(for those for whom the Parkside Q is their hometrain)
News and Nonsense from the Brooklyn neighborhood of Lefferts and environs, or more specifically a neighborhood once known as Melrose Park. Sometimes called Lefferts Gardens. Or Prospect-Lefferts Gardens. Or PLG. Or North Flatbush. Or Caledonia (west of Ocean). Or West Pigtown. Across From Park Slope. Under Crown Heights. Near Drummer's Grove. The Side of the Park With the McDonalds. Jackie Robinson Town. Home of Lefferts Manor. West Wingate. Near Kings County Hospital. Or if you're coming from the airport in taxi, maybe just Flatbush is best.
Congratulations y'all. You're now officially Up and Coming!
18 comments:
Anonymous
said...
I rather like that! I do hope there's a pass-thru so that pedestrians can walk through there to get to Lincoln road, a nice shortcut.
My one concern--and this is a big one--is that the trains are already packing during the morning rush hour. What's it going to be like with a new mass of people descending upon it? At least for Atlantic/Barclays, infrastructure improvements were made.
Is there precedent for a policy which requires new construction to pay a certain "infrastructure/transportation improvement" fee that would be used to run more trains, improve traffic flow in the stations, solve the infamous "dekalb bottleneck", etc...?
I'm having trouble reconciling this with my recollection of the space - this looks like a corner lot, but as I recall the property is not on a corner, unless other buildings on Flatbush are also coming down (like the one with the Férraille Botanica on the corner of Chester Court), and those hulking buildings to the right of the building do not exist - that's Chester Court there, with three story houses (that will hopefully soon be landmarked - we've really got to get that done!).
The building itself looks like Tivoli Towers. Undistinguished and not even modern, but I'm hoping it improves as the project becomes more defined.
Also, this is not the Flatbush Ave/Lincoln Rd site so no shortcut would be possible.
BTW, the only "infrastructure improvements" at Atlantic Yards were the years-delayed replacement of the Carlton Ave bridge (torn down to facilitate arena construction/destruction of area buildings) and the addition of a new subway entrance leading directly to the arena. As widely pointed out, the amount of money the Rat spent on it was far, far less than the discount the MTA gave him for the land, even though there were other buyers who'd offered more and had way better plans (that did not involve an arena).
As someone pointed out, saying that construction was privately funded is like me giving you $1000 and then you "taking" me out for a $60 dinner.
it makes perfect sense. The dead-end street in the rendering is the entrance to the parking lot on Flatbush. That will dead-end at the Q tracks, with the backside of Chester Court on the right. The two buildings to the left ("books" and "cafe") are where the medical offices are. The apartment building will occupy the footprint of the parking lot, and will rise directly behind the Associated.
I think it's going to be a great thing for the neighborhood, though a bookstore is probably overambitious.
That reminds me of NYU's Silver Towers--which, despite being designed by IM Pei, were always abysmal to look at. I suppose this doesn't have quite the budget of the Nouvel Chelsea or the Ghery's 8 Spruce Street. But I'm still holding out hope that it gets a bit more graceful.
While Anon 1:43's policy idea would have my full support, New York isn't going to expand subway access for one apartment building.
It's an 80/20 building. So 20% of the apartments will be affordable to lower income residents, usually with community preference. If you want to know how the program works, go to the NYC HPD website under apartment seekers.
Re Babs and comment about landmarking Chester Court -- I live on that block and would love to speak with you about the landmarking. Please email me off line at leslieswright@gmail.com. Thanks! Leslie
80/20 building = 80% of financing from the taxpayers ($70 million state bonds, $5mil federal credit) and 20% of apartments affordable to average neighborhood resident.
Anon 1:20. Why is it an 80/20 building then? Out of the goodness of their heart.
One pet peeve I have when people complain about "publicly financed" buildings is that taxpayers aren't putting up the dough directly - they're backing it through their government. Tax-free bonds are a way of attracting investors. Those investors buy the bonds. They're the ones getting tax-free money and the state is losing tax revenue, if you want to be harsh in your assessment.
Put another way, EVERY infrastructure improvement or development that involves actual people and city services is backed in some way by taxpayer money. If you wanted to go out and BUILD affordable housing straight out it would cost the City way more money. Think of the building of housing projects at mid-last-century. Not too many folks want to go back to that model. There aren't enough incentives to keep the places up, and you end up tearing them down like Cabrini and Pruitt Igoe. Sorry to sound like a market guy on this one, but at least it's creative.
This sort of financing is the closest thing we've got to building affordable housing. And there are certainly plenty of satisfied customers who have been placed in these buildings through the lottery - I know some myself. So before knocking the program completely, I think it pays to look at what it is exactly.
They are designating 20% as affordable units, presumably to benefit from a tax incentive. It's not an 80/20 building in the same way that the Lincoln Rd building was slated to be. 626 Flatbush is not receiving financing through HPD - they are securing through private sources.
Anon 2PM. Where are you getting your info? You sound awfully sure of yourself.
Per an email from the developer, this building is being financed through bonds issued by the state. Perhaps you were confused between City and state funding. But I assure you, it's not privately financed, at least not in the strict sense. As a private investor, I can buy some 626 bonds though. Actually, I prefer 666 bonds. They're redeemable in perpetuity for air conditioning.
