New 2023 Expansion Plans for Northwell Health, Lenox Hill Hospital
After shelving expansion plans during the pandemic, Lenox Hill Hospital has once again come forward with a rezoning proposal to radically expand the scale of its full-block campus between 76th and 77th streets and Park and Lexington avenues. Although the residential tower on Park Avenue has been dropped from the
Proposed Assembly Districts: Deja Vu All Over Again?
New district lines for New York State Assembly districts are now being considered for adoption, and as proposed, big changes are coming to representation in local government for the Upper East Side and Roosevelt Island.
Proposed Council Districts: Your Interests are About to Take a Backseat
New district lines for New York City’s 51 Council Districts are now being considered for adoption, and as proposed, big changes are coming to representation in local government for the Upper East Side and Roosevelt Island.
More Buildings ≠ More Housing, and More Housing ≠ Affordable Housing
Earlier this year, four historic tenement buildings on the southeast corner of East 75th Street and Third Avenue were demolished to pave way for a new 214 foot tall building, developed by the EJS Group and designed by Beyer Blinder Belle.
1299 Third Avenue Update: FRIENDS Appeals DOB’s Endorsement of Segmented Approvals
In the last week there have been not one, but two, significant developments related to the long-stalled project at 1297-1299 Third Avenue between 74th and 75th Streets which has sat vacant for nearly three years.
Advocacy Update: State Legislators Reject Changes to the FAR Cap, Focus Shifts to Governor in Budget Talks
In response to the outcry from thousands of New Yorkers, as well as the advocacy of FRIENDS and our preservation colleagues, both the State Senate and Assembly have now rejected Governor Hochul’s budget proposal to supersize development in New York City.
Advocacy Alert: Say NO to Lifting the Cap
For the third time in recent years, there is a fast-moving proposal at the State level to lift the longstanding cap on residential development in New York City. Lifting the 12 FAR cap would potentially unleash a flood of development rights that are likely to yield more supertall superluxury development,
FRIENDS In the News
FRIENDS has been featured in recent news pieces covering the community opposition to the New York Blood Center/Longfellow commercial tower that would undo decades of community-minded human scale zoning on the midblocks in our neighborhood
Planning Together Without You
Tomorrow, the New York City Council will hold a hearing on Intro 2186, a legislation proposed by Council Speaker Corey Johnson called Planning Together: A Comprehensive Framework for New York City. This large proposal requires the city to undertake periodic citywide comprehensive planning and details a completely new process for the city
Proposals Chipping Away at the Midblock
One of FRIENDS’ earliest initiatives, led by our founder Halina Rosenthal, was the successful effort to bring contextual zoning to the midblocks of the Upper East Side. The R8B zoning district was mapped across vast swaths of our midblocks in 1985, hailed by the New York Times as “the most