Image Credit: NYC DOT

One year ago, in January 2020, the Expert Panel assigned by Mayor Bill de Blasio to study the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway issued its Final Report. Mayor de Blasio in 2019 appointed the seventeen-person Expert Panel* of which I was a member, following the angry rejection of New York City DOT’s plan for reconstructing the section of the BQE adjacent to Brooklyn Heights, Dumbo and Downtown Brooklyn. City DOT presented its plan publicly September 2019. The plan caused immediate outrage. (more…)

Brooklyn-Queens Streetcar rendering. Image credit: Mayor’s Office.

New light rail will bring much-needed connectivity to other existing modes of transportation. On August 30, 2018, the de Blasio Administration announced plans to move forward with the Brooklyn Queens Connector (BQX) streetcar project. The emissions-free light rail system will help serve the continuously growing Brooklyn-Queens Waterfront communities that are underserved by existing transportation. (more…)

Carlo A. Scissura

Brooklyn’s growing sector of small food makers has meant more jobs for the local economy over the past few years. As part of this growth, Brooklyn itself has become a brand for artisanal food makers who have set up in small kitchens and incubator spaces across the borough to make their tasty creations.

The Brooklyn “Food Chain” – starting with food manufacturing and wholesale distribution, and including grocery stores, specialty stores, restaurants, and coffee shops – account for 12.5 percent of the borough’s 472,000 private sector jobs. According to the Brooklyn Chamber’s Winter 2012 Brooklyn Labor Market Review, food accounts for one out of six of the 49,000 businesses in Brooklyn — with nearly 59,000 people employed by 7,800 businesses.

(more…)

Broad support voiced for extending Park Slope district, creating new district in Wallabout neighborhood, and protecting row of buildings in Crown Heights. On October 26, 2010, Landmarks considered designating three new Brooklyn historic districts. Landmarks held separate hearings on the proposed Park Slope Historic District Extension, the Wallabout Historic District, and the Park Place Historic District.

The proposed Park Slope extension would encompass 582 buildings located southwest of the original Park Slope Historic District. The district would be generally bounded by 7th and 15th Streets and Seventh and Eighth Avenues. It would also include some properties along Bartel-Pritchard Square and Prospect Park West. The proposed extension features a mix of rowhouses and apartment buildings, many dating to the 1880s, and other notable structures including two 19th century firehouses and the 1879 Ansonia Clock Factory. 7 CityLand 125 (Sept. 15, 2010). (more…)

Located on former prison site, the complex will provide affordable and special needs housing. On September 30, 2009, the City Council approved the Department of Housing Preservation and Development’s proposal to facilitate the construction of a 455- unit complex, known as Navy Green, in Brooklyn’s Wallabout neighborhood. The 461,449 sq.ft. mixed-use development will be located on most of the block bounded by Flushing Avenue to the north, the Brooklyn- Queens Expressway to the south, Vanderbilt Avenue to the east, and Clermont Avenue to the west. During World War II, the Navy operated a prison on the site and the City’s Department of Correction used the structure before its 2005 demolition.

Dunn Development and L&M Development Partners’ proposal for the site includes four multi-family buildings and 23 four-story townhouses. The developers will build two 12-story structures on Flushing Avenue that will step down to eight-stories as they wrap around the corners of Clermont and Vanderbilt Avenues, respectively. The plan calls for constructing 10 four-story townhouses along Clermont Avenue, and 13 townhouses on Vanderbilt Avenue. An eight-story structure will be built on the southern portion of Clermont Avenue, and another eight-story building will be located along the southern portion of Vanderbilt Avenue. This building will provide 95-units of housing for low-income singles and special needs housing, targeting formerly homeless adults who suffer from mental illness. (more…)