Brooklyn Music School, Local Stakeholders Support Fort Greene Tower Expansion

Controversial plans for a 23-story tower to rise next to the Brooklyn Music School in Fort Greene were met with little resistance at a public hearing hosted by the Department of City Planning yesterday afternoon.

The hearing is part of the city’s public review process, otherwise known as ULURP.

The music school, one of the most important art institutions in the borough for over a century, will be creating a 20,000-square-foot addition to their already existing home as part of the proposed development at 130 St. Felix Street, currently a parking lot being used by the Brooklyn Academy of Music next door.

Gotham is the developer of the project, with FXCollaborative behind the design.

All 26 people who provided testimony at the hearing were in support of the project, including various staff and board members of the Brooklyn Music School, representatives for local organizations and booster groups such as the Downtown Brooklyn Arts Alliance and the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership, and at least two members of the pro-housing group Open New York.

One member of Open New York, William Thomas, took a swipe at residents of Williamsburgh Savings Bank Tower next door, who he said had previously complained about the possibility of their views from their apartments being blocked by the new development.

Those residents were conspicuously absent from the hearing. At a review session earlier this week, a representative from City Planning said a lawsuit residents filed against the Landmarks Preservation Commission (who approved the project in August 2020) was in the process of being dismissed for being “premature.” 

The building will plan to bring 120 condos to the neighborhood, with 36 of those being targeted at households earning “moderate income.” According to the developer, six of the condos will be priced at 70 percent of the area median income, another six will be priced at 90 percent, and the remaining 24 will be set at 100 percent. The remaining 84 condo units will be market rate.

Staff at the Brooklyn Music School—which has been “awash in conflict for over a year” over a private school, called Muse Academy, which currently shares space with BMS and that parents claim drain resources—talked about the importance of the institution, and the need for it to continue to be a presence in the neighborhood and beyond. 

“I want to see the school grow, I want to see it expand, so the place where I learned music can reach more people,” said former student Blair Greene, now a teacher at the school. 

Shelby Green, Chair at the Brooklyn Music School, said that the improvements would add a modernized studio for students to learn audio recording and update facilities for the future. 

“The new building will enable the Brooklyn Music School to continue its 112-year storied place as an anchor in the community,” she added. 

Dorothy Ryan, managing director of Theatre for a New Audience, which resides nearby at 262 Ashland Place, ultimately praised the plan for the ways it does not resemble other developments. 

“In my own opinion,” she said, the building “combines more harmoniously with the surroundings than many of the towers now being added to the Brooklyn skyline.”

In June, Community Board 2 voted against the project. Borough President Eric Adams has yet to offer his recommendation.

It will next be voted on by the City Planning Commission, before going in front of the City Council for another vote, likely later this year.

Related Stories

• Parents Say Exec Board Is Starving Storied Brooklyn Music School of Space in Fort Greene
• Fort Greene Locals Vote No on Rezoning for Proposed Tower With Music School Addition
• Fort Greene Residents File Suit Over LPC Approval of Tower With Expanded Brooklyn Music School

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