BY BEN VERDE
Residents are furious over
a baptist church’s scheme to
build a 13-story building in
Windsor Terrace, saying the
proposal would forever alter
the fabric of the neighborhood.
“You guys have got to be on
crack if you think that’s what
this neighborhood looks like,”
said Mark Duffi n at a rezoning
hearing on Jan. 30.
The International Baptist
Church is partnering with
JEMB Realty to rezone and redevelop
the lot a 312 Coney Island
Avenue — where a bulky
four-story brick building currently
houses a house of worship,
a school, and a large
parking lot.
Under the current zoning
laws, the church could turn
the property into a 17-story hotel,
with space for a medical offi
ce, community facility, and
church elsewhere in the building
— but the organization
feels that a residential apartment
COURIER L 30 IFE, FEBRUARY 7-13, 2020
building would be better
suited for the sleepy residential
neighborhood, according
to the developer’s lawyer.
In addition to a new church,
the proposed residential project
would contain 278 units,
with 70 permanently designated
as so-called “affordable”
— offered between $856 a
month for a studio and $1,504
for a three-bedroom.
The apartment tower
would also be home to an 80-
car parking garage that would
provide spaces for churchgoers,
140 bike parking spaces,
and ground-fl oor retail storefronts.
At 13 stories, the building
would top out at 145 feet with
a 15- to 20-foot bulkhead, reps
for the developers said — but
that stands in stark contrast to
the rest of the neighborhood,
where most buildings top out
at six or seven stories.
At the rezoning meeting,
locals worried that the infl ux
of housing units would lead
Developers are seeking to replace a Baptist church with this 13-story building. Renderings by FXcollaborative
to an increase of traffi c during
rush hour, piled garbage
on the street during collection
days, and accelerated gentrifi -
cation.
“I’m a single mom, I’m a
teacher. I can barely afford to
live in Brooklyn anymore. I’ve
been chased from neighborhood
to neighborhood,” said
Dannette Plagge, who lives
across the street from the proposed
site. “I look at this proposal
and I think what — do I
have to go back to the midwest
where I came?”
Others countered, arguing
that the solution to skyrocketing
prices in the area — where
the formerly majority working
class population has left,
and an infl ux of young professionals
has settled in — is to
increase building.
“People will move to apartments
that are affordable —
and if they are not moving
into new apartments they are
moving into apartments that
already exist,” said Charles
Mangiardi, a Caton Place resident,
who echoed a sentiment
backed up by urban studies.
“That’s what drives up the
cost of rent.”
If the city doesn’t promote
construction of new housing,
then the old-guard of the
neighborhood will be pushed
out, said Mangiardi.
“The buildings might look
the same, but the people in
them are not going to look the
same if we don’t build more,”
he said.
Baptism by ire
Locals infuriated over proposal to
redevelope Windsor Terrace church
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