The Q at Parkside

(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.

Wednesday, February 18, 2015

More and More More More

Apologies to Stephen Smith at YIMBY for borrowing so heavily! Click through for his post.

No surprise of course that this corner at NY Ave and Rutland is going to be residential. The first line of Mr. Smith's post says it all though..."another day, another Flatbush filing." Also, note that current zoning does not have the commercial overlay that would encourage ground-floor commercial. Too tall, no added vibrancy.


by Stephen Smith for YIMBY

Another day, another Flatbush filing.

Today’s is for a development planned for 599 New York Avenue, in the Prospect Lefferts Gardens subsection of Flatbush. There, on the northeastern corner of New York Avenue and Rutland Road, Floral Park-based developer David Dilmanian is seeking to erect a six-story, 22-unit apartment building, reaching 65 feet into the air.

Designed by Karl Fischer, the building’s 22 apartments will be spread over a bit under 16,000 square feet of residential space, for a rental-sized unit average of a bit over 700 square feet. The second and third floors will have five apartments each, and the fourth through sixth will each have four.

While each of the other three corners of the intersection have ground-floor retail, the city’s unbending and non-contextual zoning code does not allow new commercial space in this area, so this project will have none. It will, however, have some active ground-floor uses in addition to the 11-car parking garage (the minimum number of spaces required by the zoning code), in the form of a 723-square foot community facility space.

599 New York Avenue traded hands late last year, when the developer bought it for $1.5 million, or $92 per buildable square foot.
Down and to the southeast comes this building (thanks MikeF, er WhyNot at Brooklynian - his thoughts on crime mapping worth reading here).

Interestingly, this building on Ocean south of Church is part of a wall of gorgeous old pre-wars and some freestanding stuff. Ocean is wide, so the building can go taller than a narrow street. Since it's been contextually rezoned, to R7A, there are the following requirements:

The floor area ratio (FAR) in R7A districts is 4.0. Above a base height of 40 to 65 feet, the building must set back to a depth of 10 feet on a wide street and 15 feet on a narrow street before rising to a maximum height of 80 feet. In order to preserve the traditional streetscape, the street wall of a new building can be no closer to the street line, than any building within 150 feet on the same block, but need not be farther than 15 feet. Buildings must have interior amenities for the residents pursuant to the Quality Housing Program. Off-street parking is not allowed in front of a building. Parking is required for 50% of all dwelling units.
These newer distinctions (the A's and B's next to zoning like R7) are part of the Quality Housing initiative, designed to keep residential development within reason and matching the character of the surroundings. Maybe it doesn't go far enough. But it's better than one narrow tower, that would have given nice views of the Park and beyond. Probably Manhattan and the harbor. When I was up on the top of a six story on Ocean at Caton, I was absolutely stunned by the gorgeous view.

The rebuilding continues unabated.

How about this cute little number at 25 E. 19th near Church? Gonna be an 8-story as well:

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm a big fan of your blog, but I don't know why you've taken such an anti-development stance. Would you rather these homes sit around as 1-2 family homes and the area never grows? Then a company buys up the 1-2 fam home and rents it out for ridiculous rent and the rent in the entire area goes up, because there isn't enough housing, but people are still moving to NYC. Not all developers are evil. Some are families who invest their hard owned money, rather than putting it in the stock market. Developing a property and managing it is a risk

Alex said...

I am confused - there's a lot at 680 Ocean? I don't see anything except for a wall of buildings on google streetview.

Clarkson FlatBed said...

Anon at 8:36: You're another reader who's reading into my posts. Why? I guess you're conflating my reporting on other people's reporting as if I've decided what should or shouldn't happen during the unabated land rush.

I'm not against development. I want zoning to represent a solid vision for the future.

I don't see anything but questions and pictures in my posts.

That's why I think Alicia Boyd has taken over the conversation. She's the one who doesn't want to see a single change of any kind - well, that differs from her view of a Miami style low-rise bistro and boutique boulevard one block from her house.

Clarkson FlatBed said...

Alex: It's meant to be 608. Switched the digits...

Alex said...

Don't forget 227 Clarkson, just down the block from you! Developers are laser focused on your street.

http://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20150218/prospect-lefferts-gardens/condos-planned-for-clarkson-avenue-parking-lot-that-sold-for-135m

Clarkson FlatBed said...

Holy cow. I just took a picture of that one!

Yeah, it's like that down here. WAY more dense than Alicia Boyd's supposedly "most dense part of Brooklyn." What a crock.

I don't mind the building boom - like I said, I think people should have a chance to live near the Park. It really bums me out though that we're not asking for more affordable units - rezoning could help! When all is said in done, there will be precious little diversity around here. The very thing people say is so great about the neighborhood - diversity. But frankly, I don't really believe it. Yeah, I said it. People say that shit about Park Slope too. Give me a break.

Alex said...

How long until 224 goes, too?