Last week, the Landmarks Preservation Commission approved the 850-building Prospect Heights Historic District, the largest district designated in two decades. MAS made a video about the process of creating the historic district, featuring Councilmember Letitia James, Chair of the Landmarks Preservation Commission Robert B. Tierney, historian Francis Morrone, and Gib Veconi of Prospect Heights Neighborhood Development Council (PHNDC), and showing how we worked with PHNDC to survey the historic buildings and promote the area for designation. The result was not just the designation, the act of engaging residents in the process brought the community together and provided a new sense of neighborhood identity. Continue Reading>>

MAS Issues in the Press:
- The security zone planned for Ground Zero, once completed, will inhibit active pedestrian streetscapes (New York Times). A new survey has found that 57 percent of small businesses were closed or displaced as a result of the 2004 Downtown Brooklyn Rezoning (New York Daily News).

- Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer has approved the Lower East Side rezoning (New York Observer). As the proposed Coney Island rezoning is yet to be certified, amusement park operators wonder whether they will be granted another year extension on their leases (Brooklyn Paper).

photo credit: Ray Devlin Continue Reading>>

MAS and the Prospect Heights Neighborhood Development Corporation (PHNDC) recently partnered to advocate for a new historic district in Prospect Heights. This hands-on collaborative experience resulted in LPC’s consideration of 750 contributing buildings, and the decision to move forward with the designation a new historic district in Prospect Heights. The partnership revolved around a community mapping initiative that produced a unique tool that anchored discussion among multiple stakeholders and helped mark the boundaries of the district proposed to the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC). Continue Reading>>

On Wednesday, April 9, the Landmarks Preservation Commission held a community forum on the district and shared their proposed boundaries for a 700-building district. The Commission may move as soon as this year to calendar the district, the first step in the designation process.

In April 2007, MAS and the Prospect Heights Neighborhood Development Corporation submitted a survey of the historic architecture of Prospect Heights, Brooklyn, to the Landmarks Preservation Commission along with a request that the area to be studied for designation as a historic district. The application was submitted because the Atlantic Yards proposal was moving ahead, making it crucial that Prospect Heights gain protection through historic district designation before spill-over development pressures permanently altered its intact historic character. Continue Reading>>

MAS and the Prospect Heights Neighborhood Development Corporation recently submitted a survey of the historic architecture of Prospect Heights, Brooklyn, to the Landmarks Preservation Commission because we believe it is threatened by development pressures from the adjacent Atlantic Yards site. The survey, and an accompanying request for the area to be studied for designation as a historic district, is only the first step. Read on to find out how you can help us save Prospect Heights’ historic resources.

Prospect Heights is an area rich with the historic architecture that helps shape Brooklyn’s special identity. The neighborhood contains blocks lined with beautiful Italianate and neo-Grec rowhouses, interspersed with churches, small commercial buildings and multi-family structures. Originally a quiet farm area crossed by the historic Flatbush Turnpike Road, Prospect Heights became a residential neighborhood in the second half of the nineteenth century after the completion of nearby Prospect Park. The area is widely recognized as an important historic neighborhood, and indeed, part of the neighborhood is listed on the National Register.

With the Atlantic Yards proposal moving ahead, it is crucial that Prospect Heights gain protection through historic district designation before development pressures resulting from the project permanently alter the its intact historic character. Continue Reading>>

The Imagine New York staff has reviewed the public’s comments on the World Trade Center memorial designs, gathered from public workshops in New Canaan, CT; Elizabeth, NJ; and Pace University and September Space in New York City. In addition, the project’s Web site, http://www.imaginenewyork.org/, has been accepting public feedback on the designs, and has gathered over 12,000 comments in the past two weeks. The summary report of results from the workshops and Web site will be released this week. Stay tuned.