In December 2003, the Department of City Planning (DCP) partnered with the New York City Economic Development Corporation (EDC), Housing Preservation and Development (HPD), the Departments of Cultural Affairs (DCA), the Department of Transportation (DOT) and the Department of Small Business Services (SBS) to conduct the 125th Street Study.

197-a Plans

Plans for a subway line along 2nd Avenue date back to 1929. A plan was developed in the 1960s that resulted in the construction of several tunnel segments but work was suspended due to the City's financial crisis in the 1970s. In 1995, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) began the Manhattan East Side Alternatives (MESA) Study.

The 421-a tax incentive program was created in 1971 to encourage housing development at a time of shrinking population and falling property values in the City. Under the original program, developers of apartment buildings on vacant or underutilized lots throughout the five boroughs received a temporary exemption from property tax on the value added to the site by new construction.

Aby Rosen, co-founder of RFR Realty, unveiled plans to construct a 30-story residential tower at 980 Madison Avenue on property acquired in 2004 for $126 million from the Peter Sharp Foundation.

A variety of state and federal programs support affordable housing in New York City.

In the summer of 2002, Forest City Ratner Companies (FCRC), one of the largest publicly-traded real estate companies in the US, developed a plan to build on a 22-acre site at the intersection of Atlantic and Flatbush Avenues in Brooklyn. The site is directly across the street from FCRC’s other large Brooklyn developments: Atlantic Center and Metrotech.

Images that will rotate in the main site banner.

On April 12, 2005, the City Council approved the Department's rezoning proposal for Bayside and the new R2A district-- both of which are now in effect. The goals of the Bayside rezoning proposal are to preserve the area's established detached and semi-detached character and to ensure that future residential development is consistent with that character.

An 82 block rezoning of the Bayswater and Far Rockaway areas of Queens was approved by the City Council on April 26, 2006. The rezoning was designed to preserve the character of the neighborhoods by promoting lower density development. R-2 zoning was changed to R1-2, and R3-2, R-4, and R-5 zoning was changed to R3A, R3X, and R4A zoning.

The Department of City Planning has certified a rezoning of the southern portion of Bedford-Stuyvesant.

The rezoning of Briarwood was approved on February 27, 2008 and is currently in effect. Briarwood is a neighborhood in Central Queens consisting of 39 blocks abutted by Parsons Boulevard to the east, Queens Boulevard and the Van Wyck Expressway to the west, Grand Central Parkway to the north and Hillside Avenue to the south.

The South Shore of Staten Island is growing into an attractive retail location. In 2005, the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) sold a 42-acre site to developer Charleston Enterprises LLC for $15 million for the development of a large retail space. Charleston Enterprises is an affiliate of developer Blumenfeld Development Group.

In June 2009, the City’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) unveiled its proposed plan for East Williamsburg’s Broadway Triangle, which involves rezoning and redeveloping 31 acres of the Triangle for affordable housing and commercial uses.

Desc. of Bronx

Reprinted from the Furman Center's 2008 State of the City Report:

Brooklyn is the second most racially diverse borough
in the City (behind Queens), and has the highest percentage
of black residents (33.4%). This percentage has
remained relatively stable since 2000. While Brooklyn’s

City officials are working to transform the area between Fulton and Lafayette streets near Fort Greene Park in Brooklyn into a cultural haven for artists and performers as part of greater Downtown Brooklyn improvements.

Brooklyn Bridge Park will transform unused piers and parking lots on the Brooklyn waterfront into 85 acres of park space featuring recreational amenities. The new park will also pay tribute to the area’s maritime and industrial history.

Brooklyn’s Red Hook waterfront has historically been used as a gateway for cargo. In 2005, Mayor Bloomberg and Governor Pataki announced the signing of a long-term lease agreement with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, allowing the City to develop a modern cruise terminal at Piers 11 and 12, replacing a maritime port facility that City officials argued as underutilized.

In 1993, the Brooklyn Waterfront Trail was identified as a priority route in the Department of City Planning's Greenway Plan for New York City, which outlined a vision for a citywide 350-mile network of greenways. The Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway project area now spans 14 miles of Brooklyn waterfront.

The Brooklyn Navy Yard spans the length of the Brooklyn waterfront from Vinegar Hill to Williamsburg. The complex of 40 buildings covers over 300 acres and has 4 functioning dry docks and 5 active piers. The Yard was an active military instillation until 1966, when it was closed and sold to the City of New York for $24 million.

