NEWS STORY!
over proposed 18-floor residential tower
COURIER LIFE, MARCH 12-18, 2021 3
neighborhood is mainly lowscale
brownstones and walkup
apartment buildings.
Representatives for Vanderbilt
Atlantic Holdings
argued that the positioning
of the lot — situated at the
corner of a four-lane road
and a six-lane road, just two
blocks from Barclays Center
— actually makes it the
perfect location to absorb a
high-density development.
“If there’s anywhere in
the neighborhood that density
belongs, it’s right here,”
said land-use attorney Benjamin
Stark.
The Chair of Community
Board 8 acknowledged
that much of the area could
stand to increase in vertical
size, but countered that, just
because the site can handle
a large density project,
doesn’t mean it should.
“You’ve got the two wide
streets, and you have an
abutting neighborhood
that’s still relatively lowdensity
and livable,” said
Ethel Tyus. “So just because
you can build higher and
denser because you have
these two wide streets converging,
doesn’t mean you
should.”
Community Board members
took issue with the project
not conforming to the
desired density of developments
within the M-Crown
zone, an in-the-works rezoning
that seeks to allow for
residential development in
the industrial corridors of
Crown Heights and Prospect
Heights while preserving
jobs and community spaces.
The M-Crown framework
as currently laid out would
only allow a 14-story building
on the McDonalds lot.
Stark argued that since it
lies in the M-Crown area
that allows for the most
density, a taller building
should be considered, especially
considering its location
along two extra-wide
avenues.
“I do think it’s perhaps
disingenuous to say that this
site isn’t deserving of a density
beyond that of the balance
of the M-Crown area,”
Stark said.
“It has unique conditions
that make it, from a land-use
perspective, the most appropriate
location for the most
density.”
If built, the developer
would be forced to earmark
30 percent of the building’s
units as “affordable,” with
rents targeted at the area’s
median income.
That would provide
nearly 100 below-market-rate
apartments toward Mayor
Bill de Blasio’s goal of creating
300,000 affordable units
by the end of 2026.
The board tabled the vote
on the proposal for its April
land-use meeting, but encouraged
the developer to
scale their plan down.
“It’s really just too tall
and too dense,” said Tyus at
the end of the meeting.
Whenever the local volunteer
board provides its
vote, the proposal would
head to the Brooklyn Borough
President’s office for
another non-binding opinion,
before heading to the
New York City Planning
Commission and the New
York City Council for final
approval.
The proposed development on Vanderbilt and Atlantic Avenues. City Planning Commission