Project will provide 376 residential units, 616,555 sq.ft. of commercial floor area, and up to 397 underground parking spaces. The City Council approved GFI Development Company’s proposal to build a new 12-story mixed-use building and expand and renovate an existing 10- story loft building located on a full block bounded by Fulton Street and Vanderbilt, Atlantic, and Clermont Avenues in Brooklyn’s Fort Greene neighborhood. The loft building is mostly vacant, containing only limited telecommunications uses.

GFI will convert the loft building’s ground floor to retail space and fill in its interior courtyards to increase available commercial space. The new mixed-use building will replace an accessory surface parking lot and provide 376 residential units, 85 of which will be affordable. The new building will have a 69- foot base height along Fulton Street and will rise to a mid-block height of 133 feet through a series of setbacks. It will also provide 32,358 sq.ft. of ground floor retail space and a two-story, 397-space accessory parking garage below the new building. (more…)

Located on former prison site, the complex will provide affordable and special needs housing. On September 30, 2009, the City Council approved the Department of Housing Preservation and Development’s proposal to facilitate the construction of a 455- unit complex, known as Navy Green, in Brooklyn’s Wallabout neighborhood. The 461,449 sq.ft. mixed-use development will be located on most of the block bounded by Flushing Avenue to the north, the Brooklyn- Queens Expressway to the south, Vanderbilt Avenue to the east, and Clermont Avenue to the west. During World War II, the Navy operated a prison on the site and the City’s Department of Correction used the structure before its 2005 demolition.

Dunn Development and L&M Development Partners’ proposal for the site includes four multi-family buildings and 23 four-story townhouses. The developers will build two 12-story structures on Flushing Avenue that will step down to eight-stories as they wrap around the corners of Clermont and Vanderbilt Avenues, respectively. The plan calls for constructing 10 four-story townhouses along Clermont Avenue, and 13 townhouses on Vanderbilt Avenue. An eight-story structure will be built on the southern portion of Clermont Avenue, and another eight-story building will be located along the southern portion of Vanderbilt Avenue. This building will provide 95-units of housing for low-income singles and special needs housing, targeting formerly homeless adults who suffer from mental illness. (more…)

Council increases affordable housing component and removes Wonder Wheel from new parkland. The City Council approved the City’s controversial rezoning and revitalization plan for Coney Island at its July 29, 2009 meeting. In addition to rezoning 19 blocks running from West 8th to West 20th Streets between Mermaid Avenue and the Riegelmann Boardwalk, the City will also create a 27-acre amusement and entertainment district. The City will map new streets, including Wonder Wheel Way east of KeySpan Park, and create new parkland. The plan will also facilitate the construction of 4,500 residential units and 500,000 sq.ft. of retail and neighborhood services. 6 CityLand 89 (July 15, 2009).

At the Council’s Zoning & Franchises Subcommittee hearing on July 1, City Economic Development Corporation President Seth Pinsky presented details of the plan. Pinsky said that the City did not intend to use condemnation to acquire property for redevelopment, but that he was not in a position to say the City was “taking it off the table.” (more…)

Plan builds on several 2006 Queens downzonings. On July 29, 2009, the City Council approved the Department of City Planning’s 300-block rezoning proposal for the three west-central Queens neighborhoods of Middle Village, Maspeth, and Glendale. The plan seeks to decrease future out-of-character development and builds on several 2006 rezoning plans within the area.

Characterized by detached and semi-detached single- and two-family housing, the area’s R3-2, R4, and R5 zoning, which was largely unchanged since 1961, allowed for inconsistent development. The Council’s approval rezoned the area to a mix of contextual zoning districts — R3A, R4A, R4B, R4-1, R5B, and R5D — found to more closely match the neighborhood’s built character. Also rezoned were several manufacturing-zoned blocks within west-central Queens where Planning found illegal residential construction. The plan brings these blocks into compliance. (more…)

Image of the Coney Island Comprehensive Rezoning Plan used with permission of the New York City Department of City Planning. All rights reserved.

Modifications include increasing ground floor amusement requirements and easing bulk restrictions. On June 17, 2009, the City Planning Commission approved the seven linked applications comprising the City’s extensive redevelopment plan for Coney Island. The approval included demapping of streets and parkland, creation of new streets and parkland, and a 19-block rezoning, running from West 8th to West 20th Streets between Mermaid Avenue and the Riegelmann Boardwalk.

The product of over 300 public meetings dating back to 2005, the City’s plan aims to foster Coney Island’s redevelopment while insuring permanency for the amusement uses. Under the plan, the City would acquire the ride and arcade area surrounding the Wonder Wheel, map it permanently as City parkland, and connect it to the two currently mapped, protected attractions: the Cyclone and the Parachute Jump. This action would create a contiguous, permanent park along the boardwalk extending from the Parachute Jump to the New York Aquarium.

Most of the 19 blocks in the rezoning have a C7 zoning, which permits large-scale open amusement parks, but prohibits complementary uses like restaurants without entertainment. The rezoning plan would create a new Special Coney Island District, establishing regulations that would supplement and supersede the newly proposed zoning. Amusement uses would be concentrated in the Coney East subdistrict, roughly extending east of KeySpan Park from Surf Avenue to the boardwalk. Coney East would remain a C7 district, but special provisions within the Special Coney Island District would broaden permitted uses, including restaurants, bars, skate parks, and hotels, and require complementary amusement uses along the street level of new developments. Three other subdistricts would permit residential, other entertainment, and retail uses, facilitating 4,500 units of new housing, 900 of which would be affordable. (more…)