A developer’s plan to build a power plant just south of the Bushwick Inlet in North Brooklyn failed to gain necessary approval, making the City’s competing plans for a park on the same site increasingly likely. TransGas Energy Systems proposed the plant in 2001 on a waterfront site currently owned by Bayside Fuel Oil near the intersection of North 12th Street and Kent Avenue in Williamsburg.

In October 2009, the New York City Council approved the rezoning of 89 blocks of Carroll Gardens, which limits most building heights in the historic residential neighborhood to 50 feet, or about five stories. The neighborhood largely consists of three- to four-story brownstones.

Albee Square Mall has been sold for $125 million, and the new owners plan to build 1,000 rental units -- 20 percent of which would be for moderate income tenants. Underneath this giant apartment complex, which will become one of the tallest buildings in Brooklyn, will sit three stories of office space and four stories of new retail.

At the request of Community Board 2, local civic groups and elected officials, the Department of City Planning proposed contextual zoning map changes and a zoning text amendment for 99 blocks located within the Fort Greene and Clinton Hill neighborhoods including the Wallabout area of Brooklyn.

The Bloomberg administration has announced plans to consolidate the New York City Police Academy on a new campus in College Point, Queens at the present site of the city’s largest auto pound. The new campus will occupy a lot bounded by College Point Boulevard, 28th Avenue, 31st Avenue and Ulmer Street in a largely industrial area near Shea Stadium.

Over the next fifteen to twenty-five years, Columbia University plans to expand its campus by building an additional 6.8 million square feet of space for classrooms, research facilities, administration, housing, and parking. The proposed expansion will include redeveloping 17-acres in a neighborhood called Manhattanville from W. 125th to W.

With the completion of the Time Warner Center and renovations to the monument and circle itself, the Columbus Circle area of midtown Manhattan is quickly growing into its own small neighborhood.

Columbus Square, formerly known as Columbus Village, is a mixed-use development between 97th and 100th Streets on both sides of Columbus Avenue on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The project, developed by Chetrit Group and Stellar Management and designed by Costas Kondylis and Partners, is expected to include five residential towers and 320,000 square feet of retail space.

A community benefits agreement (“CBA”) results from negotiations between a developer proposing a particular land use change or development, and community organizations or coalitions negotiating on behalf of the individuals and groups affected by the proposal. In a typical community benefit agreement, community members agree to support the project, or at the least, promise not to oppose it.

Coney Island Rezoning & Development

In 2000, Chrystie Venture Partners (CVP) was selected to construct a $230 million mixed-use development, one of the largest development projects in HPD's history, on four sites in the Cooper Square Urban Renewal Area.

In 1893, a vision for a cross harbor freight tunnel began. By the 1920s it became an early goal of the Port Authority but was abandoned in 1941. Under Mayor Giuliani, the tunnel plan gained new momentum in 1998, when he asked the Economic Development Corporation (EDC) to study the project.

Domino Sugar Factory

In 2004, New York City began an aggressive campaign to add more office space and mixed-residential uses to Downtown Brooklyn by rezoning 22 blocks of the borough’s core. City officials initially estimated the Downtown Brooklyn plan would add 4.5 million square feet of office space and enough room for 1,000 new apartments. A hot real estate market, however, led to many more residential units.

A 2004 Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) feasibility study recommended building a direct rail link between Jamaica, Queens and Lower Manhattan by extending the existing Long Island Railroad (LIRR) Atlantic Branch from the Atlantic Terminal in Downtown Brooklyn to Lower Manhattan via a new tunnel beneath the East River.

The Whitney Museum of American Art is planning its new branch at the two-story High Line park entrance on Gansevoort Street. In 2006, the Whitney Museum of American Art reached a conditional agreement with the city’s Economic Development Corporation (EDC) to buy a city-owned site at Gansevoort Street.

In the early 1800s, commercial activity on the East River began concentrating around the Fulton Ferry Landing, which handled significant levels of steam ferry traffic. Quickly evolving into a transportation hub, the Landing spurred the development of large industrial buildings nearby to accommodate commercial storage, refinery, and shipping demands.

On July 25, 2007, the City Council approved the Department of City Planning’s recommended rezoning of Dyker Heights and Fort Hamilton. The approval came after a ULURP process in which Brooklyn Community Board 10, the Borough President, and the City Planning Commission approved the proposal without modification.

Plans to build the East River Plaza, a retail mall complex, on the site of the former Washburn Wire factory in East Harlem, have been in the works for many years. In 1996 Blumenfeld Development Group, Ltd. (BDG) purchased the site. The site was rezoned in 1999, changing the zoning from an M2-2 to a C4-4 to allow for the commercial growth.

