Rendering of 515 Blake Avenue Project/Image Credit: HPD, HELP USA, Curtis + Ginsberg Architects, and City Planning

The new development proposes services for both residents and the greater East New York community. On October 16, 2019, the City Planning Commission voted to approve a land use application to develop four mixed-use buildings in East New York, Brooklyn. The lot is bounded by Sutter Avenue to the north, Blake Avenue to the south, Snediker Avenue to the west, and Hinsdale Street to the east. To facilitate the new 387,100 square feet development, the applicants would demolish the existing three-story homeless shelter at 515 Blake Avenue. The project will redevelop the shelter and bring affordable housing, community facilities, and retail. The Department of Housing Preservation and Development, HELP USA, a national non-profit focused on providing shelters, Department of Homeless Services, Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel, and Curtis + Ginsberg Architects are the applicant team.

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Three-building project on former railway site will include 141 affordable rental apartments. On April 6, 2011, the City Council approved a proposal by the Department of Housing Preservation and Development to allow Phipps Houses to develop a three-building affordable housing project on two vacant through-block lots in the East Tremont section of the Bronx. Phipps will construct an eight-story residential building and a ten-story mixed-use building at 1155 East Tremont Avenue, and a ten-story mixed-use building across the street at 1176 East Tremont Avenue. The project will provide 141 rental units marketed to households earning up to 60 percent of the area median income.

The City-owned lots were once occupied by the now-defunct elevated New York, Westchester, and Boston Interurban Railway. Remnants of the railway’s train trestle remain on both lots. The surrounding area is characterized by five- to six-story tenement buildings, older multi-unit homes, and vacant lots. The area’s underlying M1-1 zoning prohibits residential uses, which caused HPD in October 2010 to apply to BSA for use variances to facilitate the project. 7 CityLand 169 (Dec. 2010). HPD’s current proposal included a request for a UDAAP designation and special permits to build on a railroad right-of-way. (more…)