Reyna Proposes to Rezone Bushwick's Future

Council Member Diana Reyna, once Vito Lopez’s protege but no longer, proposes to rezone Bushwick so it does not meet the same fate as Williamsburg: Studded with luxury high rises, according to a story last week in the Wall Street Journal. The rezoning would keep developments low-rise, include lots of affordable housing and preserve local jobs. Bushwick already appears to be at the early stages of a Williamsburg-like transformation. In the past few months, rents have risen and a significant number of new businesses have opened. In 2010, with Lopez’ support, the state legislature expanded the loft law, potentially favoring loft dwellers over industry in Bushwick by making it possible to convert industrial space for residential use at higher rents. Curbed notes that “the industrial neighborhood is already seeing a lot of development. A 12-story rental building is going up at Wilson and Willoughby Avenues; Cayuga Capital Management is turning an old church and school at 626 Bushwick Avenue into 99 apartments; a former office building at Broadway and Ellery Street is being converted into a six-story rental building with one-bedrooms starting at $2,000 a month; and a public review process will soon begin for a 10-building project on a lot that used to hold the Rheingold Beer company.” (Reyna supports the latter, and said she will push for local hiring and more low-income housing at the project.) “I moved to New York 17 years ago and I moved to Williamsburg because it was cheap and close to the East Village. Now you have to be rich to live there,” the WSJ quoted owner of the Post Bike Shop in Bushwick Troy Marrero as saying. “It’s probably going to happen here.”
Rezoning Bid Starts Happening in Bushwick [WSJ]
Leaders Want Bushwick Rezoning So It’s Not the Next Billyburg [Curbed]
Photo of Bushwick affordable housing by Google Maps