In 2002, Consolidated Edison sold its 9.2 acre site on Manhattan’s East River for $680 million to developer, Sheldon H. Solow. The site, which stretches from 34th to 41st Streets along the East River, was home to a now-defunct steam power plant. In 2004, Solow paid $100 million to demolish the substation.

The New York City Economic Development Corporation (EDC) announced plans for an East River Science Park (ERSP), to concentrate an area in New York City for life science research and technology development.

In 2003, the Mayor's Office, the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation (LMDC), the Department of City Planning (DCP), and the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) began the East River Waterfront project. After completing a one-year study on the area, DCP and NYCEDC released the Concept Plan for the project in 2005.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s (MTA) East Side Access (ESA) project will connect the Long Island Railroad’s (LIRR) Main and Port Washington lines in Queens to a new LIRR terminal beneath Grand Central Station on the east side of Manhattan.

On November 6th, 2006, the Department of City Planning (DCP) presented its plan to guide future development of the Lower East Side (LES) in anticipation of the area's first rezoning since 1961. In the plan, the vast majority of the area, encompassing more than 100 city blocks, would be rezoned with a height cap of 80 feet.

The history of eminent domain in the United States dates back to the earliest moments of the fledgling nation, when patriot soldiers camped out on private property during the Revolutionary War. The “Takings Clause” of the Fifth Amendment enshrined – and imposed limitations on – the implied governmental rights over private property.

The City Environmental Quality Review (CEQR) procedures were first established in 1977 as an implementation of the State Environmental Quality Review Act of 1975 (SEQRA). Environmental impact reviews (EIR) have become a ubiquitous part of the land-use and development process in New York City.

The Rockaways have been undergoing a revival, as housing prices have been increasing at 10 to 15 percent per year recently. This encouraged increased high-density development, which the existing community claimed would destroy the character of their neighborhood. In response, 21 blocks of the Mott Creek and Far Rockaways neighborhoods were “down-zoned” in August 2005.

The City Council approved the application to rezone the Far West Village on October 11, 2005, and the zoning changes have been in effect since.

The Federal Government provides funding for affordable housing programs and tools that operate in New York City and influence the New York City housing market. The programs summarized below detail a few of these tools. While each is different, fundamental questions about federal housing policy run throughout all of the debates: Should federal aid be directed at urban or rural areas?

Fieldston, an enclave in the Bronx bounded by roughly by the Henry Hudson Parkway on the west and Tibett and Waldo Avenues on the east between Manhattan College Parkway/244th Street on the south and 250th Street on the north, was designated an historic district in 2006. The historic area includes 257 buildings.

The Flushing neighborhood of Queens has seen a significant increase in development in recent years, transforming the neighborhood into a major housing and commercial center. The 450,000-square-foot Flushing Promenade has been completed, including five buildings of retail and housing.

In 2005, Fordham University announced plans to expand its Lincoln Center campus in Manhattan to serve over 10,000 students. The University’s student population has outgrown this campus, which was originally built to accommodate 3,500 students but managed to serve 8,000 students in the 2007 academic year.

In 2004, national homeownership rates hit a record high of 69 percent. A long period of housing market appreciation encouraged mortgage lenders to relax standards and allowed homeownership to become a reality for people previously without access to the homeownership market.

In 2007, at the request of Councilwoman Melinda Katz, the Department of City Planning (DCP) initiated a series of contextual rezonings in the central Queens neighborhood of Forest Hills. The action was largely motivated by concern among neighborhood residents over a steady influx of new development that they believed was out of scale and character with the area's existing architecture.

In 1948, a 2,200-acre natural habitat on Staten Island (composed of marshes, waterways, and lowlands) was established as the Fresh Kills landfill by the City of New York. At the height of its operation, the landfill was the largest in the world, and handled 29,000 tons of solid waste daily.

The Fulton Street Transit Center (FSTC), designed after September 11, 2001, was initially conceived to be a grand transit station in the heart of Lower Manhattan.

The Gansevoort Peninsula Marine Transfer Station is part of New York City’s 20-year Solid Waste Management Plan, which the City Council passed in 2006. The city plans to build the transfer station on Pier 52 on the Hudson River, and plans also include a recycling station.

In February 2007, City Planning Commission chair Amanda Burden announced that the city would soon unveil a rezoning plan for the Garment District, an area that extends from 35th to 40th street between Broadway and 9th Avenue. Two years later, no such plan has emerged, though negotiations between the City, garment industry representative, and property owners continue.

