BY BEN BRACHFELD
The Kingsboro Psychiatric
Center site in East Flatbush
will be redeveloped as part of
the state’s Vital Brooklyn initiative,
Gov. Andrew Cuomo
announced over the weekend,
with the centerpiece being a
new residential complex boasting
900 affordable apartments.
The $400 million project
aims to “transform” 7.2 acres
at the western end of the Kingsboro
site, at 681 Clarkson Ave,
into a large mixed-use development
as part of the governor’s
$1.4 billion initiative to invest
in Central Brooklyn in order
to address longstanding inequalities
the area has borne
the brunt of. The psych hospital
will remain at the site.
“The COVID-19 pandemic
further exposed the inequalities
among the state’s at-risk
and in-need communities, including
a fundamental need
for safe and affordable housing,”
COURIER L 22 IFE, JULY 16-22, 2021
Cuomo said in a statement.
“Through the Vital
Brooklyn initiative, we are
better addressing these needs
by transforming underutilized
land on the Kingsboro
Psychiatric Center campus
into a community-oriented development
that provides housing
and programming to better
serve those in-need, building
New York back better, fairer
and stronger for all.”
The 900 homes will include
supportive housing and senior
housing, and two existing
homeless shelters on the site,
Kingsborough Star Men’s Shelter
and the Salvation Army
Men’s Shelter, will be rebuilt.
The shelters will be rebuilt on
a different patch of the site and,
once open, residents will be
moved to the new facilities and
the old ones will be torn down.
Thirty-fi ve percent of units onsite
A rendering of the completed project at the Kingsboro Psychiatric Center site. Adjaye Associates
will be affordable for those
making below 50 percent of
area median income, a source
at Douglaston Development,
the main developer of the project,
told Brooklyn Paper.
Other amenities will include
public green space, a basketball
court, urban farming
space, a 10,000 square foot grocery
store, a 7,000-square-foot
“community hub” for afterschool
programs, with computers
and classroom space,
free wifi , exercise rooms, and
performance space.
The governor’s offi ce says
the development will create
200 permanent jobs in the area,
and 3,700 construction jobs.
The project is being developed
by Douglaston Development in
conjunction with several other
local nonprofi ts, and was designed
by Adjaye Associates.
Cuomo launched Vital
Brooklyn back in 2017, with a
stated aim of investing in the
area to combat poverty, crime,
and poor health care outcomes.
The marquee item of the project
so far has been Shirley Chisholm
State Park, which fi rst
opened back in 2019. Another
major, and controversial,
facet of the project has been
the consolidation of several
Brooklyn hospitals — Kingsbrook
Jewish Medical Center,
Interfaith Medical Center, and
Brookdale Hospital — under
the umbrella of nonprofi t One
Brooklyn Health. That consolidation
has involved the
shutdown of patient services
at Kingsbrook, leaving many
fearing worse health care outcomes
for East New York and
Brownsville residents.
Since it’s a state project, the
development will not go through
the city’s Uniform Land Use Review
Procedure (ULURP), but
rather the state’s somewhat less
formal General Project Plan.
The developers are planning
to do community engagement
work with local stakeholders
such as community boards in
the coming months.
Vital Brooklyn
Kingsboro Psychiatric Center
site to be redeveloped with
900 affordable homes
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07/31/2021
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2075 Flatbush Avenue
Avenue P / Near Library