
Credit: Google maps
City will convey waterfront property to Kristal Auto Mall and an existing Toys ‘R’ Us retail store on Flatbush Avenue. On May 15, 2012, the City Council approved the Department of Small Business Services’ plan to facilitate the relocation of Kristal Auto Mall to a site on Flatbush Avenue abutting Mill Basin in Brooklyn. The City-owned project site is occupied by a 45,000-square-foot Toys ‘R’ Us store and a 400-space accessory parking lot used by surrounding businesses. To the south of the site is another City-owned parcel consisting of 400,000 sq.ft. of undeveloped land abutting Four Sparrow Marsh. The proposal called for, among other things, disposing of nearly 240,000 sq.ft. of City-owned property, demapping an unimproved strip of Flatbush Avenue, and rezoning the project site from C3 to C8-1.
Under the plan, Kristal Auto Mall will purchase a 110,000-square-foot portion of the parking lot in order to move from its current location at 5200 Kings Highway. Kristal plans to redevelop the property with a 114,000-square-foot facility housing a showroom, offices, and a service facility. A second 4,000-square-foot building will be used for used-car sales.
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Rendering of 743 Blake Avenue, one of the four proposed buildings. Image Credit: NYC CPC.
The sites are all located within a few blocks from each other. On March 30, 2022, the City Planning Commission held a public hearing for an application that would facilitate the construction of four new buildings with a total of 46 affordable units in East New York, Brooklyn. The four sites are located at 492-496 Glenmore Avenue, 2358-2362 Pitkin Avenue, 943 Dumont Avenue, and 743 Blake Avenue, as part of the Sutter Place Neighborhood Construction Program project. All sites are City-owned and currently vacant lots. (more…)

A rendering of Bartlett Crossing, Site A-2. Image Credit: NYC CPC.
On March 16, 2022, the City Planning Commission held a public hearing for Bartlett Crossing Site A-2, one of the five buildings that comprises the larger affordable housing Broadway Triangle project. Broadway Triangle is an affordable housing development consisting of five buildings across four sites. Bartlett Crossing Site A-1 is located on Flushing Avenue between Harrison Avenue and Whipple Street. The other three sites, Site A-2, Site B and Site C are all located on different portions of the block consisting of Gerry Street to the north, Bartlett Street to the south, Harrison Avenue to the west and Throop Avenue to the east. The application before City Planning focuses on Site A-2, located at 29-31 Bartlett Street. (more…)

1510 Broadway Rendering Image Credit: City Planning
The proposed mixed-use development looks to activate vacant land near the Halsey Street Subway station. On August 17, 2020, the City Planning Commission held a remote public hearing on a City application that would facilitate the construction of an eight-story mixed use development in the Ocean Hill neighborhood of Brooklyn. The site is currently a vacant, trapezoidal block situated mainly along Broadway to the northeast, Hancock Street to the southeast, and Saratoga Ave to the west. The site is directly across from a raised subway platform and the Halsey Street subway station that serves the J/Z subway line. The Department of Housing Preservation and Development and the Department of Citywide Administrative Services brought the application on behalf of the City.
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Partial Site Rendering Image Credit: NYCEDC
A Bronx not-for-profit sues City over the sale of waterfront property to a private developer. The City sold Pier 5 to a private developer to facilitate the construction of the Bronx Point development. Pier 5 is a 4.4 acre plot of land bounded by Mill Pond Park to the North, the 149th Street Bridge to the South, the Major Deegan Expressway to the East and the Harlem River to the West. The development anticipates mixed-affordable housing, state of the art community facilities, open spaces and a waterfront esplanade. To read Cityland’s prior coverage of the Bronx Point development click here.
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