From left: DOB Commissioner Robert LiMandri and state Senator Tony Avella

A state senator in Queens is calling for New York City Department of Buildings Commissioner Robert LiMandri to step down, citing LiMandri’s alleged failure to thwart a notorious developer whose projects have been cited for numerous violations, the New York Daily News reported. Developer Tommy Huang, whose project in Elmhurst, Queens, was the site of a fatal construction accident last year, has not been adequately reprimanded by the city, according to state Senator Tony Avella, who represents Queens’ Bayside area. [more]

Hotel Chelsea rendering

It turns out the Landmarks Preservation Commission was merely the smaller hurdle the Chetrit Group had to clear to carry out its planned Hotel Chelsea renovation. DNAinfo reported that the developer is working to get Department of Buildings approval for the rooftop addition even as the structure already exceeds the area’s zoning limits.

The landmarked building at 222 West 23rd Street has a total floor area that’s nearly 37,000 square feet larger than the 129,953 zoned for the site, and exceeds the maximum 145-foot height by five feet. [more]

From left: the view from a crane at the 90th story of One World Trade (credit: IB Times) and Department of Buildings Commissioner Robert LiMandri

[Updated at 11:20 April 20 with additional details and a comment from REBNY] The hotly-disputed new guidelines for crane operators in New York City will go into effect next month, a statement from the offices of Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Deputy Mayor for Operations Cas Holloway and Department of Buildings Commissioner Robert LiMandri said. The new guidelines will require applicants to obtain certification from a nationally accredited organization. [more]

The Camargue, at 303 E. 83rd St.

High-rise apartment tower the Camargue faces fines for failing to provide access to a privately-owned public space that it built in an exchange for additional air rights, DNAinfo reported.

Neighbors of the luxury apartments, located at 303 East 83rd Street, at Second Avenue, complained Feb. 21 to the Department of Buildings that a locked gate was preventing the community from accessing the playground. The Camargue’s original developers built the playground as a public space in order to receive a zoning variance to build higher than would normally be allowed in the area. [more]

Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer

The average number of elevator inspections performed by the Department of Buildings has dropped by 28 percent since 2008, Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer told the New York Post.

Figures compiled by Stringer’s office show an average of 7,930 inspections per month between January 2006 and Sept. 2008. But the average number between September 2008 and June 2011 was only 5,723. [more]

4 World Trade Center construction site (right)

In the wake of last month’s accident at 4 World Trade Center, the Department of Buildings is asking all companies using that model of crane to limit their loads to 75 percent of the total recommended capacity, DNAinfo reported.

The city wants contractors to limit loads until the investigation into why the cable at the Tishman Construction project suddenly snapped, sending steel beams careening 40 stories onto a flatbed truck, is concluded. [more]

A federal court dismissed a lawsuit this week that sought to undermine the New York City Department of Buildings’ power to regulate the crane industry, Crain’s reported.

The Steel Institute of New York sued the city agency and argued that the city’s crane laws should be governed by the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration, which has its own set of rules for crane construction. While the DOB’s laws do not conflict with federal regulations, they do have added safety measures that were a response to the two construction accidents involving cranes in 2008. [more]

From left, 303 East 51st Street, Ziel Feldman, founder of HFZ Capital
Group, and City Council member Jessica Lappin

For three and a half years, the structure at 303 East 51st Street has remained a stunted
skeleton, halted at 18 stories after the infamous March 2008 crane collapse that killed
seven people and crushed an adjacent building.

But that may change soon.

Ziel Feldman, founder of HFZ Capital Group, which closed on the purchase of the site
early this year, said through a spokesperson that he would have “significant progress to
announce” later this week, and the firm plans to restart construction at the site, on 51st
Street between First and Second avenues, this spring.

The expeditor on the project, Laurence Gillman, an associate at Jerome S. Gillman
Consulting Architect, said that the Department of Buildings had completed its zoning
examination of the plan and was reviewing architectural and other drawings as part of a
building code review. [more]

The lobby of the Hotel Chelsea as it was (center); the art has now been removed and demolition has begun

The renovation of the Hotel Chelsea has begun in earnest.

In August, a group of investors led by Joseph Chetrit paid $77.8 million for the landmark hotel.

The Hotel Chelsea will be receiving an extensive, but subtle, renovation, according to project architect Gene Kaufman. It will get new retail space, an expanded lobby and possibly another restaurant as part of a major upgrade planned by Chetrit.

As The Real Deal and other publications documented, the new owners of the 12-story famous hotel at 222 West 23rd Street stopped accepting guests, fired most of its staff, and removed residents’ colorful artwork from the hallway and lobby walls. [more]

From left: 437 Washington Street (source: PropertyShark) and a rendering of the Romanoff building to come

A demolition permit was filed this week for 437 West 13th Street, the Greenwich Village Society of Historical Preservation reported on its blog, paving the way for construction of the controversial 10-story, 175-foot office tower planned by Romanoff Equities adjacent to the High Line.

Romanoff has been battling with City Planning to maximize the size of the glassy tower, initially filing plans for a 250-foot with the expectation of a zoning variance that would clear the way for the building to exceed zoning regulations by 66 percent. Romanoff claimed that because the High Line ran through the property, it would need to build larger to recoup its investment. [more]