The $500 million Gateway Center at the Bronx Terminal Market – one of the largest private sector investments in borough history – will replace all but one of the original Bronx Terminal Market buildings along with the Bronx House of Detention.

In early 2006 the General Theological Seminary in Chelsea announced plans to demolish four-story modernist Sherrill Hall.

In January 2001, then-President Bill Clinton designated Governors Island, a former United States Army and Coast Guard military base off the southern tip of Manhattan, a historic district in an effort to enhance the island’s public use. In March 2002, then-President George W.

With Park Slope having been developed to capacity, nearby Gowanus is seeing a significant increase in commercial and residential development. Most prominently, Shaya Boymelgreen plans to build Gowanus Village, a 375,000 unit, mixed-use development with 350 apartments and condominiums stretching from Carroll Street to Third Street, and from the Gowanus Canal to Third Avenue.

Over the past decade, “green” building projects have been sprouting up throughout New York City, as energy efficient and environmentally-conscious design increasingly becomes the norm for developers of new construction projects.

In the late 1990's, led by community organizations and Community Board 1, Greenpoint developed a 197-a plan and Williamsburg developed a Waterfront 197-a plan as blueprints for future development.

In 1999, Joshua David and Robert Hammond organized the Friends of the High Line to lobby against the impending demolition of the High Line, a striking remnant of Manhattan’s industrial past that snakes along the West Side of Manhattan.

Horizen Global has announced plans for a 21-story residential tower at 39 West 23rd Street in the Ladies’ Mile Historic District.

The HUB is one of the central retail districts in the Bronx. Located at the meeting place of four major roadways – Willis, Melrose and Third Avenues and East 149th Street – the HUB has been known in the past as the Broadway of the Bronx. The area has a rich history of commercial activity and diversity but faced a significant urban decline.

The Hudson Railyards site is a 26-acre site that runs from 30th to 33rd Streets between 10th and 12th Avenues. It is owned by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) and located within the recently rezoned Hudson Yards area. After plans to build a new Jets Stadium on the site failed, the city began negotiating with the MTA.

In 1998, the New York State Legislature and then-governor George Pataki signed the Hudson River Park Act, formally designating the five-mile area along Manhattan’s Hudson River from Battery Place to West 59th Street a park. When complete, the park will encompass 550 acres, including 13 old maritime piers that are being converted into public parks.

New York City’s vision for the Hudson Yards district on Manhattan’s far West Side would transform the former manufacturing area into a new commercial and residential district, adding needed office space and housing.

Hunter College President Jennifer Raab announced plans to sell off the school’s 3.5-acre Kips Bay nursing campus near 25th Street and F.D.R. Drive, and build a 16-story building for science and health professions programs at 67th Street and Second Avenue, closer to its overcrowded main campus on the Upper East Side.

Plans to revitalize the Hunts Point neighborhood in the South Bronx originated in 2003 from the work of the Hunts Point Task Force. In 2005, the Hunts Point Vision Plan was unveiled, the goals of which include creating jobs and a competitive business environment, as well as building a sustainable community.

The term “inclusionary zoning” refers to the wide array of zoning schemes that encourage developers to set aside a proportion of housing units in new projects for low- and moderate-income residents. Depending on the jurisdiction, these provisions may be either mandatory or optional, and may be adopted by a municipality, a county or statewide.

The Department of City Planning announced its intention to rezone a large swath of industrial land in Northern Manhattan, bounded by Broadway, the Harlem River, Dyckman Street and 207th Street. The new proposal would allow residential buildings, and permit increased bulk for developments containing at least twenty percent affordable housing.

The vision for downtown Jamaica includes turning the area into a thriving airport village with a healthy mix of homegrown and national stores as well as businesses that need to be located near the airport. National chains such as Old Navy, RadioShack and Home Depot have been in the neighborhood since 2006, and two national banks opened branches in 2008.

At present, the Javits Center ranks as the 18th largest convention center in North America. The Convention Center is not large enough to host the 60 largest annual shows and the space it does have, is completely booked.

JetBlue Airlines and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey recently completed a new terminal at JFK International Airport. The new terminal, called Terminal 5 or T5, cost about $745 million to construct and will allow JetBlue to more than double its flights from the airport.

