Albee Square Deal Closes, Fewer Apartments Planned
When the deal was announced back in February, the consortium of investors purchasing the groundlease for the Gallery at Fulton Mall from Thor Equities had big plans: 475,000 square feet of retail space, 125,000 square feet of Class A office space, and 1,000 rental apartments (with 20 percent set aside for tenants of moderate income)….
When the deal was announced back in February, the consortium of investors purchasing the groundlease for the Gallery at Fulton Mall from Thor Equities had big plans: 475,000 square feet of retail space, 125,000 square feet of Class A office space, and 1,000 rental apartments (with 20 percent set aside for tenants of moderate income). Since the deal closed last week for a reported $120 million, it’s come out that the housing component has been scaled back by about 35 percent. The 1.6-million-square-foot tower (which will be anywhere from 40 to 60 stories) will still have 650 apartments, but the switcheroo is expected to result in a loss of about 70 affordable housing units, something that has community groups pissed off. The new owners haven’t announced what they’re going to do with the extra square footage from the 350 axed apartments yet.
Developers Pare Housing Plan for Albee Square [NY Observer] GMAP
Expansion, Skyscraper Planned for Albee Square Mall [Brownstoner]
Albee Square [Acadia Realty]
Sometimes I think that some of the posters at this sight are insensitive nitwits…
If it weren’t for the long-time Brooklyn residents of modest means, who rented and owned, paid taxes and kept these neighborhoods going, people like yourselves wouldn’t even want to live in Brooklyn… just like none of you overpaid nitwits wanted to live here back in the 70’s,80’s and early 90’s… you all stuck up your collective noses at the mere mention of Brooklyn.
Quite frankly I don’t think many of you folks have the guts to put up with the
ups and downs of living in this city long term…
you’re all riding the “good time” wave like a pack of lemmings, and when the bad times hit you’ll be grabbing your collective arses and running back to where ever you were spawned.
I am truly sick and tired of the elitist
attitudes posted on this site towards the longtime residents, (renters and owners alike), of Brooklyn, from what seems to be “green behind the ears” overly cocky, clueless twerps.
I am an owner too, and have been for 24years… but I treasure the diversity, on all levels,here in Brooklyn, and heaven forbid this area turns into a haven for clods like some of these posters at this site.
I might add, I love to see new development done properly, and do enjoy
the energy that newcomers to the area bring, but come on now, cool the elitist
attitudes… those attitudes are really tacky…
Do you actually think the admins, security, maintenance etc. working at Metro Tech can afford what the prices have become within miles of downtown?
Get real – for every ‘upscale white collar’ person working there, there are 2-3 support and service workers. And where would all the yuppies be without someone to serve them their $6 coffee?
David, who said anything about the government insuring anyone’s right to live in the same neighborhood forever? The complaint appears to have been directed against a government that entitles developers to redefine an area’s economic base with luxury versus affordable housing. BTW, has anyone seen the impact studies related to this 70 story tower? I can’t imaging that a building of this size only a 1/2 mile from WSB and Atlantic Yards is going to be good for the already congested Flatbush Avenue Extension. And luxury housing of this type is certainly not being marketed to the subway-riding types, so it can only get worse
But do those people work in that area? There isn’t much commercial space and metro-tech is for more upscale white collar workers. Not so sure about that. Anyway the tulip comment was apt. There are enough cheap ‘luxury’ condos being built to cause a major oversupply and when the market crashes it will probably take years for it to adjust.
But do those people work in that area? There isn’t much commercial space and metro-tech is for more upscale white collar workers. Not so sure about that. Anyway the tulip comment was apt. There are enough cheap ‘luxury’ condos being built to cause a major oversupply and when the market crashes it will probably take years for it to adjust.
Its about managing a healthy urban environment. When you push all the poor and working class out of an area they work in you increase the transportation burden on the city. Build your elite enclaves in the Hamptons but downtown Brooklyn needs space for the people who work there.
Here’s my fantasy for this site. The developer also buys the adjacent Dime Savings bank, connects it underground to whatever is built on the mall site and one of the world’s great museums – Oh the Met maybe – opens a Brooklyn outpost in the combined space.
11:30 – but isn’t that just a fact of life – I mean lets say you grow up in Brooklyn Heights – should you be able to afford to live there right out of college? What if you don’t graduate HS – should you be able to afford Brooklyn Heights then? What if you run a hedge fund and live in a beautiful Bed Stuy Mansion for 20yrs and then the hedge fund goes bad….should the government make sure that there is an apartment for you to move into? What if you grew up the daughter of a doctor in a Upper East Side Townhouse that your parents bought for 1M but now 30 yrs later you’ve graduated Med School and have a very lucrative practice (i.e. your doing everything ‘right’) but since the upper east side has appreciated so much a family size house or apartment in the same neighborhood will be 10M, which is beyond your means (even though you are rich) – what should the Gov’t do in that case? – Should the doctor be banned from moving to Brooklyn b/c it will drive up prices here? –
Look I am all for stable neighborhoods, and their are some things the Govt can do w/o destroying the market (421a, vacancy decontrol etc) but at the end of the day, thinking that Government should insure you that you can live in the same neighborhood forever is ENTITLEMENT.
11:40 AM
Yep it’s idiots like you who are screwing up Brooklyn with the entitlement you think money brings you with no thought of the people who made the neighborhood you want to throw your money around in good in the first place.