420 42nd Street: This One Could Get Ugly
It looks like Sunset Park is not immune from the kind of neighborhood wrecking developers who’ve been plaguing the South Slope and Greenwood Heights. First brought to our attention in Monday’s Sterling Place thread, a section of Sunset Park that heretofore has been composed almost uniformly of 3-story houses is about to get its first…
It looks like Sunset Park is not immune from the kind of neighborhood wrecking developers who’ve been plaguing the South Slope and Greenwood Heights. First brought to our attention in Monday’s Sterling Place thread, a section of Sunset Park that heretofore has been composed almost uniformly of 3-story houses is about to get its first non-contextual sore thumb in the form of a full lot-line (or almost 85X100′) 10-story, 31-unit building with underground parking and a 29′-high first floor daycare facility. The pile-driving started last Friday, which was a surprise to the neighbors who had never received advanced noticed that is required to be given to owners of adjacent properties. From the correspondence we’ve been privy to, there’s a groundswell of opposition building in the community. Once word gets out that this building, if built, will ruin the park view of historic St. Michael’s Church on 4th Avenue and seriously compromise the harbor vista, the whole nabe is likely to be up in arms. Given the scale, this fight could be the ugliest one we’ve seen yet. Check out the first salvo on YouTube below.
420 42nd Photo Gallery [CCGH] GMAP P*Shark DOB
Goodbye Sunset Park Views [YouTube]
Sunset Park Vista Photos [Bridge & Tunnel Club]
I don’t see what the big deal is, it’s only Sunset Park. Just because it’s the only neighborhood you can afford doesn’t mean it’s a nice place.
Let’s us forget what they are building on the site for one second to ask this question. Why is Brooklyn still being plagued by irresponsible contractors? What is this project worth? 10-15 million dollars?Can’t send out a two paragraph 5day notice to adjacent property owners? Can’t work within the 7am till 6pm M-F work week? Can’t walk next door to Community Board offices and say hello? I say fuck them then. Release the nimbys in full force! Where do I contribute to the youtube video fund.
If you think Sunset Park is only the area around Home Depot and the BQE then you really can’t comment on what it is like. Go up to the park, you will see that it is nothing like the area you got lost in.
JoshK — just the most recent addition to the a**hole brigade that insists on posting comments here. Why don’t you just return to whatever part of flyover country you came from.
I stand by what I said above. Sunset Park is a pit. I remember getting lost there once when I was trying to get to Home Depot by the freeway. I was new to NYC then and couldn’t believe that a neighborhood could look like that in a first world country.
It’s inconsistent to praise the virtues of beautiful Park Slope brownstones and nice green streets and then to opine that new development could wreck Sunset Park. Short of turning it into a landfill or crematorium it would be difficult to do so.
Anon 2:23 PM
I think you can support new development in SSP and keep the views from the Hill…just not at 12 stories (as my better half has corrected me)…it is 10 stories, PLUS 2 penthouses and bulkheads…that does not bode well for the Park views, not the residents in SSP.
Solution, build (it’s a huge lot, 100X100 ft.) lower. Still make yer $$, provide housing, day care facilities, etc. but preserve the character of the ‘nabe and the views.
What is wrong with that? at 5-6 stories, while big for the block, would only partially loom over the old court house (Police/CB7) and only partially block the view of St. Michael’s.
Solution? Not sure…
Sorry, meant to say big, not bug…
Change is a part of life in any city- especially NY. I am a Pratt grad, and lived in SSP after leaving school (it was on the edge @ 17th st. & 5th). I would only like to add this comment: the name Sunset Park comes from the fact that sunsets viewed over the bay was the bug draw to the area when it was first ‘developed’. Having towers mixed willy-nilly among street scale row houses does not a neighborhood make, I beleive…
I live in Sunset Park. I strongly support midrise construction on 4th Ave. At the same time, I would like the view of NY Harbor from the top of Sunset Park to be preserved. Are those two goals irreconcilable?