The Kingsbridge Armory, known also as the Eighth Regiment Armory, is a 575,000 square foot building at 29 West Kingsbridge Road in the Kingsbridge section of the Bronx. It is a former military facility constructed between 1912 and 1917, in the Romanesque style. The complex, which takes up the entire block, has an 180,000 square foot drill hall and an 800 seat theater.

On May 11, 2005, New York's City Council approved the zoning map amendments for 40 blocks in the Kissena Park neighborhood in northern Queens, Community District 7.

In 1963, the original Penn Station – widely considered a masterpiece of the Beaux Arts style – was demolished to make way for a modern Madison Square Garden arena and office tower. The act sparked widespread condemnation and added urgency to concerns that runaway development and urban renewal efforts were endangering New York’s architectural heritage.

In 2001, the City approved the rezoning of a 37 block area in the center of Long Island City (LIC) in Queens. The Department of City Planning (DCP) initiated the rezoning to take advantage of an area that was well served by mass transit and transform it into a residential and commercial hub.

As part of Mayor Bloomberg’s South Bronx Initiative, the Lower Grand Concourse was partially rezoned to allow mixed-use development in the hopes of attracting private investment and affordable housing. The rezoning was adopted on June 30, 2009.

Prior to the events of September 11, 2001, Lower Manhattan, also known as the Financial District, was defined by the nearly-exclusive use of space for the financial sector. The September 11th attacks and subsequent damage and contamination to the surrounding areas and buildings resulted in a loss of 80,000 jobs in Lower Manhattan.

The Clocktower on Madison Avenue, the historic building that served as the headquarters of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company since 1908, is being developed into luxury residential condominiums. The clocktower is part of a full-block property that SL Green Realty Corporation acquired from MetLife for $918 million in 2005.

Located on 8th Avenue between West 31st and 33rd Streets, Madison Square Garden (MSG) was built in 1968 on the site of the old Pennsylvania Station. MSG is the busiest sports and entertainment arena in the United States and features various sporting, cultural, and entertainment events.

Here you would put a description of Manhattan

In the summer of 2006, the City Council unanimously approved a proposal by the Department of City Planning to rezone approximately 130 blocks in Maspeth and Woodside in western Queens, which are in Community Districts 2 and 5. Most of the rezoning area lies east of the New Calvary and Mt.

No new rail tracks have been added across the Hudson River since the existing Pennsylvania Station tunnels were completed in 1910.

In April of 2006, the New York Mets announced plans to replace Shea Stadium, which was originally built in 1964 as a multi-purpose venue for the Mets and the Jets. Soon after, in November of 2006, the Mets broke ground on the new baseball-only facility, which is located next door to Shea in what was once a parking lot at the north end of Flushing Meadows Corona Park.

This rezoning project in Queens addresses community concerns that recent residential development allowed under the current zoning is inconsistent with the established scale and character of the neighborhoods. The proposed zoning will permit lower density development and less commercial intrusion in order to protect each neighborhood’s residential context.

On April 5, 2006, the City Council approved the rezoning of approximately 80 blocks in Brooklyn’s Midwood neighborhood.

The New York City School Construction Authority plans to construct a new school campus in the Concourse Village section of the Bronx on a seven-acre site at East 153rd Street and Concourse Village West. The $235 million project would be the single biggest project in the largest school construction plan in the history of New York City.

The Moynihan Station redevelopment project has changed dramatically in scope and scale since its conception in the early 1990s. At the project’s core is the intent to improve the functionality and appearance of Pennsylvania Station and boost the commercial potential of the underutilized West Side of Manhattan near the station.

Homeless since its creation in 1984, the Museum for African Art will finally have a permanent home in a new $80 million building designed by Robert A. M. Stern, on Fifth Avenue between 109th and 110th Street. The structure will have 90,000 square feet, including 16,000 square feet of exhibition space and 115 luxury condominiums with views of adjacent Central Park.

The Department of Housing, Preservation & Development issued a RFP for the redevelopment of the Brig, a 104,600-square-foot site located in the Wallabout/Fort Greene section of Brooklyn in July 2006. The Brig, adjacent to the Brooklyn Navy Yard, was originally a federal naval prison and was later used as a City correctional facility.

A building code is a set of construction regulations enforced by law to ensure safe building practices through design and construction guidelines. The code has a tremendous amount of influence over how buildings get constructed in New York City.

Established in 1934, the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) is the nation’s largest and oldest public housing authority. It is also the city's biggest landlord, with 178,407 apartments in 324 complexes located throughout the five boroughs (as of April 2010). More 8% of the city's population live in NYCHA housing.

