FLATIRON—Is our burgeoning Arrested Development rubric about to claim another victim? According to a tipster, former Development Du Jour Alma—the Roman & Williams-designed condo conversion of the old Danceteria (amongst other things) on West 21st Street—has been shelved. A rep for the building had no comment. File this one under rumormongering for the time being. [CurbedWire Inbox]
CARROLL GARDENS—The cursed 360 Smith Street development that gained notoriety as the Heavy Metal Building per original architect Robert Scarano's design is back before everyone's favorite city Board tomorrow. The building, which now has a new architect and is known as Oliver House, has run afoul of a zoning change that limits height to 55 feet rather than the planned 70 feet and the fight over the 15 feet has ended up at the Board of Standards and Appeals. The developers lawyers say the foundation was complete enough to be grandfathered under the old zoning. Community members say "hell no" and the Department of Buildings says the foundation is 20 percent complete, meaning there's no way the buildings should be 70 feet tall. Word on the street, though, is that "the political fix is in" and that the Board (which has a long history of siding with developers in such cases) could allow the 70 foot height, regardless.
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