Rendering of BAM South project’s public plaza and tower. Image Credit: Two Trees Management.
Local Council Member Letitia James reaches agreements with developers and City to increase affordable housing, preserve nearby public library. 22 Lafayette LLC and the NYC Economic Development Corporation proposed to develop a cultural space and residential tower and plaza at 113 Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn. The site for development is a triangular lot bounded by Flatbush and Lafayette Avenues and Ashland Place. The lot was previously the subject of a 2007 request for proposals that sought a developer to create an underground parking garage as part of the BAM Cultural District; those original plans evolved into the current proposal. The current use of the site includes a surface parking lot and a vacant one-story building. The lot is owned by the EDC and the City, and the development would be built, managed and operated by Two Trees Management in partnership with the City.
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- Proposed BAM theater on Ashland Place. Image: H3 Hardy Collaboration Architecture.
BAM to restore former Salvation Army building’s facade and construct six-story rear addition. On June 16, 2009, Landmarks approved the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s proposal to build a new theater by renovating and expanding a two-story building at 321 Ashland Place within the Brooklyn Academy of Music Historic District. The site, occupied by the classically-inspired red brick building built by the Salvation Army in 1927, lies between BAM’s Howard Gilman Opera House and the individually- landmarked Williamsburgh Savings Bank. The plan would restore and alter the facade, demolish the building’s rear extension, and construct a six-story building containing a 255-seat theater in its place.
At the hearing, BAM President Karen Brooks Hopkins testified that the academy was the oldest performing arts center in the City, and that the proposed project, along with other renovations in the past decade, would ensure that its mission continued into the 21st century. Hopkins stated that the new building would provide “an intimate performance space” unlike any other BAM facility, and added that BAM would partially devote the space to community and education programs. (read more…)
