Tonight the long-awaited follow-up to last December’s public hearing on the future of Admirals Row takes place at Borough Hall. All we can say in advance of the meeting is that we hope that the spirit of creativity and compromise can win the day. At this point, there appears to be strong political support for including a supermarket on the site to address to current lack of options currently available to the residents of the nearby Farrugut, Ingersoll and Whitman Houses. There is also a large group of people who feel strongly that the Admirals Row houses deserve to be preserved, and a recent study commissioned by the National Guard gave weight to this view. (The report stated that the structures have a “high level of historic integrity.”) So what’s the answer? Find a way to create a supermarket while preserving most, if not all, of the houses. One such proposal has already been put forth by a team from Pratt. The one stakeholder that would be unhappy with that scenario would most likely be the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation, which wants to squeeze a new industrial building onto the site along with a massive parking lot for the market; the BNYDC has also said it does not want to assume control of Admiral’s Row from the National Guard if it comes with preservation strings attached. As with most thing, the real rub comes down to dollars and cents. It should be an interesting evening. The meeting takes place at 7 p.m. tonight at Borough Hall.
Pratties Have ‘Cake-and-Eat-It’ Design for Admiral’s Row [Brownstoner]
Guard Starts Talks ‘To Come Up With Alternatives’ For Row [Brownstoner]
James Opens Door to (Partial) Admiral’s Row Preservation [Brownstoner]