Rendering of 29-37 Jay Street in Brooklyn. Image Credit: CPC/Marvel Architects

Borough President is critical of the proposed residential upzoning as part of zoning changes to build an office building. On October 17, 2018, the City Planning Commission held a public hearing on an application for 29-37 Jay Street in the DUMBO neighborhood of Brooklyn. The applicant is the Foreman family, who have had a multi-generational history in DUMBO as manufacturers of decorative pressed metal products. The applicant was represented by Melanie Meyers of Fried Frank and Jonathan Marvel of Marvel Architects. The applicant is proposing to build an 11-story office building with a lobby and three retail stores on the ground floor, at the corner of Jay and Plymouth streets. The proposed building would be 148 feet tall, without a setback, and an approximate 189,000 square feet. (more…)

BID will encompass 366 properties and address sanitation, security and marketing needs. The Planning Commission unanimously approved an application by the Department of Small Business Services to create a DUMBO Business Improvement District. The proposed BID would encompass 366 properties containing 575 existing businesses bounded by DUMBO’s York, Old Fulton, Gold, and Bridge Streets and extending to the East River.

Under the proposed BID, businesses and industrial uses would be assessed $.05 per-square-foot and $.004 per dollar of assessed valuation. DUMBO residents would pay an annual $1 assessment. Government and not-for-profit groups will be exempt from the assessment, relieving the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, which, in 2004, obtained City Council’s approval for a 736,000-square-foot development on a full city block within the BID area. 1 CityLand 33 (Dec. 15, 2004).

There were no speakers in opposition at the Commission’s April 27, 2005 hearing. The Commission approved the BID as submitted.

BID Approval Process The Department of Small Business Services, as lead agency, issued a negative declaration on March 9, 2005 and submitted the BID plan to Mayor Bloomberg, Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, Community Board 2, Council Speaker Gifford Miller, and Brooklyn Council Member David Yassky.

Community Board 2 unanimously approved. Mandatory public hearings before the City Council Finance Committee and the mayor are pending.

CPC: DUMBO BID (N 050365 BDK) (May 25, 2005). CITYADMIN

After significant redesign, Commission approves building close to Brooklyn Bridge. Two Trees Management Company, the developer often credited with the dramatic conversion and rebirth of DUMBO, sought approval of a large project involving new construction, a building conversion, and demolition of a historic building close to the suspended side span of the Brooklyn Bridge. The City Planning Commission approved after the building’s western portion was reduced to match the height of the bridge’s roadway.

Two Trees sought approval of a 200-unit residential, mixed-use development with a 327-space parking garage. The original design had a 178-foot residential tower fronting on Water Street and a 23-foot height at the Dock/Front corner, which is directly beneath the Brooklyn Bridge. Three buildings would be demolished. One of these – 54 Water Street – is within a landmark district on state and national registers. The project also involved the rehabilitation of a vacant 4-story brick building in the state and national historic district. (more…)

Split-level manufacturing building in DUMBO will be converted to 52-unit residential building. 37 Bridge Associates, LLC, the owner of 37 Bridge Street, a 12,500-square-foot lot between Water and Plymouth Streets in Vinegar Hill, Brooklyn, proposed to convert a 67,500-square-foot manufacturing building for residential use. The split-level, three- and seven-story building, formerly occupied by a soap manufacturer, is located on the border of M1-2 and M1-3 zoning districts within the DUMBO National Register Historic District.

37 Bridge initially submitted three feasibility studies showing manufacturing, office and residential use scenarios. 37 Bridge argued that the building was unsuitable and unmarketable for manufacturing or commercial use because eight metal silos ran vertically through five stories, breaking through the floor plates. Upon BSA’s request, 37 Bridge submitted additional evidence that the silos were unmarketable and that removal would be cost prohibitive. BSA also requested evidence that the three-story portion of the building was unmarketable as a manufacturing site under a mixed-use scenario. Further evidence of the building’s unsuitability for modern manufacturing included non-conforming loading docks, 11-foot ceilings, and unaligned floor plates between the building sections. (more…)