Ratner: 'Fort Greene, I've Got You Surrounded'
Man, it’s getting hard to keep up with all the towers that are sprouting up in Downtown Brooklyn. Yesterday, Curbed ran some renderings of Bruce Ratner’s latest project at 80 Dekalb Avenue aka 625 Fulton Street. The 36-story, Costas Kondylis-designed silver scraper will have 369 apartments spread out over 335,187 square feet. As we saw…
Man, it’s getting hard to keep up with all the towers that are sprouting up in Downtown Brooklyn. Yesterday, Curbed ran some renderings of Bruce Ratner’s latest project at 80 Dekalb Avenue aka 625 Fulton Street. The 36-story, Costas Kondylis-designed silver scraper will have 369 apartments spread out over 335,187 square feet. As we saw when we swung by at the end of the day, demolition of the existing three- and four-story building that runs most of the way towards Fulton from Dekalb is in full swing. Curbed reported that the property is listed as a rental on the Kondylis site, but we bet nothing’s set in stone just yet. Anyone know if this has an affordable housing component? For political reasons alone we suspect it will.
Kondylis + Ratner on DeKalb Avenue [Curbed] GMAP P*Shark DOB
jtg, I’m not suggesting that eminent domain was used to secure this site. It’s important to read carefully. My comment was in response to the ‘anti-growth’ argument which is completely unfounded and fabricated. It’s a diversion. My post along with many of the others in this thread was to draw attention back to the crux of the issue, i.e., why do so many people have a problem with Ratner’s development and some of the other questionable/protestable developments in the area. They often are done covertly, marked by shady back-door, sweetheart deals, that excludes the community from the process and are promoted recklessly and relentlessly without regards to responsible research and fact-finding (i.e., underground rail road safehouses), and they often involve some aspect of eminent domain abuse.
Is it any wonder that so many developers of ‘taawwwllll’ buildings sleep well at nights without any trollish, nit-picking community advocate nipping at their heels and protesting? Forte, Oro and Avalon comes to mind.
FCR has controlled the site for a long time. It used to be the DMV.
Affordable Housing link:
http://nyc.gov/html/housinginfo/html/home/home.shtml
Anon 10:50, where is there any evidence that eminent domain was used to secure this site?
Anon 10:53, how do you propose Brooklyn grow without building new buildings? Are you really suggesting that a tall building is not keeping with the fabric of Downtown Brooklyn?
The down side of the condo towers in downtown Brooklyn is that, in an environment in which developers are making scads of money, the City has not bargained hard enough on behalf of the public good — ie, affordable housing. So these towers represent the growing divide between those in this city who make in the hundreds of thousands and the majority who make under 35K or whatever it is. In economic terms, we are giving away the store.
However, downtown is absolutely the right place for towers and I had no problem whatsoever with the Oro, the Forte, and the rest. What I don’t want is a brand new high rise district plunked down in the midst of Fort Greene, Prospect Hgts, Park Slope.
any knowledge about who owned the plot before? what was it sold to FOrest City for? When is construction due to begin?
eminent domain abuse.
You anti-growth people can keep up with your conspiracy theories, blame the mayor etc. etc. The project is most likely as-of-right. Get over it – this is NYC. Paying for a project to get around the rules is in your heads.
Its still rights across the street from the Projects!