Proposals to be Accepted for BBP Housing, Hotel Builds
The Eagle reports that a Request for Proposals will soon be issued for the hotel and housing developments planned for Brooklyn Bridge Park’s Pier 1. The buildings are likely to be the first new-construction, revenue-generating developments in the park. The specs: “Two buildings — the larger, northern one with hotel rooms, a restaurant, housing units…
The Eagle reports that a Request for Proposals will soon be issued for the hotel and housing developments planned for Brooklyn Bridge Park’s Pier 1. The buildings are likely to be the first new-construction, revenue-generating developments in the park. The specs: “Two buildings — the larger, northern one with hotel rooms, a restaurant, housing units and parking; the smaller, southern one with housing units and parking — will be built in a currently fallow area between the bike/walking path and Furman Street. The first, ‘Building A,’ will be 100 feet high, and the second, ‘Building B,’ will be 55 feet high. The plan will contain 300 parking spaces, 170 to 225 hotel rooms, 150 to 180 housing units and 300 parking spaces. Among the criteria to be used in choosing designs are street trees, signage, sustainability and how the plan fits in with the surrounding area.” The RFP is expected to be issued within the next few weeks, and submissions will be due in October.
RFP on the Way For Bridge Park Hotel, Housing [Eagle]
if the tobacco warehouse isn’t
“open space” I don’t know what is.
The deal was that the new buildings were not to intrude on the protected view corridor from the Brooklyn Heights Esplanade. Those views are protected by zoning.
100 feet seems awfully tall though. Maybe the original height limits were found to be a “mistake” by city hall and are being ignored. Fasten your seatbelts in that case!
Something tall enough to block the noise from the BQE would be very welcome. Right now, one of the best places in the park is Pier 6, where One BBP blocks the noise. Clearly, there are other solutions, but its unlikely they’d ever be built.
This is no surprise, those sites were always designated as build sites. In terms of Pier 1, there were large hulking buildings on those sites up until two years ago. They were defunct cold storage warehouses.
It is clear from looking at this map that the city wanted to tear the Empire Stores and Tobacco Warehouse sites out of the park so as to better turn them into revenue-generating real estate. Turning over a chunk of public park to private developers is possible but there is a lengthy process that has to be done. “Nucky” Bloomberg, who thinks nothing decided prior to his arrival at city hall is valid, simply waved his hand and declared that the extant borders of the Fulton Empire Park were a “mistake” and the buildings not parkland. By that same logic an building in any park can be considered not parkland. I wish people would understand better the nature of the push and pull here. The community, who has most supported the park, was the one that brought the lawsuit. It was not a frivolous lawsuit and in fact the judge came down entirely in favor of the plaintiffs including the Fulton Ferry Association and the BHA.