WILLIAMSBURG?Two separate tipsters have sent in photos of a pinata at a 2 Northside Piers Cinco de Mayo party, which was specially ordered to look like the under-construction third tower of the same development. Many consider the new Northside Piers building (abbreviated here as NSP3) to be an eyesore that will block their river views, so residents must have had fun bashing the living daylights out of it with a pool cue and then gobbling up its candy-filled insides. Though it seems, based on the photos above, that the building held up surprisingly well. [CurbedWire Inbox, previously]
TWO BRIDGES?For the first time, public housing residents are suing the authority that oversees their apartments (the NYCHA) over repairs. Or, perhaps it's more accurate to say a lack of repairs. More than 300 residents of the Smith Houses on St. James Place, who have experienced crumbling ceilings, gas outages, toxic mold, and other urban apartmental hazards, filed a lawsuit that aims to hold the NYCHA accountable for timely repairs, just like any other landlord in the city. The NYCHA has claimed that it lacks the money to address all the problems, and can only make the services available if residents support a controversial plan to lease public land to private developers. Meanwhile, others argue that the body is missing opportunities to grab more funding and delegating its coffers improperly. [CurbedWire Inbox]
NOHO/CENTRAL VILLAGE?New York University's mega expansion continues, and now it's seeping into uncharted territory. In the latest development for the Purple People Eaters, the New York Board of Standards and Appeals has approved a zoning variance for 726-730 Broadway at Waverly Place, which will allow NYU to house science classrooms and laboratories as well as a health center there, plus mechanical equipment for the roof that will make the structure higher than it is now (a la the dotted line in the image above). Soho and Noho have typically been viewed as historic districts and neighborhoods that are protected from encroachments like this, and along with other community groups the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation has voiced opposition to the Noho move on more than one occasion. The biggest fear, of course, is the precedent this permission sets. [CurbedWire Inbox; GVSHP]
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