If downtown Brooklyn is to be home to the creative class, one thing has got to stop standing in the way: 370 Jay Street. That’s the word from Brooklyn Borough Hall and the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership, which are both trying to lure businesses and re-brand the area as a “college town” (Urban Outfitters and Trader Joe’s are a start, says Gothamist). But in the middle of this renaissance (no matter how nascent) sits the decrepit, largely abandoned 14-story MTA building, which Markowitz called a “blight on the face of downtown Brooklyn” in a Daily News article. How about office space for small business, some folks ask. One MTA vision for 370 Jay is to invest $150 million in renovations and house scattered MTA workers, though the Brooklyn Paper reports it’s only worth $100 million. The subway station below it is also a mess; the MTA says the $106 million to fix it will be in the next capital improvement plan.
Brooklynites Plead with MTA to Fix Building, Stop [NY Daily News]
Downtown to MTA: Sell 370 Jay St [Brooklyn Paper]