A Parisian-style bar on the corner of Canal and Ludlow spent a year trying to get its sidewalk cafe back, and on March 18 it finally had a path. Council Member Chris Marte had called up Le Dive's application a year earlier, telling the subcommittee the operators had not yet answered neighbors' complaints about noise, smoking, and crowded sidewalks. This time he came with a deal. Le Dive, run by John Nidick of Golden Age Hospitality, agreed to Community Board 3's stipulations and cut its cafe from nine tables and eighteen seats down to six tables and twelve. Nidick said the business drove 311 complaints from 26 to under 7 and noise complaints from 17 to 2. Attorney Max Bookman called the six-table count a compromise the operator accepted while hoping to earn back the full nine.
The testimony split the block. Ron Ryer, a 25-year Lower East Side resident, urged the subcommittee to deny the permit, saying Le Dive stacks the land-use cafe, Dine Out NYC sheds, and Open Streets seating into 97 outdoor seats against a 74-person indoor capacity, and warned the owners are taking over 89 Canal across the street. Michael Lavario, who sits on CB3 and lives nearby, backed it, noting Nidick also serves on the board and had answered the noise and smoking concerns. Rachel Wilkerson, who is immunocompromised, said outdoor dining is the only way she can safely meet friends and asked the city to expand it, not shrink it. The hearing closed and the items were laid over.
The other fight was across the harbor in St. George. Megagroup, with WRS Associates, wants to rezone 37-59 Hamilton Avenue from R6 to R7-3 with a small C2-4 overlay and build an 18-story, roughly 369-unit building, about 111 of them permanently affordable under Mandatory Inclusionary Housing. Council Member Camille Hanks made a homeownership component her make-or-break, and the team said it is in active talks with HPD on a roughly 100-unit, 100% affordable middle-income ownership building priced near $300,000 to $400,000, pointing to an 80% AMI condo project it already sold in Astoria. Attorney Deirdre Carson said the 18-story height is capped at 185 feet by the St. George special district text, answering Hanks' worry that a developer would do what River North did and build taller after an upzone.
Megagroup, which said it has built over 10,000 units of housing, mostly affordable, also pitched 146 parking spaces and a STEM-focused community space across from Curtis High School. Those Hamilton Avenue items were heard and laid over as the public process continues. Expect the HPD homeownership structure and the final affordability mix to decide whether Hanks gives the rezoning her vote.