Should Pier 6 Towers Be Snuffed? Park Can Get Funding From Tax-Exempt Bonds

Another chapter has started in the Brooklyn Bridge Park Pier 6 controversy. The New York City Comptroller’s Office said Tuesday that the Brooklyn Bridge Park Corporation (BBPC) might be able to fund capital improvements to the park by issuing tax-exempt bonds, The Brooklyn Eagle reported.

Pier 6 opponents are pushing officials at the BBPC to explore using the bonds for park funding instead of the current plans to build two revenue-generating apartment towers at the park’s south end.

Brooklyn Bridge Park’s status as a not-for-profit makes it eligible for the tax-exempt bonds, issued through a conduit governmental agency such as the NYC Economic Development Corporation’s Build NYC Resource Corporation. Community stakeholders began suggesting the park’s potential use of bonds in early August, following a public hearing about the construction of the two controversial residential towers planned for Pier 6.

Whether or not bonds are a feasible substitute for revenue from the proposed development, park officials are staunchly against the use of bonds. Brooklyn Bridge Park is required by its General Project Plan (GPP) to be financially self-sufficient, a state that officials argue can be reached only through commercial and residential development projects.

Yet, if the park does qualify for the tax-exempt bonds, construction of the two controversial towers at Pier 6 may conflict with a stipulation of the GPP which asserts only the necessary amount of development to maintain funding for park operations can be built. That very stipulation is undergoing a formal public review process right now to modify it to allow the inclusion of affordable housing in the towers.

[Source: Eagle | Rendering: via BBPC]

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