How Much Would It Take to Walk Away? Locals Ask Developer, Owner of Bed Stuy's Dangler Mansion

“Why didn’t you come to us first?” and “How much would it take for you to walk away from this building?”

The two questions, one for the owner of the Jacob Dangler mansion at 441 Willoughby Avenue in Bed Stuy and one for a developer planning to demolish it, were posed by Willoughby Avenue locals and pols outside the circa 1897 French Gothic building Sunday at a heated meeting organized by local New York City Council Member Chi Ossé.

The gathering was organized by Ossé so that the existing building owner, the United Grand Chapter Order of the Eastern Star, and a developer who intends to purchase the property, Tomer Erlich, could present to and hear from members of the community about their plans for the property ahead of Tuesday’s Landmarks Preservation Commission hearing on landmarking the existing historic building.

But the meeting was tense from the start, with locals and the building owner at odds over what should happen Tuesday. Willoughby Avenue residents want the historic Jacob Dangler mansion to be landmarked so it can be saved from demolition and used as a community facility. The United Grand Chapter wants to sell it to Erlich so he can demolish it and build a 44-unit, seven-story apartment building.

The meeting follows LPC’s surprise decision last month to explore landmarking the house — commissioned in 1897 by German immigrant and prominent local meat purveyor, Jacob Dangler, and designed by Brooklyn’s most prolific German American architect at the time, Theobald Engelhardt. The Dangler family owned the house until 1967, when it was sold to a Masonic chapter. The deed was transferred to the United Grand Chapter Order of the Eastern Star (OES) for $40,000 in 2003, and the organization is currently still listed as the owner.

Sunday’s meeting was the community’s first chance to hear from the organization since rumors of a sale started circulating in January, and many, including Ossé, expressed frustration at the lack of communication from the chapter, saying the block association and others would have come to the organization’s aid much earlier had they known about its financial strife.

Growing debt led to sale

Christopher Fenelus, the assistant treasurer of the Most Worshipful Hiram Grand Lodge Fraternal Society Incorporated and also a real estate broker and owner, according to LinkedIn, spoke on behalf of the United Grand Chapter at the meeting. Selling the building, he said, was not what the organization had wanted, but its hands were tied after the pandemic caused a lack of income with reduced dues payments and revenue from events.

He said there is currently a lien of $2.3 million against the property, and the only thing delaying a foreclosure auction is the pending sale to developer Tomer Erlich. The property’s sale also needs to be signed by the state attorney general, Fenelus noted — standard procedure for nonprofits and religious organizations.

The property attracted a lot of interest from developers, Fenelus continued, and Erlich was chosen by the organization due to his commitment to building a development with some affordable apartments, parking spaces and a community facility. The mention of these details caused uproar at the meeting.

Fenelus said the contract price for the property is “much more” than the amount owed on it, and the profit made by the organization would go to continuing its community charity and making needed repairs to its second location at 197 St. James Place in Clinton Hill. (The small red brick building, apparently long shuttered, has attracted some renown as a spot frequented by Biggie Smalls, who grew up in a tenement across the street.)

If landmarking went ahead, he said, the community would lose the ability to have affordable apartments and a community facility, as financially they wouldn’t make sense for Erlich. If landmarking goes ahead, he said, either Erlich would build condos or drop out of the contract and the house would go into foreclosure, at which point it would go to the highest bidder, he said.

“Landmarking the building is choosing limestone over food on the table,” Fenelus told Brownstoner at the meeting.

What would it take to walk away?

Ossé challenged the chapter’s views that selling the building to be demolished or letting it go into foreclosure were the only options, and he lamented that the community had not been brought into the process sooner.

“An issue that many of us have in Bed Stuy and other communities of color is a lack of communication from developers, that’s why whenever we see a beautiful landmark or potential landmark like this is being demolished, it’s very concerning for the neighborhood.”

He, along with Assembly Member Stefanie Zinerman, who was also at the meeting, said what is really needed in the community is more community space for gathering and services.

“The fact of the matter is, we don’t need another 44 units on this corner or really anywhere else in Bed Stuy,” Zinerman said, saying there are already too many people for the infrastructure and amount of community space available. “This needs to be a place where people can come and gather and get to know each other and have peace, and that cannot be done in 1,000 square feet.”

She said that while Erlich may have the best intentions for the building, he came “at the wrong end of a bad curve” in regards to displacement and development in the neighborhood. Ultimately, she asked him, “How much would it take for you to walk away?” to which the crowd applauded.

Erlich, who did receive a level of thanks from locals for being communicative through the process and allowing them to enter the site and retrieve plants, said he would need to get back to Zinerman on a number. However, he said he has spent a lot on the site and has plans to develop condos if the building is landmarked as a way to maximize the space. That alternate plan would spell the end of a community facility, he said.

If the building is not landmarked, Erlich said he would develop a seven-story, 44-unit building that includes at least 13 affordable units with 22 car parking spots underground and a community facility of at least 1,000 square feet. He said there is no zoning change needed for a seven-story building, given it is R6 residential zoning, and it can be built as of right.

Erlich did not specify the income level any affordable units would be aimed at. As of right developments have typically built affordable housing under the 421-a tax break program, which until recently allowed incomes at 130 percent of the Area Median Income. That tax break, which has been criticized as producing housing that is rent stabilized but at market rate or even higher than market rate, has expired and is no longer available.

Community pushback to apartment plans

The thought of the historic Dangler mansion being torn down for a seven-story building with a much-reduced amount of community space compared to what the building currently offers spurred protest from locals at the meeting. Lauren Cawdrey, who has been a vocal advocate for landmarking 441 Willoughby, said there are lifelong residents of the block whose families had been there for decades, alongside newer residents, who have been working for months to contact the Grand Chapter and find solutions to saving the building.

“It’s frustrating for us that it’s come to this because if your organization was in such bad financial situations why didn’t you come to the community and say we need you? We’ve helped each other for 60 years, why would you not say we need your help?” Cawdrey questioned Fenelus. Now, she said, it is too late to work together.

“Now all we can do is that everyone can come to the meeting on Tuesday, everyone that has a say one way or the other, and let the Landmarks Commission decide its fate.”

The LPC is holding a public hearing on landmarking 441 Willoughby Avenue at 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday, July 12. Public testimony in support of landmarking will be heard from a range of local and citywide voices, including the Historic Districts Council and actor Edward Norton, who filmed Motherless Brooklyn on the block, Cawdrey said.

Pastor Kenneth Lewis, the chair of the Willoughby Nostrand Marcy Block Association, told Fenelus and Erlich the building has been a part of the community for a very long time, “longer than any of us have been born.”

“You’re saying trust, but trust is hard when everyone else who came and said trust we turned around and they ended up doing us wrong,” Lewis said. The issue of trust came front and center at the meeting when commotion broke out over a contact signup list that was circulated under the auspices of the block association. However, it turned out that the person circulating the list was not a member of the block association, and he drove away before his identity could be confirmed. The list was retained by Lewis prior to the man’s exit.

“We’re at a moment when preserving this building is in the best interest of this community…we want to preserve the integrity of our community and keep our heritage as a brownstone block,” Lewis added.

[Photos by Anna Bradley-Smith]

Related Stories

• In Surprise Move, Landmarks Saves Beloved Bed Stuy Mansion From Imminent Demise (Updated)
• Council Member Ossé to Landmarks: Landmarking 441 Willoughby Avenue Is the Best Decision for All
• The Grand and Mysterious Willoughby Avenue Mansion of Grocer Jacob Dangler

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