Jehovah’s Witness tower to house formerly homeless
BY ROSE ADAMS AND
KEVIN DUGGAN
The City Council voted
unanimously on April 22 to allow
a non-profi t developer to
convert a Downtown Brooklyn
tower previously owned
by the Jehovah’s Witnesses
into housing for the formerly
homeless.
The Council’s approval of
the tower’s rezoning paves
the way for a renovation that
would add more than 500 affordable
apartment units to
the 29-story tower at 90 Sands
St, said the building’s developer.
“We’re on our way to bringing
approximately 500 muchneeded
affordable units to
DUMBO, one of the most expensive
neighborhoods in the
borough,” said Brenda Rosen,
the chief executive of Breaking
Ground. “We are especially
grateful for the leadership
of Speaker Corey Johnson
and Council Members Stephen
Levin and Rafael Salamanca
in championing the development
of new supportive housing
for the most vulnerable
New Yorkers.”
The Council’s vote is the
last step in the land use review
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process before the rezoning
application moves to
Mayor Bill de Blasio, who is
expected to back the Council’s
approval.
Breaking Ground — a nonprofi
t that already hosts some
4,000 units across the city —
plans refurbish the 1992-built
tower between Jay and Pearl
streets that once housed volunteers
for the Christian
evangelist group, adding 305
“supportive units” for recently
homeless people and 202 below
market-rate rentals.
The “supportive units”
will come equipped with social
services to help residents
fi nd jobs, treat their medical
needs, and transition into the
housing, while the 202 other
units will be open to households
that make 30-100 percent
of the area’s median income,
which is currently set at
$96,100 for a family of three.
The 202 affordable units
will range from $504 for a
studio to $2,000 for a one-bedroom.
Breaking Ground bought
the tower from Big Apple developer
RFR Realty for $170
million in August 2018, one
year after the Jehovah’s Witnesses
sold the building for
$135 million.
During Wednesday’s Council
meeting over Zoom — the
Council’s fi rst meeting since
mid-March — lawmakers approved
three other rezoning
applications, including the
rezoning of a package of vacant,
publicly-owned lots in
Bedford-Stuyvesant. The city
plans to sell the lots to three
development fi rms that seek
to erect seven affordable housing
condos on them, should
the mayor approve the rezoning
request.
The four-to-seven-story
buildings will house 78 affordable
units, either one- or twobedroom
apartments, priced
within the federally-designated
Area Median Income
(AMI) index of the Five Boroughs,
deeming the units “affordable.”
However, the city’s
median income — $96,100 for
a family of three — is signifi -
cantly higher than Bedford-
Stuyvesant’s median income
of around $52,900, meaning
that the residents who qualify
for the “affordable” housing
will make between $11,120 and
$52,733 more than the neighborhood’s
average household.
The Council also approved
a rezoning in Crown Heights
that will allow the construction
of a nine-story mixed-use
building at the corner of Grand
Avenue and Pacifi c Street. The
developer, Elie Pariente, plans
to build 64 units, 16 of which
would be affordable, along
with a ground fl oor retail
space on the 9,000 square-foot
lot. Both Community Board 8
and Borough President Eric
Adams gave their advisory
disapproval of that application
due to concerns about the
proposed building’s height
and density.
Finally, legislators gave the
green light on a minor technical
change for a supportive
housing development on Alabama
Avenue in East New
York. Developer CB Emmanuel
Realty and nonprofi t Services
for the UnderServed will
build and manage 70 affordable
homes for formerly homeless
and low-income households
at the 10,000 square-foot
site, which is currently a vacant
lot, between Dumont and
Livonia avenues.
Council already approved
the application in February
2019, but voted Wednesday to
add in an Urban Development
Action Area Project designation,
which carries a 20-year
exemption from real estate
taxes on the assessed value of
the building.
All other land use review
applications are temporarily
suspended since the mayor
issued an executive order
on March 16 halting the review
process in light of the
COVID-19 outbreak.
The Downtown Brooklyn tower was
once owned by the Jehovah’s Witnesses.
Photo by Susan Devries
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Making Sense of the Census
Check
Your Mail
By Julie Menin, Director of NYC Census
2020
Have you checked your mail lately?
If you’re one of the New Yorkers that
hasn’t responded to the 2020 Census yet,
you might have noticed a postcard in your
mailbox from the Census Bureau.
Don’t worry — you’re not in trouble.
But your community could be if you
aren’t counted.
These postcards and mailers are just
another way the Census Bureau is trying
to make sure every one of us is counted.
After all, there’s a good chance you have
other things on your mind. Now more
than ever, we all have new and urgent
priorities in dealing with the COVID-19
pandemic, so it might be easy to lose sight
of things like the 2020 Census. But the
COVID-19 pandemic also highlights just
how much we all depend on our public
services, and that we need a complete 2020
Census count to keep them fully funded
and functioning for years to come.
With that in mind, the Census Bureau
sends reminders to help make sure
no one gets left behind. And in fact, some
of these latest mailers even contain the
mail-in version of the 2020 Census form
— so if you haven’t responded because of
issues with your internet or phone, now
you have a backup option.
We encourage you to respond right
away to ensure that you and your family
are fully counted.
So if you found a census mailer in
your mailbox, let that be the inspiration
you need to get counted. It only takes 10
minutes, and you can also do it online at
my2020census.gov or call 1-844-330-2020
to complete it over the phone.
Already filled your form out? The
work doesn’t end there. Help make sure
your families, friends, and neighbors are
also getting counted. Remember, these
resources are shared between all of us.
We’re all in this together. Let’s make it
count.
“Making Sense of the Census” is a
weekly column from Julie Menin, Director
of NYC Census 2020. Every week we will
be publishing pieces from Julie and guest
authors laying out the facts and answering
tough questions about this year’s census.
Fill out the census now at my2020census.
gov.
link
/my2020census.gov
link