Size Doesn't Matter on Luquer Street?
Someone on the Forum wonders why no one in Carroll Gardens is stewing over the under-construction 100 Luquer Street—which is set to rise quite a bit higher than neighborhood whipping boy 360 Smith Street. We checked in on the site, between Clinton and the BQE, and found that work on the project is well under…
Someone on the Forum wonders why no one in Carroll Gardens is stewing over the under-construction 100 Luquer Street—which is set to rise quite a bit higher than neighborhood whipping boy 360 Smith Street. We checked in on the site, between Clinton and the BQE, and found that work on the project is well under way. Four stories are already finished; according to DOB permits, it’s going to reach 11 stories and 184 feet—way taller than any surrounding buildings. A rendering (at right) posted on Curbed more than a year ago shows the king-sized, Karl Fischer-designed tower lording over Luquer, but like the Forum poster, we haven’t heard any outcry about it recently. This one just considered a done deal?
100 Luquer is going up?! [Forum] GMAP DOB
Development Du Jour: 100 Luquer Street [Curbed]
360 Smith Developer Tries to Appease Carroll Gardens [Brownstoner]
Not going to address the zoning intricacies, because I don’t claim to be an expert, but a general comment on rentals: The rental situation in the city is so miserable that if next year there were an additional 10% more units available, it would only be a good thing.
Right now, with vacancy in Manhattan at 1 pct., and nearby bklyn probably not much higher, you’ve got landlords ignoring maintenance, folks doubling and tripling up with strangers, illegal sublets, and on and on.
If the rental market were looser, sure rents might not keep rising, but if landlords actually had to compete for tenants, it would significantly improve everyone’s q of l.
Just a guess, but I’ll bet there’s a net loss of brownstone-style rental units every year as people buy 3 -and 4-family homes and convert them to 1 and 2-family ones.
The only alternative for builders is to max out FAR and other zoning mechanisms.
Difference between R6 and R6B zoning from http://www.historicfortgreene.org/r6b.html
“The typical R6 development is usually between three and twelve stories. FAR in R6 districts ranges from 0.78 to 2.43. The higher ratio is applied to new buildings that provide more open space. Parking must be provided for 70 percent of the dwelling units.[5] More importantly the height restriction on a building in an R6 district is developed by a complex calculation of sky exposure planes from the street relative to the building. The resultant building height can be 120 feet or more. The regulations of R6B encourage low-rise buildings with greater lot coverage. With the lower FAR of 2.0, R6B typically produces shorter, four story rowhouses or apartment buildings as typically found in Fort Greene and Clinton Hill. The Quality Housing Program is mandatory in R6B districts, which limits the maximum building height to 50 feet.”
Dear Money Grubbing Jerk,
I own in the neighborhood too. I want to be able to expand a little too.I’m not aware of any scenario currently being discussed that would prevent someone from expanding their brownstone/rowhouse within reason. Comparing home owners expanding to developers building 11 story buildings is crazy. Your argument is the same flawed scare tactic developers have been using to exploit neighborhoods for years. What is being discussed and is likely to happen are some caps that would prevent Finger buildings like the one this post is referring to.
Just one question? How do you see down zoning pushing out renters? What will push out current renters is developers buying small building and building excessively large condo/co-ops and selling them at high market rates that most renters are unlikely to be able to afford.
And to Zach I would ask- How are near Million dollar market rate apartments at 360 Smith and 100 going to to free up rentals? There is no rental or low to middle income component to either project.
I for one don’t want to stop development. I just think it needs to be responsive to the community.
re Carol: Um, really? Carroll Gardens and Red Hook, taken together, have 16,000 housing units. Even throwing, say, 1,000 more on top of that in tall buildings and additions should put a pretty significant dent in the existing market. If you got 5,000 new units in there (gasp), it’s likely you’d see a significant slowdown.
Up in Williamsburg and Greenpoint, we’re slated for something like 20,000 (on top of 45,000 existing), and you can bet that’s going to slow down rent creep around here. With inflation around 3% or whatever, sooner or later that means that market-rate apartments have decreasing real rents. It’s sort of silly to claim that new units won’t lower rent — the market’s not infinite.
How big were you planning to go? Because it seems to me that you can still add at least a floor and not go above 50 feet, right? Now how many rentals are turning into condos around here? It is happening, but it is not all that prevalent. Those are “new neighbors”, too. Downzoning is not going to take away apartments that already exist. Since property values have gone up substantially in the last few decades, aren’t most people who actually owner occupying planning to keep their brownstones as is and benefit from increased rents and possibly a healthy sale if they choose to move at some point? Or pass on a substantially appreciated property to their kids? And if they renovate do they really plan to add more than a floor, if that? The beauty and scale of this neighborhood has helped property value tremendously in recent years and made to attractive to both buyers and renters.Let’s face it, cheap rents in this nabe are gone–unless you are stabilized or getting a deal from a friendly landlord or family member. I just don’t believe that putting up a bunch of tall building on remaining buildable lots is going to make any dent in the rents charged around here.
This is bound to be worthless once AY is done.
I’m just a guy in the neighborhood who owns a brick townhouse, I want my daughter to be able to afford to stay in the neighborhood, she is an adult living in our home presently. I have aged relatives that want to be able to stay in the neighborhood, too, they are renters. I paid for my house what I paid for my house because it was R6 and could be expanded to accomodate them. If the neighborhood is downzoned and I can’t expand rents will be driven up as more rentals come off the market with more condo and coop conversions.
Downzoning is gentrification on steroids. I can’t afford the downzoning, all of my money is tied up in the building I presently own. Dowzoning away my value is going to hurt a lot. Buildable Square Footage is an improtant component of property values. When and if the downzoning occurs, I will vote against those who push it, maybe you will vote for them, thats OK with me. 2/3 of the people in this neighborhood are renters and the downzoning will be very tough on them, chase them away over time.
Basically, the downzoning is going to push away new neighbors, which is apparently OK with Chopper and the other NIMBYs, with DeBlasio cheering them on. They apparently are flush enough that tossing away their property values is irrelevant to them and their financial position. Good for them.
Just picking out one thing Mr. Stein said at the CGNA meeting is not particularly productive. He also offered to give up his Chopper and the others through sale of his property (at market rate). They should take him up on it and build whatever they want to.
Sincerely,
Money Grubbing Jerk
This one is slightly off the beaten path so it hasn’t garnered the attention that 360 has, but it should — Its totally out of scale.
These developers are totally out of touch with the neighborhood.
The most ridiculous thing I have heard from a developer lately, was last Monday when at the CGNA meeting Stein said “we started by modeling 360 around some of the work that had been done in Williamsburgâ€. Get a clue dude, the two neighborhoods share little in common and I don’t think many people would point to the Wild West development of Williamsburg as a shinning example of community responsiveness.
Get your licks in now all you money grubbing jerks because 360 has brought a new awareness and the zoning is about to change in CG.
I live on the block – right next door, in fact. While I wish the building fit the surroundings a little better (why such a small footprint?), this is not a classic brownstone block. I think everyone here just wants the block to improve, and any new construction should help.
Now if only we could get a little Greenstreets triangle in the intersection between Luquer and Hamilton…