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]
You mean that some people might actually have to move? How terrible. And I thought that AIDS, war, poverty, famine, etc. were the real world problems.
But now people might not be able to live in the neighborhood of their choice! Oh, the tragedy of it all…
It seems like some developer could make tons of money building a tower full of efficiently-laid-out yet small sqftage rentals, thousands of small units, rented or sold for “affordable” prices. It’s what I would do if I were a developer — talk about high volume, you’d rent/sell out in a heartbeat. Why deal with all those picky pain-in-the-ass high end buyers, having to source wenge wood, when you can just fill up a building with people who aren’t so picky? The fact that this isn’t a huge trend leads me to believe there’s some zoning or other regulation in the way.
Someone correct me if I’m wrong, I can’t keep track of the byzantine housing/zoning regs.
Is there a plan for parking? Sounds like a (or an additional, considering all the development) traffic and parking nightmare for Fort Greene and Boerum Hill.
11:20 – It’s not about entitlement – it’s about living somewhere for many years and then not being able to afford to live there anymore.
There will be plenty o’ affordable housing once the Brooklyn tulip craze corrects itself.
What is it with NYC? Are there other cities where people spend all there time whining that they can’t afford prime real estate? Most people just live where they can afford. Where does this sense of entitlement come from?
I just looked at the project description and I’m excited about this. Hopefully it delivers on its promise to bring stronger retail options to Brooklyn.
Good points Sterling, but I doubt most here will agree as the attitude seems to mostly be ‘if you don’t make at least 100K you don’t deserve to live anywhere convenient to Manhattan or in nice neighborhoods.’
Yep more office space would be great for downtown Brooklyn.