City officials are looking to rezone about 75 blocks of the Tremont area of the Bronx, hoping to turn vacant lots into more profitable businesses. The Department of City Planning says in a statement that their goal is to "provide opportunities for new residential and commercial development in the 'heart of the Bronx.'" DCP spokeswoman Carol Samol tells NY1 that about 700 housing units are projected to be built in the next 10 years, and that they would impose height limits to preserve the character of the area. Uh oh, sounds like "SoBro" may be spreading! more ›

In a highly contentious July decision, Brooklyn's Community Board 1 voted to convert a 31-acre area zoned for manufacturing on the border of Williamsburg and Bedford-Stuyvesant into 1,895 low-rise apartments—905 of which would charge below-market rate rents. Opponents say the buildings would be too small and accuse the city of awarding housing contracts to non-profits tied to influential Assemblyman Vito Lopez—the United Jewish Organizations of Williamsburg and the Bushwick Ridgewood Senior Citizens Council—without putting the sites up for bid. more ›

Despite objections from Save Coney Island and others, the City Council's land-use committee approved the city's controversial rezoning of Coney Island, putting the plan on track for full Council approval on July 29th. Some opponents were hoping the committee would send the plan back to the drawing board so that the proposed open-air amusement park be expanded and four high-rise hotel towers planned for the south side of Surf Avenue could be relocated. According to City Room, Councilman Dominic Recchia Jr. hinted that the city may expand the amusement area, but that will only happen if the Bloomberg administration can finalize a long-stalled deal to buy 10.5 acres of land from developer Joe Sitt before the full council votes. Sitt, who could probably best Bruce Ratner in a douchiest developer contest, told the Post yesterday, "I'm the guy who controls this—it's my sandbox." He added that he's willing "to share my sandbox with my friend Mayor Mike," but Mike wants to buy the land outright, and hasn't ruled out seizing the sandbox through eminent domain. more ›

If you've ever queued up for a spin on Coney Island's landmark Wonder Wheel, you may have noticed that one of the cars is really going to the dogs. Well, one dog, at least: Sunny, a 12-year-old Rottweiler who guards the property by night and rides in car number four by day. Amos Crowley, who has worked at Deno's Wonder Wheel for the past 10 years, tells the Daily News, "Some people think it's funny, some people think it's cruel, but the dog thinks otherwise. We don't do it to be funny; we do it because she likes it. It's tradition. It's been going on for years and years." more ›

The Brooklyn Paper and The Post are making waves today with sensational headlines about Nathan's Coney Island flagship being doomed by the city's final rezoning plan for the area. But as we cautioned yesterday, this is pure speculation, based on assumptions that the rezone will raise the value of Nathan's property so high that the owner will be tempted to sell. Nathan's CEO Eric Gatoff released this statement this morning: "We remain committed to Coney Island in the long-term and we fully intend to maintain our historic flagship restaurant at 1310 Surf Avenue... As to the latest report issued by the City, we believe the information relating to Nathan's Famous is being misinterpreted and that there is no intention to replace or demolish our flagship location." So everybody calm down; there's certainly plenty to get worked up about on Coney Island right now, but Nathan's Famous lips and assholes will available on Surf Avenue for a long time to come. more ›

At 1 p.m. tomorrow, the eyes of the world will be on a City Planning Commission Review Session in Spector Hall at 22 Reade Street, where the city will make a formal, public presentation of its controversial rezoning plan for Coney Island. Last week the Mayor's Office of Environmental Coordination quietly released their Final Draft Environmental Impact Statement, which outlines how the city will rezone the area to encourage the development of towers up to 27 stories tall, expanded retail spaces, 4,500 new housing units (800 of which would be built to be affordable units), and a new 27-acre indoor-outdoor amusement district to be dubbed the "People’s Playground." more ›

Brownstoner has done the math and concluded that there are a ridiculous number of hotels going up near Brooklyn’s lovely Gowanus Canal. The latest new development will be a nine story Fairfield Inn on Third Avenue between Douglass and Butler streets; construction will begin once existing buildings are torn down. So that makes a future grand total of 7 hotels in the Gowanus neighborhood; three already built and four more on the way. more ›