Parking is part of plan for BAM cultural district. The New York City Economic Development Corporation issued a request for proposals seeking developers to construct and operate an underground garage to be located beneath a newly constructed street-level public plaza on the 32,000-square-foot site located across Ashland Place from the Brooklyn Academy of Music. The triangular-shaped downtown Brooklyn lot, bound by Lafayette Avenue, Flatbush Avenue and Ashland Place, is currently used for street-level parking.

As part of the Bloomberg Administration’s efforts to revitalize downtown Brooklyn, the City identified the area around BAM as the BAM Cultural District, to be a vibrant, mixed-use multicultural arts district, which is already home to over 30 cultural organizations. The Brooklyn Public Library is also considering constructing a 100,000- square-foot visual and performing arts library, to be designed by Enrique Norten, which would be located just south of the public plaza and parking site. (read more…)

Proposals due May 21, 2007. The New York City Economic Development Corporation issued a request for proposals on March 26, 2007 seeking developers to purchase and redevelop 130,000 sq.ft. of the Bush Terminal complex, located in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. The site, bound by 43rd and 47th Streets on the north and south and the 51st Street Rail Yard and Bush Terminal Piers on the east and west, contains three buildings totaling 37,100 sq.ft. Four tenants on month-by-month leases currently occupy the buildings. EDC anticipates proposals will seek to demolish the buildings.

The site is located in an M3-1 zoning district, allowing heavy manufacturing, and is also in a waterfront area, imposing additional limitations on development. The RFP requests plans for industrial uses to support the goals of the Bloomberg administration’s Industrial Business Zones. 3 CityLand 133 (Oct. 15, 2006).

Current City projects in the area include redevelopment of the nearby South Brooklyn Marine Terminal and plans to establish Bush Terminal Piers Open Space, an 18- acre park to be located just southwest of the site. (read more…)

EDC seeks proposals for a post-secondary school to occupy 98-acre site containing designated buildings. On February 28, 2007, the New York City Economic Development Corporation issued a request for proposals for a site formerly used as the City’s Farm Colony.

Starting in the 1850s, the City provided housing to indigent New Yorkers in exchange for their labor on the Farm Colony. The facility expanded several times, but by the 1940s its use began to decline. It remained open until 1975 when the City moved the remaining residents to the adjacent Sea View Hospital. In 1985, Landmarks designated the entire area as the Farm Colony – Seaview Hospital Historic District, including the Farm Colony’s eleven buildings. (read more…)

Downtown Brooklyn mall to be demolished for large mixed-use retail, office, and residential center. On February 13, 2007, the New York City Industrial Development Agency, a component of the New York City Economic Development Corporation, approved financial assistance for the construction of a new 1.8-million-square-foot mixed-use development in downtown Brooklyn to replace the existing 169,500-square-foot Albee Street Mall.

Albee Development, a partnership of developers Acadia Realty, MacFarlane Partners and Avalon Bay, will purchase the mall for $125 million, according to press articles, from the current owner, Thor Equities, which purchased the property for $21 million in 2001. Albee will demolish the three-story mall, replacing it with below-grade parking, nearly 500,000 sq.ft. of retail space, 125,000 sq.ft. of office space, and 1,000 residential units, 20 percent of which are planned for lowand moderate-income residents.

IDA approved financing for the office space, planned for floors five through seven, in the amount of $1.2 million in mortgage recording tax exemptions and $2 million in sales tax exemptions. EDC stated that the new development will create 1,500 jobs, including 500 office jobs.

Representatives from Families United for Racial and Economic Equality, a local community organizing group, and tenants of the current mall voiced strong opposition to the project at IDA’s February 8, 2007 hearing. “We don’t want Brooklyn to look like Manhattan,” one speaker declared after arguing that the small, locally-owned, minority-run businesses currently located in the mall would not be likely tenants of the new high-end retail space. Two tenants, who testified that they poured their “last dimes” into their businesses, asked why tax payer money and City property should go to luxury housing. Opponents said the new retail and housing would be too expensive to serve the immediate community.

NYC IDA Hearing, Feb. 8, 2007; NYC EDC Press Release, NYC Industrial Development Agency to Help Spur New Office Space in Downtown Brooklyn, Feb. 13, 2007.

February calendar includes 17 projects. The New York City Industrial Development Agency, a component of the Economic Development Corporation, will hold its monthly public hearing on February 8, 2007 for 17 proposed projects including bond offerings totaling $811 million and seven straight-leases.

Included among the 17 projects is a straight-lease to NBC Universal of 1,380,000 sq.ft. of office space at 30 Rockefeller Plaza. The City would lease the property from the building’s owner and sub-lease it to NBC, exempting NBC from taxes. NBC would make payments in lieu of property taxes. IDA also proposes to exempt NBC’s purchase of equipment, furniture, and other fixtures from City and State sales and use taxes. (read more…)