The city is looking for artists to design new public artworks for public plazas citywide, including three local sites: Knickerbocker Plaza in Bushwick; Humboldt Plaza in East Williamsburg; and Myrtle Avenue Plaza in Clinton Hill.
Artists, Artworks Sought for Public Plazas in Brooklyn
M.T.A. Plan Would Spare Some Routes and Cut Others
Is Williamsburg about to get expanded subway service??
Maybe, according to the Times:
The V train, which now ends at Second Avenue and Houston Street, would replace the M train and travel east to Metropolitan Avenue in Queens.
And the MTA confirms it in their latest description of the proposed service cuts [warning – links to very large PDF]:
Subway Reductions/Discontinuations Being Considered for the First Time: …Extending V to Metropolitan Avenue to replace M service north of Essex Street and discontinuing M service south of Essex Street. V no longer stops at 2nd Avenue.
If this happens, the V would provide direct service on the Broadway elevated line from Bushwick and Williamsburg to Soho, Greenwich Village and Midtown. Without having to switch trains at Essex/Delancey. (I believe the elimination of the Second Avenue stop is because the switch from the BMT (brown) tracks to the IND (orange) tracks is located west of Essex Street – the train will actually be picking up the tracks that the B and D run on up to Broadway/Lafayette.)
On top of which, the latest austerity plan by the MTA no longer eliminates the Z train. (The proposed cuts still include the elimination of the B39 bus across the Williamsburg Bridge, but this route is truly redundant.)
Community Group Pushing for Greenpoint Hospital
The RFP for the Greenpoint Hospital redevelopment project has been out for close to three years now – that HPD hasn’t awarded it to anyone yet is a crime. Remember, this site is one of the (many) publicly-owned sites that was supposed to supplement the developer-provided affordable housing on the waterfront. Cook Street aside, has any new affordable housing been constructed on City-owned sites since May, 2007?
Warehouse 11 Party
The Real Deal reports that Warehouse 11 (aka the Roebling Oil Field) had a grand opening party tonight. This follows on a near foreclosure and a major price slashing to reintroduce the project.
Aptsandlofts.com announced a grand opening party for Warehouse-11, a Greenpoint condominium located at 214 North 11th Street. The development, which had faced possible foreclosure in May last year, is now offering units with prices starting at $310,000. The grand opening party will kick off tonight at 5 pm.
And clearly aptsandlofts did not get the memo that we are all Williamsburg now (or perhaps this is a nascent trend to mislabel parts of Williamsburg as Greenpoint).
Greenpoint Owner Charged with Dumping Sewage
Ick.
[via Laura]
Broadway Triangle Regeneration Plan
Yes, it was only just approved by the City Council, but it appears that changes are coming for Broadway Triangle:
Under the plan the Broadway Triangle will become a huge retail development, including offices and apartments.
Rose Plaza Gets Marty’s Thumbs Up
Marty Markowitz has decided to split the difference on Rose Plaza. He is recommending approval (with modifications) on the basic rezoning of the Certified Lumber site (the change from manufacturing to residential use) and disapproval (with modifications) on the applicant’s special permit applications (to increase the height of some buildings, etc.).
Reading between the lines, Markowitz’s thinking seems to be that the base rezoning is consistent in height and density with other waterfront rezonings and that the applicant is providing the basic level of affordable housing (20%) in exchange.
The biggest issue for the BP on the rezoning itself was the guarantee of affordability. Even though the applicant says they plan to use the Inclusionary Housing program and other benefits to provide 20% of the units as affordable housing, those units are not guaranteed. A developer (the applicant or someone down the line) could decide that the density bonus and tax abatements are not worth the extra cost of building the affordable housing and just do a market-rate project. In response to prodding from Markowitz, the applicant has committed to a deed restriction guaranteeing that at least the 20% affordable housing will be built. Good on Marty for that.
The special permits are another issue in that they add value to the project over and above the base rezoning. With the special permits, there would be fewer towers (which represents an efficiency of scale in construction costs) and those towers would be taller (creating better views and higher psf sales prices). In exchange for that added value, Markowitz lays out a menu of modifications, which he “hopes the City Planning Commission and the City Council will give strong consideration to.”
These modifications (which also appear to be the conditions for the approval of the base zoning) include: 33% affordable housing (with the portion above the 20% as moderate- to middle-income housing); a higher proportion of two- and three- and four-bedroom units in the project; the inclusion of a supermarket in the retail portion of the project; the rebuilding of the entire Division Avenue street end (not just half, as the applicant is now obligated); and a strong, non-binding, participatory role for Community Board 1 on issues such as design, environmental clean up and the like.
With the exception of the supermarket, these modifications match very closely the issues cited by CB1. From the applicant’s point of view, the rezoning might be the most important thing, but going forward, CPC and the Council have a pretty clear – and consistent – road map for what will make this a good project. That is probably why people on both sides of the issue think this is an “excellent resolution”.
Domino Public Review
A correction to my post of the other day. The Domino public hearing at Community Board #1 will be held in February, not next week. The most likely date is 9 February, the date of the February board meeting. Stay tuned for further information.
(The delay to February is a quirk of scheduling – because the certification by City Planning came so close to the date of the January board meeting, there was not enough time to put it on the agenda and give public notice of the hearing.)
Charter School Inks Deal at 33 Nassau Avenue
Believe High School Networks, an organization that operates various charter schools in the city, is taking a big lease at 33 Nassau Avenue (which is across the street from McCarren Park, back behind Automotive High). It looks as the organization has leased the entire 16,800-square-foot second floor of the building, and will put its offices and a charter high school in there. (Locally, Believe operates the Believe Northside Charter High School, the Believe Southside Charter High School and the Williamsburg Charter High School – BNCHS opened this year across McCarren Park at Ericsson JHS.)
It’s Here – Domino Rezoning Certified
Proposed Domino development, view south from the water side.
It’s been a long time coming, but the Domino Sugar Refinery rezoning is finally upon us. The Draft EIS has been completed, and City Planning is expected to certify the application today, allowing it to enter the public review.
As before, the project promises a lot of affordable housing (660 units) in return for a hell of a lot of market-rate housing (2,200 units), a lot of open space (four acres), and a heap of parking (acres 1,900 spaces), scads of retail space (125,000 square feet) and even more community facility space (150,000 square feet). The project also still includes a 14-story tower on the Wythe Avenue end of the upland block and a zoning envelope that is substantially larger than anything approved during the 2005 waterfront rezoning or since.
The biggest change since the preliminary presentations is that the project has now added some 50 stories (100,000 square feet, distributed among five or so towers) of commercial office space to the Grand Street end of the development.
If all goes according to schedule, the public review will kick off with a presentation to Community Board #1 next week, followed by CB1’s land use committee review in early February. The full board could vote as early as 9 February, and then it is on to the Borough President.
More eye candy after the jump.