On October 27, 2006, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) approved the City’s Department of Sanitation’s (DSNY) Solid Waste Management Plan. The 20- year plan is designed to fundamentally change the way the City transports residential and commercial waste by utilizing barges and trains, rather than trucks.

Gary Barnett, a former Belgian diamond trader and founder of the Extell Development Company, plans to construct a 41-story tower, the New York Diamond Tower (or Gem Tower), in the heart of New York City’s Diamond District. The project, known officially as 50 W. 47th Street, and located mid-block between 5th and 6th Avenues, was estimated to cost roughly $433.5 million to build.

The New-York Historical Society wants to begin a $20 million renovation of its landmark building at 170 Central Park West that would also allow a developer to build a 23-story glass apartment tower that has 18 floors of condominium apartments behind the society’s museum and library. The apartment tower would be 280 feet high, doubling the 136-foot height of the current structure.

As part of the proposal to redevelop the Hudson Yards area of Midtown West, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority has proposed construction and operation of an extension of the No. 7 line to serve the Hudson Yards area. On October 5, 2006, New York City and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority agreed on a $2.1 billion expansion for the No.

The little-known North Brother Island lies in the East River off the south shore of the borough of the Bronx. At 19.3 acres in size, North Brother Island is currently one of the largest segments of city-managed greenery in the South Bronx.

North Tribeca Rezoning

Led by Deputy Mayor Dan Doctoroff, and the nonprofit group NYC2012, the city launched a $50 million dollar bid to host the Olympics. NYC's bid was denied on July 6th, 2005. The plan had significant citywide planning implications, from new stadiums to transportation demands to environmental cleanup.

Founded in 1831, New York University (NYU) has grown from a small, local college with an inaugural class of 158 students to the largest private university in the country, with almost 40,000 students enrolled in its 14 schools and colleges. NYU also numbers among the largest employers in New York City, with over 16,000 staff and faculty members on its payroll.

The former P.S. 64 building has been an architectural and cultural fixture within the East Village for more than a century. Built in 1906 near Tompkins Square Park with frontage on both East 9th and East 10th Streets, the building introduced a number of innovations to 20th century public school design. Architect C.B.J.

In February 2009, Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Janette Sadik-Khan, New York City’s Commissioner of Transportation, unveiled “Green Light for Midtown” -- the City’s plan for a car-free zone along Broadway, stretching from Herald Square to Times Square. Starting in May 2009, portions of Broadway from 33rd to 35th and 42nd to 47th streets were closed to vehicles.

Both Pelham Bay and Westchester Square are low- to mid-density areas with detached homes in the inner blocks and apartment buildings on the main streets. The Department of City Planning proposes to “downzone” 55 blocks of these areas to encourage “in character” development and reduce the increasing traffic load on the areas.

In December 2006, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg unveiled PlaNYC 2030, a challenge to New Yorkers “to generate ideas for achieving ten key goals for the city’s sustainable future.” Organized into six key areas (Land, Water, Transportation, Energy, Air, and Climate Change), the PlaNYC 2030 project is targeting ten goals, ideally achievable by the year 2030, to allow for the growth and

Built in 1907 for an unprecedented $12 million, the Plaza Hotel was purchased by El-Ad Properties for $675 million in 2004. The National Historic Landmark, located at the corner of Central Park South and 5th Avenue, was not even for sale when El-Ad CEO Miki Naftali orchestrated the deal.

Prevailing wage laws establish minimum compensation levels for workers on government construction projects.

Public Place is a 6-acre brownfield in Brooklyn located between Smith Street and the Gowanus Canal south of 5th Street. A manufactured gas plant owned by Brooklyn Union Gas occupied the site from the 1860s through 1959.

Description of Queens.

The Queens Botanical Garden, home to a network of diverse plant ecosystems with intertwining pathways, went under significant renovation in August 2006, and has become the first major development project in Queens to earn platinum honors in Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) from the US Green Building Council.

At the foot of the Queensboro Bridge, Queens Plaza is known as the gateway to Queens. However, in recent years its reputation has been one of confusing traffic patterns, unsafe pedestrian crossings and blight. In an effort to revive Queens Plaza, the Department of City Planning (DCP) conducted a study that would be used to redesign the area.

Queens West/ Hunters Point South

A proposed 26-acre family-themed water park with 80 foot water slides is expected to begin construction in spring 2007 on a piece of Randalls Island parkland at the juncture of the East and Harlem Rivers, under the vast Triborough Bridge. It took seven years for the city to finalize the specifics on the water park.

