AND WE HAVE A DEAL!
City Council votes to approve Fourth Avenue development in Greenwood
BY JESSICA PARKS
The City Council voted
unanimously on Thursday to
approve a 14-story mixed-use
building in Greenwood Heights
that would bring 134 housing
units to Fourth Avenue.
The site between 24th and
25th streets currently features
a one-story building
that houses a Dunkin’ Donuts,
but will now soon feature retail
space and the apartments
— 33 units of which will be
earmarked as “below market
rate” under the city’s affordable
housing program.
The green light comes
as Councilmember Carlos
Menchaca — who holds outsized
infl uence on the matter
as the area’s city representative
— gave his approval,
citing the local community
board’s 25-to-16 vote in favor
of the project in November.
“From the start, Community
Board 7 took control. CB7
forced the developer to redo
their proposal several times
before considering it,” said
Menchaca at an April 22 City
Council hearing.
The developer behind the
project, Totem, adjusted their
plans several times to meet the
conditions set by the Greenwood
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Heights civic panel, and
Menchaca commended the
builders for binding themselves
to the community’s demands
by signing a Community
Benefi ts Agreement.
“The developer, Totem,
agreed to a CBA… that codifi
ed all the community board’s
conditions, and it executed a
CBA before the council held its
fi rst public hearing.”
Under the CBA, the 33 affordable
housing units will be
earmarked for those making
between 30 and 60 percent of
the area’s annual median income,
and will not include any
studios apartments.
One-bedroom affordable
units — targeting household
incomes between $23,881 and
$95,520 annually — will price
between $503 and $1,143, with
prices rising for two- and threebedrooms.
In addition to the discounted
units, Totem also
promised not to transform the
building into a homeless shelter,
and to reserve the groundfl
oor retail space for local
businesses, while making “a
reasonable efforts to include
public art” within the development
site, and to provide an
easement to the MTA to “facilitate
future a ADA elevator access
at the 25th Street R Train
station.”
The building’s approval
came after a months-long campaign
by local activists against
the building, who demanded
that the developer earmark 100
percent of the units as affordable.
While Menchaca said he
would have liked to see a building
that adhered to those demands,
he said the proposal
was enough amid the ongoing
pandemic to warrant approval.
“I would have preferred 100
percent affordable for example,”
he said. “But it is what we
need right now to recover from
the pandemic.”
Members of the activist
group Protect Sunset Park
argue that Menchaca should
have continued to advocate for
100-percent affordable housing
in return for allowing Totem
to rezone in order to build
higher.
“It’s disappointing that
Carlos Menchaca instead of
choosing to fi ght for 100-percent
affordable housing in the
upcoming city budget,” Jorge
Muñiz-Reyes said. “Instead
he’s really choosing to leave
us with a deal that is going
to bring about 100 additional
market-rate units for mostly
Park Slope income levels.”
Totem’s chief principal offi
cer previously told Brooklyn
Paper they could not feasibly
make all of the units belowmarket
rate, as the economics
of purchasing the land would
not add up to profi tability, thus
rendering their hands tied.
“If there were a city program
that we were allowed to
enter that would foresee 100
percent affordable, we would
love to,” Tucker Reed told
Brooklyn Paper. “But this land
is not for free. It cost signifi -
cant dollars to put together.”
The proposed building.
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