Watchtower Props As Alternative to Park Condos
The idea of converting some of the Watchtower properties in Brooklyn Heights into luxury housing and using the tax revenues to support the upkeep of Brooklyn Bridge Park instead of building condos in the park itself is not new (it’s been floating around for a few months), but there was a “closed-door session” at Borough…
The idea of converting some of the Watchtower properties in Brooklyn Heights into luxury housing and using the tax revenues to support the upkeep of Brooklyn Bridge Park instead of building condos in the park itself is not new (it’s been floating around for a few months), but there was a “closed-door session” at Borough Hall yesterday, according to The Post, where the idea got airtime with local pols and influencers. “There’s a growing sentiment that the Jehovah’s Witnesses buildings are the magic bullet to keep more housing out of the park,” said Paul Nelson, Assemblywoman Joan Millman’s chief of staff and a member of the city board overseeing the park’s development. One activist has specifically proposed that the city buy the buildings, convert them into luxury condos and use the tax revenue for park maintenance. Think that could work?
High-rise Foes Seek ‘Witness’ Protection [NY Post]
Can Jehovah’s Witnesses Save BBP From Condos? [Curbed]
Photo by Sergio
Who funded the LIC parks on the waterfront? I assume developers, but many of those are rentals.
And yes, space IS the ultimate luxury. And if you can afford space, you can certainly afford granite counters.
BTW the way 360 Furman street became part of the park was that the developer and the City agreed to “give” it to the park. The watchtower is not going to give it to the City. If it is taken by eminent domain,(assuming it can be) the US Constitution requires “just” compensation….(its the Fifth amendment by the way)….and yes I am aware of why the South end doesn’t want development. Makes no sense to me what they originally proposed for that pier(6), an entertainment and dining venue would have brought more people and been more of a competition to their sacred merchants on Atlantic Avenue….if I was a merchant on Atlantic Avenue I would support the housing….
jessibaby, I’m not pulling anybody’s leg, just reporting what I was told. Perhaps the threat of eminent domain only exists to bring the Watchtower Society to the table, where a win-win deal could be figured out to their benefit.
Regarding smeyer’s observation that “almost all the development comes at the North end of the park,” wouldn’t that be exactly what the Roy Sloanes of the world want?
It should be noted, in fairness, that the much reviled Brooklyn Heights Association was the one neighborhood group that has always strongly supported the park through thick and thin in spite of nasty criticism from many quarters -especially the Cobble Hill Association and the so-called Defenders of the Park group, who is actually the group that wanted to kill the park.
Minard – despite my earlier rant – I agree with you re: the opposition
Minard nailed it – nobody cares except the people who don’t want a park at all.
Even though the F’n thing is awesome and maybe the overflow will support some of those otherwise going out of business places on Montague.
The opposition to the towers was always a smokescreen to try to kill the park by nearby residents who wanted to keep outsiders away from their neighborhoods. Period.
They latched on to the “privatization of parkland” as their best bet to be heard. The argument is of course specious as there was no parkland there but rather commercial wharves, which could have all been rezoned for residential development rather than public parkland.
“I don’t get all the opposition to more housing as part of the park.”
Its simple Scott -people in Brooklyn/NYC hate everything, especially anything that seems to reflect that someone else might have more $ than them (luxury housing); its sad and pathetic.
The reality is that if the park wasn’t fully funded we wouldnt have a park and even of we had a park it wouldnt be near as nice as it is turning out to be; but rather than appreciate that, a sizable segment of our population immediately try to figure out why someone (future condo owners) are going to “get” something that they wont i.e. a better view; and then immediately protest using every ridiculous argument they can conceive.
I don’t get all the opposition to more housing as part of the park.
The land was all warehouses a few years ago and the plots of land for potential construction are now fenced-off construction staging sites.
The park will have tons of space when the current plans are finished, and I don’t see how a few apartment buildings between the park and the BQE will hurt anyone.
Instead, NIMBYs are willing to fight this to the point that we will end up with Piers 1 and 6 being finished and a wasteland in between.