Development Watch: 236 Livingston Street

Another biggie for the Livingston/Schermerhorn corridor. Developer Shlomo Karpen (who made the dailies when he was sued by, and subsequently had to settle with, purchasers of his development known as the Williamsburg Mews) has broken ground on a 271-unit residential rental project with two towers, a 26-story one on Livingston and a 10-story one on Schermerhorn. When the project was presented to the Community Board 2 Land Use Committee in December (where we snapped these blurry photos), members were shocked that a mere eight units (one unit per floor on floors 3 through 10 of the Livingston tower) of affordable housing were included in the plan, which comes out to about 3% instead of the standard 20%. Apparently, inclusion of those eight lower-floor units enables the developer to add an extra five floors to the tower. Good deal for him. GMAP P*Shark DOB