The Red Hook waterfront is undergoing significant development concurrent with the new cruise line terminal, and a clash has emerged between those pushing for more commercial development and others attempting to build more residential complexes.

In 2005, Vornado Realty Trust announced plans to develop a 6.6 acre site into a mixed-use complex in Rego Park, Queens, adjacent to the already existing Rego Park Center shopping mall. The site is managed by Vornado, though it is owned by Alexander’s, Inc.

The Abyssinian Development Corporation, a nonprofit development company which is associated with the Abyssinian Baptist Church, has successfully blocked plans to landmark the long-vacant Renaissance Ballroom and Renaissance Casino located on Adam Clayton Boulevard and 138th Street.

Located on Park Avenue between 66th and 67th Streets, the Armory was constructed from 1878 to 1881 for the prestigious Seventh Regiment and remains the only armory in the United States ever built with private funds.

Silvercup Studios, currently home to the filming of many movies and TV shows such as The Sopranos, is proposing a two-million-square-foot development just south of the Queensboro bridge in Queens. The $1 billion complex will include soundstages, offices, and 1000 apartments, 150 of which will be earmarked for people with low and moderate incomes.

In 2005, the New York City Department of Sanitation (DSNY) announced plans for a 140- to 150-feet-high and 427,000 square foot garage on a lot bounded by Spring, Washington and West streets in Manhattan.

The city’s Economic Development Corporation is negotiating with Oak Point Energy to purchase a 28-acre parcel of former industrial land in the Hunts Point section of the South Bronx to be used for a new detention center to relieve overcrowding on Rikers Island.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) and MTA New York City Transit (NYCT) remade the existing South Ferry Terminal Station, which was first built in 1905 and serves over 6 million people yearly. The station is the ending location for the No. 1 subway line and is located underneath Peter Minuit Plaza in Lower Manhattan, adjacent to Battery Park and the Staten Island Ferry Terminal.

When General Growth Properties (GGP) acquired the Rouse Company for $7 billion in 2004, the Chicago-based mall operator absorbed ownership of the South Street Seaport along the East River of Manhattan. Years later, in 2008, GGP unveiled a plan by SHoP Architects to redevelop the Seaport into a mixed-use waterfront destination.

The Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation (GVSHP) has submitted a proposal for the creation of the South Village Historic District in January 2007. The boundaries of the district would cover the blocks south of West Fourth St. to West Houston St., between Seventh Ave. and LaGuardia Place, and an extension from Houston St. down to Watts St. between Sixth Ave.

Sixty-eight blocks in Springfield Gardens, located in southeast Queens, were rezoned in April 2005 after going through the City’s land use review process, the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP). Support for the Springfield Gardens rezoning was initiated from within the community, with the United Neighbors Civic Association actively working to get the rezoning passed.

As St. Vincent’s Catholic Medical Centers - the umbrella organization for several hospitals and health care facilities - emerged from bankruptcy in February 2007, it announced plans to build a new hospital to replace its flagship facility in Greenwich Village. St. Vincent’s says it needed the new facility because the layout of its current facility was outdated and impractical.

With nearly half of its waterfront zoned for industrial use - by far the highest proportion among the five boroughs - Staten Island's North Shore provides many development possibilities. At the decaying Stapleton District, the Department of City Planning and the Economic Development Corporation have a plan to build what they say is a miniature version of Manhattan's Battery Park City.

On December 1, 2006, Disque D. Deane, chairman of Starrett City Associates, announced the sale of Spring Creek Towers — better known as Starrett City, a 140-acre apartment complex on Jamaica Bay in Brooklyn.

Desc. of SI

A NASCAR racetrack has been proposed for a former oil tank farm in Bloomfield, Staten Island. The project, which as proposed would not only result in the racetrack but also thousands of housing units and a large retail complex, has been the subject of an increasingly vigorous community debate.

Plans for a new light rail line on the North Shore of Staten Island have received strong support from Staten Island Borough President James Molinaro (R) and various members of New York’s congressional delegation including Senator Charles Schumer (D) and former-Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (D), as well as the Staten Island Chamber of Commerce and the Staten Island Economic Development Corporati

On October 17, 2006, Tishman Speyer Properties and partner BlackRock Investment Bank signed the largest American real estate deal to date, agreeing to pay $5.4 billion for Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village, an immense complex of 110 apartment buildings with a total of 11,232 units, on 40 acres of land, along the East River.

