LICH Developer Fortis Publishes Renderings, Details of Controversial Plans (Updated)
Mere days after developer Fortis said it’s considering building a 260,000-square-foot mega-dorm at the former Long Island College Hospital site, the firm has released renderings and details of its newly updated plans via a website, launched Tuesday. The site compares the two options Fortis is offering, both of them controversial and unwanted by the community. One is…
Mere days after developer Fortis said it’s considering building a 260,000-square-foot mega-dorm at the former Long Island College Hospital site, the firm has released renderings and details of its newly updated plans via a website, launched Tuesday.
The site compares the two options Fortis is offering, both of them controversial and unwanted by the community. One is an as-of-right plan; the second would require city approval and a seven-month-long public review known as ULURP, or uniform land-use review process. The site is heavy on the benefits of the latter.
The renderings, some of which Fortis revealed over the spring and summer at community meetings, show plenty of sun-soaked green spaces, a playground, and even a “Brasserie” on the corner of Pacific and Henry streets — amenities in the ULURP option.
The site also solicits community input via a survey. It asks about parks, schools, affordable housing and retail — again, amenities in the ULURP option.
Data and drawings compare building heights, square footage, and location but not the number of residential units.
The height and number of stories in the buildings have been significantly reduced in response to community input. The Cobble Hill Association originally asked for buildings no taller than 50 feet.
The original as-of-right plan called for contain skyscrapers as high as 44 stories, and the ULURP plan had towers as tall as 40 stories.
Now the as-of-right plan’s tallest tower would rise 35 stories. In a switch, the ULURP plan’s tallest tower would be higher at 37 stories. But both plans would still be significantly lower than the original proposal.
It’s not clear if the buildings would contain the same number of units. In May, Fortis said the ULURP plan — with affordable housing — would contain 820 units.
Some in the Cobble Hill community recently said they were leaning toward supporting the as-of-right agreement because it is less dense and would bring fewer people to the neighborhood, even though the proposed buildings are taller and closer to the Cobble Hill landmark district.
Last week, Fortis told community groups the as-of-right option now includes student dorms in the “community space,” making the total people count higher and, perhaps, making the as-of-right option less appealing to locals.
A spokesperson for Mayor de Blasio said this week de Blasio supports the rezoned option because it will bring more affordable housing to the area. The mayor strongly opposed the closing of the hospital and development of the site when he was running for office.
The long and torturous saga of the closure of Long Island College Hospital, sale of the site, and plans for its redevelopment has been racked with controversy.
You can see more details about the plans at Fortis’ new site.
The as-of-right option, above, would not require public review
The plan requiring public review and city approval is denser, with more units, but also has affordable housing and a new school
[Renderings: Fortis]
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Fortis will do whatever they can to make the as-of-right as unattractive as possible. But they are trying to distract from the bottom line, which is that the as-of-right will bring roughly half the number of new residents to an already congested area as compared to ULURP. This was confirmed by their spokesperson at the latest meeting held at Brooklyn Heights Montessori a few months back. I’d be curious to see if the as-of-right will actually end up looking like this in the end if its their only option.
Seems as if Fortis is so desperate to avoid the as-of-right option (which they claimed was the plan during the RFP process with SUNY) that they keep coming up with new ideas to scare the community into accepting overdevelopment. Student housing – oh – how awful. Students do not have cars nor do they need public schools. They certainly would be less burden on the infrastructure than the extra 500 luxury households in the expanded Fortis scheme. They might even be a boon to Atlantic Avenue retail.
Perhaps if the student housing scare doesn’t work, Fortis might propose a jail.
Why are private developers being asked to build schools and affordable housing? These should be the functions of government. Otherwise, neighborhoods like cobble hill are forced to watch their neighborhoods rezoned into megaliths for some dropped crumbs to salve the liberal conscience of the mayor, whose true concern is his own power. Even east New York doesn’t want to be rezoned!
Both renderings look good. It is amazing anything gets built today with all these opposition groups fighting development that doesn’t fit their taste.
Had some of these activists been around when The City was being built none of the Brownstones, Victorians or The Bridges people love so much would have been constructed.
Funny to note — the diagrams illustrating the two options show the base of a Pier 6 tower in the upper left corner.
I say stick to the as-of-right.
Bill DeBlasio used the LICH controversy to become mayor and it will bite him in the you know where when he is retired as one term Bill. his buddy and equally arrogant political pal Brad Lander will go down too . These people are not progressives -just lets cut a deal politicos
So true. Why did they oust former leadership in order to do….nothing? Weird.