I guess 23 is a lucky number for developers. Or perhaps, it's the maximum you can get from FAR for R7-1 zoning for certain sized lots. Either way, the race is on. Nostrand, with its ideal access to public transportation (the 2 and 5 run beneath it) will surely see a massive uptick, literally UPtick.
According to YIMBY, permits have been filed to build a 23 story building on Nostrand below Church a couple blocks. Currently, the site at 1580 Church is a one-story "tax-payer," as they say in the biz.
Currently, our (CB9's) negotiations with City Planning taking place over the last couple months have identified the areas south of Eastern Parkway and over to New York, west to Ocean and south to Clarkson, as the likely boundaries of a rezoning study. And while that may sound like a good plan for those opposing skyscrapers around here, it may be a mixed blessing. Because any rezoning will likely not involve any net losses in buildable space. Meaning, corridors like Nostrand and Empire might see taller buildings allowed to offset downzoning elsewhere. Stay tuned...
8 comments:
23 does seem a little high but I do think the idea of corridors of taller buildings along primary streets, especially those with easy access to transit is exactly the kind of smart development that makes use of existing infrastructure, allows for the needed increase in housing size and allows appropriate variation in the heights of the neighborhood. IF PLG had been built out as time was progressing in the 1920s (curtailed only by the Great Depression and then the rise of the automobile), this whole part of Brooklyn would be a single mass of 7 stories buildings as far as the eye could see. Instead we find a way to have variation without encouraging intractiy sprawl. Now if we could just get that Utica Avenue subway as promised in the 1920s, we might finally be getting somewhere.
[b]Christopher1974[/b], it's noce having such lofty ideals. Yet, we're lucky that the MTA is working to finish the Second Avenue subway. I can't imagine work on a Utica Avenue subway being started in my lifetime.
I very much like the idea of some of the residential density being transferred to Empire Ave. I think it really could be a nice Boulevard, but that isn't going to happen with the current C7 zoning that allows for no new residential and only the most undesirable new buildings such as live chicken wholesalers, crematoria, warehouses and used car sales. I don't see Nostrand Ave as being nearly as desirable as Flatbush Ave to builders. The 2 and 5 have many more stops in Brooklyn than the Q. Consequently any cross-street on Nostrand Ave in PLG is a good 10 minutes further from the CBD than the same cross-street on Flatbush Ave or same latitude on Ocean Ave.
Daniel: Took me a few moments to realize CBD means Central Business District. But I ask you...does NYC really HAVE a CBD? I know very few people who work there. There are so many places that people commute to...and some don't commute at all...that I'm not sure shaving 10 minutes off a trip to midtown is such a selling point. Plus Nostrand is actually quicker to Wall Street, for what that's worth.
I'm sure there are those who would like to see Flatbush go up, up, up. I think it would be a shame, and would be devastating for the sorts of stores it would attract. Look at the crap in the bottom of the big towers in LIC and Williamsburg and along the Flatbush Ave Extension. I hate to sound classist, but some of those upscalers have wretched taste. And do we really need another 3 Duane Reade's? Where's a guy to get a good double or 2am haircut when Flatbush goes high-rise condo? You might find a satisfying Pinot, but if you need a 99cent pack of water balloons and a $2.99 pair of reading glasses FORGET IT. No Scoops? No Original Struggs? For chrisakes NO FUNKY SHOES?????!!!!!!!! No Trixie's? No weird store that nobody knows what they sell or how they stay in business? Are these people NUTS? Do we even realize how damn GOOD we got it? America has gone dumb, big, dumber and biggerer. We're living the dream.
Don't go high on Flatbush. My mascara will never stop running...
Daniel Kristjansson , you forgot storage places going up on Empire Boulevard. There reportedly is a new one going up on the NE corner of Bedford and Empire. There are already at least two others nearby.
Ugh, another storage place on Empire???? whyyyy. I recently rode my bike down Nostrand (my boyfriend, coincidentally, lives near Nostrand and Church) and was surprised to see how pretty that section of Empire Blvd is. It's only the stretch from Ocean to Rogers that's full of gas stations and mini-mall-esque 1-story buildings. Over by Nostrand there's pre-war apartment buildings, pedestrian refuges, even some trees.
I feel like a broken record, but I'm all for new residential development in the neighborhood--I just wish it wasn't always by developers with a reputation for being/aspiring to be a "luxury brand." where are all those developers of 5 story new developments that seem so common in north brooklyn? Those tend to be ugly as sin, but that particular stretch of Nostrand south of Albemarle is no aesthetic gem to begin with. Still, I can attest to the intersection of Nostrand and Church being one of the most convenient shopping districts I've ever seen. Open-late grocery, pharmacies, fresh veggies, Michael's Prime Meats, good coffee, a hardware store open on sundays, multiple fresh fish vendors, and even a lot of banks and gyms within walking distance. About the only thing it lacks is sit-down restaurants (all Roti take out over here) but funnily enough the 2/5 is a super quick jump to Franklin Ave, where they're practically over-flowing with $12 cocktails.
Here's the source of the info re: new storage place on Empire (via Brooklynian): http://www.brooklynian.com/discussion/44318/empire-and-bedford-will-be-/p1
lenoX, the gas stations on Empire between Bedford and Ocean Avenue are now all gone. A mini mall opened up on the SE corner of Bedford and Empire, and a Checkers opened up on that teeny site between Washington and Franklin Avenues.
There is one residential building on that stretch next to Western Beef.
The R S Strauss Auto Parts Store at 183-207 Empire Boulevard has been vacant since that chain declared bankruptcy in 2012. I'm not convinced that the stretch needs more housing. I'd be okay with some more commercial offerings as long as it's more diverse than storage places. :)
I know we have it good. The bland retail that has taken over in so much of Manhattan is depressing. But if we don't increase density in our neighborhood then I believe it will gentrify even faster. I don't want NYC to become a Disneyland city like Paris where you can only live there if you inherit your apartment or you are filthy rich. The city as a whole needs a whole lot more housing close to the core. Once commute time to work goes above about 45 minutes happiness declines precipitously. Of course not all jobs are in the CBD, I haven't had to commute to Manhattan for almost a decade. But it is where most of the jobs are which affects the desirability of any block. If you want my opinion of big towers, just read Jane Jacobs. They are not where a community is built, but a few are harmless. BTW If you haven't read Charles Montgomery's "Happy City", I highly recommend it. One of the things he talks about is how neighborhoods build around transit 100 years ago, like ours, got a lot of things right entirely by accident.
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