DEVELOPMENT ALERT: First Avenue
As reported in YIMBY, The Real Deal and the Upper East Side Patch, the Developer Extell has just filed demolition permits for an entire block on the east side of First Avenue between East 79th and East 80th Streets in Yorkville.
ADVOCACY UPDATE: Inter-building Void at 62nd Street Periscope Tower Endorsed by DOB
After six months, the Department of Buildings (DOB) has finally responded to FRIENDS’ Zoning Challenge of 249 East 62nd Street filed in November 2017.
Frick Update: New Architect Chosen for Expansion
In June 2014, The Frick Collection announced plans to expand the institution, which included the replacement of the prized Russell Page garden with a new, out-of-scale tower. FRIENDS, among many other groups like Unite to Save the Frick, opposed these inappropriate plans. After much criticism, the Frick withdrew its proposal the following year.
Advocacy Update: Zoning Proposals Voted On to City Council
It has been nearly a year since the first public documents about the Zoning for Quality and Affordability (ZQA) Text Amendment were released, and nearly a year that New Yorkers have expressed serious concerns about the proposal’s negative effects on neighborhoods citywide.
ADVOCACY UPDATE: Another Win for Preservation!
Last November the Landmarks Preservation Commission announced a plan to remove nearly 100 buildings from consideration for designation. When a building passes the Commission’s initial review and is found to meet their basic requirements for designation, it is put on their calendar for a public hearing.
ADVOCACY UPDATE: Federal Court Dismisses Lawsuit
Nearly a year to the date of the denial of the hardship application, on May 21, 2015, the Federal court dismissed the owner’s lawsuit for “failure to state a cause of action for a substantive due process violation.” However, we still await a decision from the State Supreme Court and have no
ADVOCACY UPDATE: FRIENDS testifies before City Planning on Zoning Text Amendment
As any good preservationist would, I will start with a bit of history. In 1985, our founding president, Halina Rosenthal, wrote to our members:
ADVOCACY UPDATE: FRIENDS Speaks out Against the Frick with a Letter to the Editor
Once again, FRIENDS speaks out against the Frick expansion proposal! Click here to read our Letter to the Editor in the Christmas edition of Our Town.
ADVOCACY UPDATE: Recent Frick expansion coverage from the New York Times
On Sunday Robin Pogrebin at the New York Times published an article about the Frick expansion, bringing to light a statement from the museum’s testimony before the landmarks Preservation Commission in 1973:
Thank you!
A special thanks to all our FRIENDS and colleagues who attended yesterday’s hardship application hearing at the Landmarks Preservation Commission!