Quadriad controls the vacant lot in the foreground, but not the skeleton beyond.
(Photo: rsguskind)

Quadriad was back at Community Board #1 last night, but that’s about the only news.

When Henry Wollman of Quadriad met with CB1’s Land Use committee in early March, he promised to bring a full presentation to the Board. Last night, Wollman brought a lot of words but very few details.

What we do know from the Land Use meeting in March is this:

Quadriad now only proposes to develop the half block site on North 3rd between Bedford and Berry. Despite past claims that they “controlled” the north half of the block (fronting on North 4th), Quadriad is only developing the south half of the block (“for now”).

Quadriad’s project is now simply an effort to generate affordable housing. Prior community enticements, such as charter schools, fire houses, public “open space” and so on are off the table.

As before, Quadriad proposes to eschew all government subsidies, tax breaks, etc. In other words, they will use the profits from market-rate housing to generate affordable housing. And they will use this project as a model for future projects throughout the city.

Quadriad is proposing to build more or less to the as-of-right envelope on Bedford Avenue (5 to 7 stories), and to develop “townhouses” along North 3rd. At the corner of Berry and North 3rd, Quadriad is proposing a 20-story tower (the not as-of-right part of the project that would require a rezoning).

The numbers – roughly – are 250 units total, with 90 of those set aside for affordable housing (both rental and condo). (A strictly as-of-right project would yield 80 market-rate units, so in order to generate 90 units of affordable housing, they need to more than triple the number of housing units in the project.)

Again with the numbers – as of right, the site would allow an FAR of about 2.4 – Quadriad proposes something on the order of 7.0 FAR. Again, in order to generate 90 units of affordable housing, Quadriad needs to almost triple the density.

So what did we learn last night? Few new details and no plans, despite their promise to give a “full” presentation to the Board. Instead, Quadriad will send board members a glossy-covered book of details “next week”.

Wollman did provide the following new information:

Quadriad has formally partnered with the People’s Firehouse as their local development partner. PF’s members have voiced their support for the project in the past, so this is not entirely a surprise.

Quadriad also relayed a vague statement from Churches United, asking the board to “keep an open mind”.

Quadriad will break ground on an as-of-right project on August 8.

In “late July”, Quadriad will formally apply to the City Planning Commission to rezone their half block on North 3rd. Quadriad was very clear that the rezoning is only for this one parcel – they are not trying to rezone the entire block, nor are they looking to rezone other sites in the neighborhood.

Beyond that, though, we all just have to wait and see.

More background:

Fear of Heights [Village Voice]

Two Sides… [Greenpoint Star]