18 comments:
I rather like that! I do hope there's a pass-thru so that pedestrians can walk through there to get to Lincoln road, a nice shortcut.
My one concern--and this is a big one--is that the trains are already packing during the morning rush hour. What's it going to be like with a new mass of people descending upon it? At least for Atlantic/Barclays, infrastructure improvements were made.
Is there precedent for a policy which requires new construction to pay a certain "infrastructure/transportation improvement" fee that would be used to run more trains, improve traffic flow in the stations, solve the infamous "dekalb bottleneck", etc...?
I'm having trouble reconciling this with my recollection of the space - this looks like a corner lot, but as I recall the property is not on a corner, unless other buildings on Flatbush are also coming down (like the one with the Férraille Botanica on the corner of Chester Court), and those hulking buildings to the right of the building do not exist - that's Chester Court there, with three story houses (that will hopefully soon be landmarked - we've really got to get that done!).
The building itself looks like Tivoli Towers. Undistinguished and not even modern, but I'm hoping it improves as the project becomes more defined.
Also, this is not the Flatbush Ave/Lincoln Rd site so no shortcut would be possible.
BTW, the only "infrastructure improvements" at Atlantic Yards were the years-delayed replacement of the Carlton Ave bridge (torn down to facilitate arena construction/destruction of area buildings) and the addition of a new subway entrance leading directly to the arena. As widely pointed out, the amount of money the Rat spent on it was far, far less than the discount the MTA gave him for the land, even though there were other buyers who'd offered more and had way better plans (that did not involve an arena).
As someone pointed out, saying that construction was privately funded is like me giving you $1000 and then you "taking" me out for a $60 dinner.
626 Flatbush is in the middle of the block, so.. this makes no sense.
it makes perfect sense. The dead-end street in the rendering is the entrance to the parking lot on Flatbush. That will dead-end at the Q tracks, with the backside of Chester Court on the right. The two buildings to the left ("books" and "cafe") are where the medical offices are. The apartment building will occupy the footprint of the parking lot, and will rise directly behind the Associated.
I think it's going to be a great thing for the neighborhood, though a bookstore is probably overambitious.
oh, that's Flatbush Avenue back there? It's SO clear.
no, Flatbush Ave is in the foreground. The dead-end street going away is the alley where the entrance to the parking lot currently is.
Oops--sorry, Babs, I misread it and thought this was the Lincoln Road project!
That reminds me of NYU's Silver Towers--which, despite being designed by IM Pei, were always abysmal to look at. I suppose this doesn't have quite the budget of the Nouvel Chelsea or the Ghery's 8 Spruce Street. But I'm still holding out hope that it gets a bit more graceful.
While Anon 1:43's policy idea would have my full support, New York isn't going to expand subway access for one apartment building.
gotta admit, i'm nonplussed. it would be nice if the apartments were affordable. but let's be honest, how likely is that?
It's an 80/20 building. So 20% of the apartments will be affordable to lower income residents, usually with community preference. If you want to know how the program works, go to the NYC HPD website under apartment seekers.
Re Babs and comment about landmarking Chester Court -- I live on that block and would love to speak with you about the landmarking. Please email me off line at leslieswright@gmail.com. Thanks! Leslie
80/20 building = 80% of financing from the taxpayers ($70 million state bonds, $5mil federal credit) and 20% of apartments affordable to average neighborhood resident.
626 Flatbush is not a publicly financed development.
Anon 1:20. Why is it an 80/20 building then? Out of the goodness of their heart.
One pet peeve I have when people complain about "publicly financed" buildings is that taxpayers aren't putting up the dough directly - they're backing it through their government. Tax-free bonds are a way of attracting investors. Those investors buy the bonds. They're the ones getting tax-free money and the state is losing tax revenue, if you want to be harsh in your assessment.
Put another way, EVERY infrastructure improvement or development that involves actual people and city services is backed in some way by taxpayer money. If you wanted to go out and BUILD affordable housing straight out it would cost the City way more money. Think of the building of housing projects at mid-last-century. Not too many folks want to go back to that model. There aren't enough incentives to keep the places up, and you end up tearing them down like Cabrini and Pruitt Igoe. Sorry to sound like a market guy on this one, but at least it's creative.
This sort of financing is the closest thing we've got to building affordable housing. And there are certainly plenty of satisfied customers who have been placed in these buildings through the lottery - I know some myself. So before knocking the program completely, I think it pays to look at what it is exactly.
They are designating 20% as affordable units, presumably to benefit from a tax incentive. It's not an 80/20 building in the same way that the Lincoln Rd building was slated to be. 626 Flatbush is not receiving financing through HPD - they are securing through private sources.
Anon 2PM. Where are you getting your info? You sound awfully sure of yourself.
Per an email from the developer, this building is being financed through bonds issued by the state. Perhaps you were confused between City and state funding. But I assure you, it's not privately financed, at least not in the strict sense. As a private investor, I can buy some 626 bonds though. Actually, I prefer 666 bonds. They're redeemable in perpetuity for air conditioning.
Be interesting to see if the residents of that building will represent the people of the neighborhood.
I already know it won't. A luxury hi rise gets built in a neighborhood that's 90% black will no doubt have residents who are 90% white.
Be interesting to see if the residents of that building will represent the people of the neighborhood.
I already know it won't. A luxury hi rise gets built in a neighborhood that's 90% black will no doubt have residents who are 90% white.
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