http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/15/realestate/15Deal1.html?ref=realestate and scroll down.
Big Deal
By JOSH BARBANEL
Published: July 15, 2007
Preservationists Win One Battle
159 Bleecker Street
SMALLER may be better when it comes to balconies, according to the Department of Buildings.
For many months, preservationists in Greenwich Village have been railing against an eight-story building at 159 Bleecker Street that towers over the small tenements surrounding it.
To add insult to injury, they complained, the developer put obtrusive four-foot-wide balconies on the upper floors of the building, an alien touch to an otherwise quintessential urban street. The pre-existing lower floors of the building once housed the Circle in the Square Theater.
But now, in response to the complaints filed by the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, the building’s department has told the developers that they need to trim down the balconies from four feet to just the 22 inches allowed under the zoning code. Lounge-chair-sized balconies will have to be trimmed to a size befitting a Juliet looking down on her Romeo.
City records show that last month, the developer, John Young, a principal at Emmut Properties, submitted the 11th amendment to the building permit application, changing the balcony sizes on the third, fourth and fifth floors, but the work has not been completed to date, city officials said.
Carly Sullivan, a spokeswoman for the Department of Buildings, said, “We have required the applicant to resubmit plans to limit balconies to the allowed projection of 22 inches.”
Andrew Berman, the president of the preservation group, said it was continuing to contest the size of the building as well. The developer obtained permission to enlarge the building by promising to provide six apartments for use as a school dormitory, by the Dalton School, a private day school far away on the Upper East Side.
But the Dalton School does not have any residential students, and Mr. Berman said it appeared to be providing the space to faculty members, a use specifically prohibited under the zoning code. Mr. Young did not return several telephone calls seeking comment.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/13/realestate/13Deal1.html?ex=1336708800&en=d8b1a41fe8305ffd&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss and scroll down.
Big Deal
By JOSH BARBANEL
Published: May 13, 2007
The Dalton Dorm Mystery
159 Bleecker Street
ONE of many mysteries buried deep in the file cabinets of the Department of Buildings is the case of the student dormitory of the Dalton School, a private day school on the Upper East Side that has thrived for most of the last century without the need for a dormitory or residence for students in kindergarten through high school.
But last October, a Greenwich Village developer filed a restrictive declaration promising to turn over six apartments in a eight-story building at 159 Bleecker Street to the school for use as a student dormitory. “The units for Student Dormitory will be occupied by students only, and not their family,” said the declaration, submitted by Emmut Properties, the developer.
The document surfaced when the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation began looking into how the apartment building, constructed atop a two-story structure that once housed the Circle in the Square Theater, had gotten permission to be so tall and bulky. It towers over the small tenements surrounding it and has balconies that extend over the street.
The building, it learned, received a bonus allowing it to be built larger, often up to 20 percent larger, in exchange for providing “community facilities” — space for doctor’s offices, schools or dormitories — under a provision of the zoning code.
When the preservation group objected, the Department of Buildings held up occupancy of the building. But the agency reversed itself and issued a temporary certificate of occupancy, after the developer promised that the units would be used as a Dalton student dormitory.
Ellen Stein, the head of school at Dalton, and Edward Pinger, the chief financial officer, did not respond to several phone calls last week and an e-mail message seeking comment about the filing. John Young, a principal at Emmut Properties, also did not return calls.
But Andrew Berman, the preservation society’s executive director, said that when he checked with Dalton he was told the apartments would be used for faculty housing, a use he said was prohibited under zoning-code changes designed to eliminate abuses by developments.
“The community facility regulations are being abused as a way to make buildings bigger,” he said. “If the building is in fact larger than it is allowed, they should remove the illegal square footage.”
The developer originally put 16 condominiums on the market, but when the market softened last year, the building was switched to a rental structure. Apartments are being marketed by Coldwell Banker Hunt Kennedy.
Mr. Berman has also objected to the size of the balconies and questioned whether the building was too large even with the community-use bonus.
Kate Lindquist, a spokeswoman for the Department of Buildings, confirmed that faculty housing is not an approved community use. “The Building Department is requesting an inspection to ensure the dorms are being used as outlined in the restrictive declaration,” she said. In an earlier audit, she added, the department objected to the balconies and the developer “addressed the objection and resubmitted the plans,” which were approved.