
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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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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Image Credit: NYC HPD
The City uses ingenuity to make use of City owned spaces in flood plain. On September 25, 2019 City Planning unanimously approved an application to facilitate the construction of resilient housing and create open spaces on 141 city-owned properties, purchased in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. The properties involved sustained a level of storm and flood damage equal to at least half their respective value.
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