SOAR POINTS IN DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN
High-rise boom has residents raging about the impact on nabe’s quality of life
Not even Junior’s could help sweeten this deal for residents of downtown Brooklyn.
Perched atop the cheesecake chain’s legendary flagship location is a massive billboard boasting about neighboring Brooklyn Point and its “Luxury for Sale Residences.” The 68-story condo tower — just one of many emerging in the area — has residents raging about congested streets, lack of light, blocked views and overall cramped quality of life.
Walk around the blocks surrounding Junior’s and the sounds and sights of nonstop drilling and construction cranes in every direction make it clear there’s a lot more than a tree growing in Brooklyn.
Another behemoth building structure set to sprout in Boerum Hill, 80 Flatbush, was approved by the City Council just last week, paving the way for it to rise and cast shadows over community gardens and surrounding three- and fourstory brownstones and brick buildings.
Even recent transplants who scooped up rentals in buildings that shot up within the past few years are finding the Manhattan views that lured them in are now cut off by newer, taller towers.
“There’s a big chunk of Manhattan that we’re not able to see anymore,” complained Christian Corona, who moved to Brooklyn from Texas with his girlfriend, Nicole Collins, three years ago.
The couple, both 25, just renewed their lease at City Point, the mixed-use multibuilding complex completed in 2015 and featuring two residential towers and shops and eateries like Katz’s, Century 21, Target and Alamo Drafthouse. Brooklyn Point — which will be the third residential tower in City Point and the only one that offers ownership — is quickly rising, with studios currently going for about $900,000 and three-bedrooms offered at more than $3 million.
With their new two-year lease, the pair was able to negotiate a lower rent due to Brooklyn Point’s pending presence. “In addition to the views being affected, it also really changes the dynamic of the apartment,” said Collins, an advertising account executive. “It blocks a lot of natural light. The construction itself brings a ton of noise and cranes and machines. We definitely were concerned about the quality of living during this construction period especially since it is such a massive project.”
Steps away is 9 DeKalb Avenue, another residential skyscraper under construction that’s set to be New York City’s tallest building outside Manhattan. Due to open in 2020, its owners were reportedly first eyeing the spot where Junior’s stands, but the cheesecake shop founded in 1950 turned down a buyout offer. Now, 9 DeKalb, set to rise to more than 1,000 feet, will incorporate the landmark Dime Savings Bank of New York building into its structure.
“More buildings mean more people, so things are a little bit more crowded,” said Corona, who works in data analytics. The couple once looked forward to leaving their scaffolding-surrounded Manhattan jobs to escape to a somewhat “slowed down” environment, “but now that pattern of devel-
opment and one high-rise building going up after another” has spread to Brooklyn, Corona adds.
“With all the construction, the sidewalks are a mess,” Collins said. She added that her building's 18th-floor amenities space “used to be a very bright open outdoor space,” but now that Brooklyn Point — which will be temporarily be Brooklyn's second-tallest building at more than 700 feet — is rising, “it's completely blocked all the light that came into that area and it's a very different experience now.”
About six blocks south of Brooklyn Point on Flatbush Ave. is 80 Flabush in Boerum Hill, set to go up on a trapezoid-shaped plot just southeast of downtown Brooklyn's border. The project — a mixed-use development that will include two new towers, another new building and also use two existing buildings for two schools and office, residential and retail space — had to slightly shrink in size to win the City Council's approval.
The revised tower heights will be 510 feet and 840 feet, reduced from the planned 561 and 986 feet, respectively, with the larger one set to dethrone Brooklyn Point as the borough's second-tallest building once it's complete. Construction will start at the end of next year. There will be 870 rental and condo units, with 200 being permanently affordable.
The existing onsite Khalil Gibran International Academy high school will expand to 350 seats, and a new 350-seat public elementary school will open on the State St. side.
“We're proud that 80 Flatbush will deliver so many critically needed public benefits and help address the housing crisis,” Alloy Development spokesman James Yolles told the Daily News. “It's incredibly gratifying for us to deliver lasting and meaningful benefits through this project, including 200 units of permanently affordable housing in the center of Brooklyn.”
Yolles also stresses that the position of 80 Flatbush just across the street from Atlantic Terminal means the “transitrich location also allowed us to take the environmentally friendly step of eliminating parking, which was broadly supported by advocates such as Transportation Alternatives, Riders Alliance and the Tri-State Transportation Campaign.”
Among the biggest critics of 80 Flatbush were the volunteers behind the Rockwell Place Bears Community Garden, located on a triangular patch on Lafayette Ave., about a block north from where the development will go. Tomatoes and flowers are currently growing there, but the group is concerned the towers will block needed light to the oasis.
Alloy, the developer of 80 Flatbush, has vowed to donate $250,000 to the garden for improvements.
“I understand why people are not totally satisfied,” City Councilman Stephen Levin, who represents neighborhoods including Boerum Hill and Downtown Brooklyn, said of the scope and height of the project. Levin backed 80 Flatbush after he successfully pushed for Alloy to reduce its original dimensions. Levin said the tower reduction lessens the overall light and air impact, and that Alloy also agreed to eliminate a planned loading dock on the State St. side, where brownstones sit across the street.
“Having a new elementary school there will certainly help families,” Levin added. “It's always good to have new school seats.”
Pointing out downtown Brooklyn treasures like Junior's and the Dime Savings Bank of New York building, Collins says, “Our hope for this neighborhood is that even after we leave is that the unique things that make this neighborhood what it is are preserved and remain intact despite the massive amount of change and new development.”