Vacant Landmarks warehouse at 337 Berry Street. Image credit: Google

The proposed building would provide low income housing and community-oriented facilities.   On August 19, 2015, the City Planning Commission held a public hearing on a Department of Housing Preservation and Development application to develop an eleven-story building for both commercial and residential use. The proposal would demolish an existing Landmarks Preservation Commission warehouse at 337 Berry Street in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn and replace it with a 15,000 square-foot mixed use building. The Commission is expected to issue a decision on the application by mid-October of 2015.

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The City’s Department of Sanitation bulldozed the community garden at 99 South 5th Street, Brooklyn on May 23, 2013. Image Credit: Time’s Up.

High rises are built in Williamsburg, Brooklyn at a historic rate and most of them remain empty while very few lots are preserved as open space. One such lot at 99 South 5th Street in Williamsburg is owned by Housing Preservation and Development (HPD), the City government agency charged with managing affordable housing, and has been vacant for at least 20 years. Last year HPD released a Request for Proposals (RFP) for the lot (alternate address 337 Berry Street), asking developers to submit plans to buy and develop the property. The results were supposed to be released to the public last November. While the RFP for this lot requested that at least part of the footprint be set aside for open space, the activists at Time’s Up  know all too well how public space projects conveniently disappear from development plans when costs run higher than expected.

Time’s Up, a direct action environmental group, has defended and supported open space in New York City for 20 years. After three years of operating a bicycle co-op in Williamsburg, the group has established deeps roots in the community. One of the volunteers proposed that Time’s Up finally start their own community garden in the neighborhood. The group decided on the 99 South 5th Street lot, just one block from their bicycle co-op, after scouting vacant lots around that location, researching who owned those lots, and holding several meetings to discuss the pros and cons of each. Time’s Up spoke with the community board and left messages for HPD to find out what happened with the RFP, but were told nothing. Additionally, hundreds of signatures were collected from local residents who supported the garden.

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