homes on the market in the far reaches of New York. Have a listing in mind that we're missing? Tell us about it. To the outer boroughs we go!
This tastefully decorated and lovingly maintained Riverdale home is on the market for $3.495 million, which is a relative bargain compared to its 2010 ask of $5.85 million. The Bronx mansion at 5232 Sycamore Avenue has been on and off the market for the past four years, although the home may be no more to blame for that than a lack of interest in a lovely, semi-traditional abode. The Victorian-like greenhouse sunroom is pretty cool, and the interiors nicely appointed, so someone please relieve the sellers and buy this place. Okay?
Willis Ave. Garden Overhaul; Sales Check at 13 Melrose Street
THE BRONX—The Willis Avenue Community Garden has a whole new look. The Mott Haven space recently underwent a total renovation, which brought a TEN Arquitectos-designed modular casita/performance stage/gathering spot to the community space that also doubles as a crisis center (should the next big storm hit). The garden was also replanted, and raised planting beds were installed as were new entrance gates, a pergola, and a shed. The park officially reopened on Thursday, September 18. [CurbedWire inbox]
BUSHWICK—In its first week of sales, five of the eight apartments at Boaz Gilad's 13 Melrose sold. The new construction features seven one-bedroom apartments with home offices as well as a duplex apartment. Asks in the building start at $389,000 and cap at $733,000. [CurbedWire inbox; previously]
Young Woo & Associates Pays $19M for Bronx Post Office
The sale of the Bronx General Post Office hit public records on Friday, revealing that Young Woo & Associates paid $19 million for the landmarked building, which they probably plan to turn into some sort of Chelsea Market-esque complex. Reporting the sale earlier this month, the Daily News said that the historic post office was valued at $14 million by Property Shark, however, it is not clear when that assessment was made, so it's difficult to say what the true market value of the building may have been. (There have been some accusations of impropriety on the part of the Postal Service's broker, CBRE, which apparently counts Young Woo among its clients.) Regardless the $19 million should help with the budget shortfall that led the USPS to close 17 Bronx post offices in 2012.
· Young Woo & Associates Buys Bronx General Post Office [Curbed]
· EXCLUSIVE: Developer Youngwoo & Associates buys historic Bronx General Post Office building [NYDN]
· CBRE arranges sale of Bronx GPO to one of its clients [Save the Post Office]
· Young Woo & Associates Buys Bronx General Post Office [Curbed]
· EXCLUSIVE: Developer Youngwoo & Associates buys historic Bronx General Post Office building [NYDN]
· CBRE arranges sale of Bronx GPO to one of its clients [Save the Post Office]
As part of the Environmental Protection Agency's brownfields program, three contaminated sites in the Bronx are getting $300,000 in federal grants and loans to be cleaned up and rebuilt as affordable housing.The sites, which are currently plagued by high levels of metals in the soil and pesticides in the groundwater, will eventually be home to 152 apartments, some coupled with social services for residents. [Crain's]
Recovering City Island Looks to Artists and Developers
Welcome back to Camera Obscura, Curbed's series of photo essays by Nathan Kensinger. This week, as part of a series on changing neighborhoods, Kensinger visits City Island.
[On City Island, a nautical village in the Bronx, a tight-knit community has faced several recent challenges. All photos by Nathan Kensinger.]
City Island, the charming and remote nautical community located in the northeast corner of the Bronx, has been a popular tourist destination for years. Crowds throng to its seafood restaurants to feast on crabs, shrimp, fried smelts, and Piña Coladas, while admiring its historic Victorian architecture and small-town vibe. Some locals have lived here for generations, earning the name "clam diggers," while all of the island's residents, including recently arrived "mussel suckers," have embraced the surrounding sea. Nearly every street here dead-ends in a private beach, a marina, or a yacht club, and at high tide, children swim in the ocean while fish swim in driveways. Taken in its entirety, City Island feels like a village of its own, unattached to New York City.
Hidden behind shuttered storefronts and down side streets, though, a different story is unfolding, as the island fights to maintain its unique identity while recovering from recent calamitous events. "The economy has been rough on us," said Gerard "Skip" Giacco, owner of the Lickety Split Ice Cream shop and president of City Island's Chamber of Commerce. His vice president, Paul Klein, agrees, estimating that there are 18 to 20 shuttered businesses along the community's main street out of a total of 220 active businesses on the 1.5-mile-long island. Some storefronts have "been empty for as long as I can remember," says Paul. During Hurricane Sandy, many of the marinas and yacht clubs suffered serious damage, with piers destroyed and boats jumbled onshore. "I think City Island is a pretty safe piece of land," Paul says, but "it seems like the weather is getting predictably worse."
The city consumes 1.1 billion gallons of water a day, and since 2008, not one drop of it has come from the city-water synonymous source of the Croton Reservoir. But the long awaited Croton water filtering plant will change that. The plagued plant has hit on a small triumph signaling its progress: two new stainless steel valves are close to being installed on existing infrastructure that will allow some 290 million gallons of water to flow to the Bronx and Manhattan daily. The filtration plant is expected in 2015. [NYT; previously]SIGN UP FOR OUR NEWSLETTER
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