A former Verizon call center in Downtown Brooklyn is set to become one of the city\u2019s largest new housing developments after the City Council approved a plan for a 72\u2011story tower with 1,200 apartments. Nearly 300 of the units are designated as affordable, with average rents of about $1,700 a month, or 58% of area median income.<\/p>\n
\tRenderings show the tower rising across from the Brooklyn Tower, making it the second\u2011tallest building in the borough. Supporters say the size and location are appropriate, while critics argue the affordability levels are still out of reach for longtime residents.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cThis community board\u2019s population has gone up 29 percent in 10 years. The Black population has fallen 10 percent,\u201d housing advocate Raul Rothblatt said.<\/p>\n
\tFort Greene resident Beryl Edwards said rising rents have displaced many families. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe used to pay $800 a month, my husband and I. This December would be 30 years, but the rent just shot up,\u201d she said. She added that she does not believe she and her husband could afford either market\u2011rate rent or the affordable tier. \u201cNot unless it\u2019s 800 a month,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\tCouncil Member Crystal Hudson said the council considered those concerns and secured concessions before approving the project. While the average is 60% of AMI, she said many apartments are priced much lower.<\/p>\n
\tNearly 100 units will be reserved for households earning 30% of AMI, about $38,000 a year for a family of two. Another 76 units will be available at 40% of AMI. Hudson also pushed for additional two\u2011 and three\u2011bedroom apartments to better serve families.<\/p>\n
\tAnother 139 affordable units will be listed at 90% of AMI.<\/p>\n
\tThe funding proposal includes a $1 million developer contribution over 10 years to the Fort Greene Park Conservancy beginning at demolition. The agreement provides $50,000 per year for the first five years and $150,000 per year for the last five. The city has also committed to exploring capital improvements in Downtown Brooklyn and Fort Greene, including open space and streetscape upgrades.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cWe must build housing at an aggressive rate to meet the crisis head-on. We must also be sure to build homes specifically for low\u2011income families at greatest risk of displacement, something this project does,\u201d Hudson said in a statement.<\/p>\n
\tStill, advocates argued the city should have negotiated deeper affordability for a project of this scale.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cThe same rezonings that make a building like this possible at 72 stories have displaced a heck of a lot of people who used to live here,\u201d Rothblatt said.<\/p>\n
\tHe added that many in the community remain skeptical after the failed Atlantic Yards project, saying promises of affordability often fall short. \u201cThese always start promising affordable and end in luxury buildings, so if the opening bid was this many affordable units at 30 AMI, the city needs to push for more,\u201d he said, adding that the use of city\u2011owned land could have provided additional leverage.<\/p>\n
\tThere is no timeline yet for when construction will begin.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A former Verizon call center in Downtown Brooklyn is set to become one of the city\u2019s largest new…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":162240,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[433,98,100,99,2907,9,24,63,43112,66885],"class_list":["post-162239","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brooklyn","tag-affordable-housing","tag-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn-headlines","tag-brooklyn-news","tag-housing","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-priority-housing","tag-pro-housing-community"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162239","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=162239"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162239\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/162240"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=162239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=162239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=162239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}