Hudson Square, where Trinity Real Estate seeks to build new towers

Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer gave the rezoning of Hudson Square his conditional approval yesterday, though not without extracting some concessions from major landlord Trinity Real Estate, which hopes to erect new residential towers in the area, the New York Observer reported.

Trinity hopes to build new apartments in what has primarily been a commercial area. The agreement reached yesterday would limit those towers’ height to 290 feet, rather than the 320 Trinity had sought. The rezoning affects 20 potential developments, the Observer said. [more]

A section of the Department of Buildings map with the Trump Soho circled in black. The key shows that the building is listed as a mixed residential and commercial building

The Trump Soho is a something of a hybrid: a 391-unit condominium tower with restrictions on how long owners can occupy their apartments—a compromise designed to allow developers Donald Trump, the Bayrock Group and the Sapir Organization to build the project, despite the lot’s commercial zoning.

But a Department of City Planning map, uncovered yesterday by the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, lists the parcel at 246 Spring Street as a “mixed residential and commercial building.” The discovery has reignited the non-profit’s doubts about the legality of the luxury tower, and what it sees as the city’s special treatment of the developer. [more]

Robert Yaro, president of the Regional Planning Association

There is no time like the present to reflect on the state of New York City’s infrastructure. As an op-ed from Crain’s reminds us, the office stock in our city is woefully outdated, and the city has neglected to make a big push to modernize office buildings, as other global cities — such as Chicago, Tokyo and London — have recently done.

If the city is to continue to attract top-tier businesses, it must build more Class A office space, Robert Yaro, president of the Regional Plan Association, a think tank that tackles urban policy issues in the Tri-state area, said in the piece. While the average age of a building in London’s financial district is 40 years, in Midtown on the east side of Manhattan, that figure is 73 years. [more]

From left: Councilmember Diana Reyna and the CastleBraid apartments in Bushwick

As discussions about a Bushwick rezoning bid take shape, some locals are hoping to prevent the neighborhood from becoming the next luxury condominium-filled Williamsburg. The Wall Street Journal reported that community leaders, such as Councilmember Diana Reyna, are seeking to influence the development that some see as inevitable.

Reyna, for one, wants the rezoning to look different than the one that took place in Williamsburg and Greenpoint seven years ago and paved the way for high-density luxury developments and rental buildings to overtake industrial properties. Reyna, instead, wants low-rise developments to populate the industrial Bushwick, so a strong presence of affordable housing and for local jobs to be preserved. [more]

145th Street in West Harlem

In the wake of last week’s City Planning approval of the rezoning of West Harlem, residents are voicing concerns that it will allow “outsized” development, the New York Observer reported.

Locals are especially concerned about the size of building allowed on West 145th Street, the Observer said, and have written to the City Council asking that they reject the proposal. The rezoning will reach City Council in the next month or so, the paper said. [more]

From left: Vickie Palmos of Astoria Condos, Charles Sciberras of Realty Executives Today, Harold Valestin of MNS and Jonathan Miller, President and CEO of Miller Samuel

From the September issue: It used to be that Astoria, Queens, was an ethnic Greek enclave dominated by an older housing stock of prewar buildings and one- and two-family homes. But in the last few years, the neighborhood, which has been gentrifying over the last decade or so, has continued to see lots of new residential development, and with it, more young professionals looking for new construction housing at the right price.

This month, The Real Deal talked to residential brokers and market analysts about how real estate in Astoria is holding up. [more]

Southampton Village Mayor Mark Epley and Evelyn Konrad

Long-time resident of Southampton Village and Stanford law graduate, Evelyn Konrad, 83, is taking her wealthy neighbors to court over their super-sized McMansions, the New York Daily Post reported. The suit alleges that Southampton Village Mayor Mark Epley revised the local zoning codes after his 2005 election to allow huge houses on small lots, as a favor to his Wall Street tycoon comrades – the suit also names Lone Star Funds CEO Donald Quintin and Manhattan attorney Denis Guerin. [more]

Jamaica Avenue

In an effort to preserve the suburban character of the area, City Council voted to approve the rezoning of approximately 200 blocks in Woodhaven and Richmond Hill – the first zoning changes to the neighborhoods since 1961 – to limit multi-family construction, the Queens Chronicle reported.  Pressure to rezone the area came after developers had begun demolishing freestanding homes and replacing them with apartment complexes to appeal to the many low-income and immigrant families moving to the area. However, the council did modify the proposal to allow larger-scale development on the block between 135th Avenue and Van Wyck Expressway north of Liberty Avenue. [more]

A single family home in Arlington, Mass.

While housing family members, and sometimes paying tenants, in basements and attics may not always be legal under city zoning, more and more families have found it necessary during the recession. Now homeowners are pressing for cities to ease those restrictions, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Richard Lacroix, a resident of Arlington, Mass., asked his town to allow him to convert his garage to a studio apartment that he can rent out, partly because he has seen so many of his neighbors leave the area because they can no longer afford their homes. [more]

From left: the Upper West Side and City Councilmember Gale Brewer

The City Council voted Thursday to approve the controversial re-zoning of the Upper West Side. The zoning revision will limit the size of retail stores on Broadway and Columbus and Amsterdam avenues, from 72nd to 110th Street on Broadway and Amsterdam, and from 72nd to 87th Street on Columbus, The New York Times reported. [more]