BY JESSICA PARKS
Sheepshead Bay residents
are fuming over a proposed
seven-story hotel slated for
construction on a residential
street, fearing the new building
will turn into a extended
stay homeless shelter.
“They are worried about
their property values, worried
about the city housing the
homeless in the hotel, and it
taking away limited curbside
parking spaces on the road,”
said Community Board 15
Chairwoman Theresa Scavo.
Queens-based builders
with the Michael Kang Architect
fi rm fi led a permit on Dec.
2 with plans detailing a 72-
room hotel building with three
parking spaces at 2646 E. 18th
St, and neighbors aren’t happy
about the prospect of a sevenstory
structure towering over
their two-story homes.
“I think it’s crazy honestly.
It’s a total mistake for this
area,” said Diane Soffi an-Yulfo.
“It’s the middle of a small,
mini block. It’s not an avenue,
nobody knows where Jerome
Street in Brooklyn is.”
Former Community Board
15 chairman Maurice Kolodin
suspects the proposed hotel’s
developers are eyeing a
contract with the city government
to house the city’s homeless
population — saying that
he doesn’t see the viability of
a third hotel in the southern
Brooklyn neighborhood.
“Are these people looking to
contract with the city for some
type of program?” Kolodin
asked. “People don’t just come
to New York City and want to
stay at a hotel in Sheepshead
Bay.”
The site, between Jerome
and Voorhies avenues, is situated
COURIER L 10 IFE, FEBRUARY 7-13, 2020
a block over from the
Sheepshead Bay subway station,
which allows the property
to be classifi ed as transient
— and therefore requires
less parking spaces than properties
with less access to public
transportation.
But Scavo expects that the
hotel’s would-be visitors will
primarily be motorists, therefore
further inundating the
Diane Soffi an-Yulfo may have a seven-story hotel was her new next-door neighbor on E. 18th Street in Sheepshead
Bay. Photo by Meg Capone
already-limited curbside parking
on the residential block.
“You do have a lot of people
traveling here by car,” she
said. “A lot of snowbirds drive
up here from Florida to come
and visit their children.”
And while Scavo said she
has heard from four or fi ve of
the property’s neighbors with
concerns about the pending
structure, the hotel is being
built as of right — meaning
it is not requesting any variances,
or changes to the zoning
code — and therefore does not
require a public hearing for approval.
The project was initially
disapproved by city building
honchos on Jan. 17 due to an incomplete
application — but the
developers plan on resubmitting
their request.
The architect and the property’s
owner, Nehalkumar
Gandhi, received approval
from the city Department of
Buildings on Jan. 29 to construct
a four-story hotel with
81 rooms at 2327 Coney Island
Ave. — also in Sheepshead
Bay.
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Developers propose seven-story hotel for
residential Sheepshead Bay road