The Sunnyside Yards development proposal has been discussed by city planners, developers, and community advocates for decades. The report recommends that builders put between 18,000 and 35,000 housing units on the site, depending on the zoning. There would also be schools, parks land and an interposal transportation facility for the MTA, LIRR, Amtrak and bus service.

Bush Terminal Piers Park

The Caledonia is a 24-story, glass-and-brick residential structure abutting the High Line at 450 West 17th Street between 9th and 10th Avenues. The building has its own entrance onto the High Line. The building’s developer is the Related Companies and the Taconic Investment Partners and the architect is Gary Handel.

A new tower dubbed Tower Verre is being planned in Midtown Manhattan adjacent to the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). Developed by Gerald Hines, an international real estate developer, and designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Jean Nouvel, the proposed skyscraper is expected to incorporate residential units, hotel space and additional exhibit space for MoMA. Developer Gerald D.

The Trump SoHo is a luxury hotel-condominium venture by Donald Trump, in partnership with the Bayrock Group and Tamir Sapir. The building, located at 246 Spring Street between Varick Street and Sixth Avenue, is the tallest in SoHo -- rising 454 feet high or about 43 stories. Buildings nearby are between 2 and 15 stories tall.

The redesigning of Union Square Park has been ongoing since the 1980s. The current renovations, known as the North End project, began in the Spring of 2008 and are expected to be completed by the Fall of 2009.

Eighty-three blocks in the central Queens neighborhoods of Fresh Meadows, Utopia Estates and West Cunningham Park are currently zoned R-2, and the Department of City Planning proposes the entire area be rezoned to R-2A.

The United Nations General Assembly (GA) has cleared the way for a major rehabilitation of the UN campus to begin. In February 2008, the GA approved the $1.9 billion budget for the renovation project, which is planned to be completed by 2013. The groundbreaking for the renovations was held in May 2008.

Manhattan’s Community Board 7 has passed a resolution calling for the rezoning of an area of the Upper West Side bounded by 97th Street, 110th Street, Riverside Drive and Central Park West. The proposal comes as two luxury towers being constructed by Extell Development Corporation, each more than thirty stories tall, are rising on Broadway between 99th and 100th Street.

The city is modifying a real estate proposal in East Harlem, a few months after community opposition killed a $1 billion deal to redevelop six acres between 125th and 127th Streets and Third and Second Avenues with 2 million square feet of development and four apartment towers. Complaints from the local community about the size and makeup of the proposal scuttled the original project in May.

After several years of litigation, in 2003, the New York State Legislature approved New York City’s plans to build a water filtration plant on 28 acres of Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx.

Via Verde is a proposed 18-story, 202-unit, working-class apartment complex in the Melrose section of the Bronx that won New York City’s first juried design competition for affordable and sustainable housing. The competition, known as the New Housing New York (NHNY) Legacy Project, attracted 32 teams of architects and developers from around the world.

The New York City Department of Parks and Recreation has begun construction on the renovation of Washington Square Park, the Greenwich Village landmark park.

West-Park Presbyterian Church, located on Amsterdam Avenue and West 86th Street, has experienced a decrease in its congregation at a time when its debt continues to grow. The church, built in the 1850’s, is in need of millions of dollars of renovations to maintain the structure.

The Arker Companies Real Estate Development firm has development a housing and retail complex on the site for a former gas station in the Morris Park neighborhood of the Bronx. The project, which cost $27 million, is a seven-story apartment building and meets affordable housing guidelines.

On December 21, 2005, the City Council adopted the zoning changes, and they now are in effect. The rezoning covers 311 blocks in the Whitestone area of Queens to "preserve the traditional scale of mostly single-family character and preserve the low density and the green space." Similar rezoning was enacted in 2005 for nearby College Point.

Willets Point, also known as the Iron Triangle, is a 13-block area located near the Flushing and Corona neighborhoods in Queens consisting largely of auto repair shops, junkyards, and other industrial and small businesses. The 2000 census reported that Willets Point had a population of one.

Redevelopment efforts for the 16-acre World Trade Center (WTC) site began almost immediately after the attacks of September 11, 2001. Though the site was being leased to developer Larry Silverstein at the time of the attacks, the property was owned entirely by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ).

On June 15, 2005, the Yankees announced their plans to build a new stadium. On April 3, 2009, it opened to the public, on-schedule and ready for the 2009 baseball season. The old stadium had been renovated several times since its construction in 1923, yet suffered from outdated amenities and concessions, limited accessibility for patrons with disabilities, and occasional structural issues.