Affordable and Green in East New York
Hudson Companies (yes, they of the Third & Bond blog) announced that ground was broken yesterday at the eight-story low-income housing development at 1490 Dumont Avenue in East New York. The 176 rental apartments, made possible by the LAMP program and several city agencies, will be available to households with incomes of $16,000 to $46,000,…
Hudson Companies (yes, they of the Third & Bond blog) announced that ground was broken yesterday at the eight-story low-income housing development at 1490 Dumont Avenue in East New York. The 176 rental apartments, made possible by the LAMP program and several city agencies, will be available to households with incomes of $16,000 to $46,000, with 20 percent of the units reserved for formerly homeless tenants. The project (called the Elder Lane development) will include solar panels, bicycle and car parking, and a 6,000-square-foot enclosed, landscaped courtyard. It will also be “the first residential project in NYC to utilize a vibro-compaction system,” which, as the name implies, uses vibrations to rearrange the soil, making it more dense and less permeable. According to the press release, this saved the project $1.5 million because “the procedure eliminates the need for 50′ piles, as well as structural caps, beams, and slabs.” 1490 Dumont is being launched as part of Mayor Bloomberg’s New Housing Marketplace Plan, which hopes to preserve or construct 165,000 units of affordable housing by 2014. GMAP
I don’t like the headline. It’s not green if it includes parking. Sure, there are lots of good reasons why people out there might own a car, but that doesn’t mean we should buy them a parking spot.
If someone doesn’t want the apartment because it doesn’t come with free parking, that’s fine. Let someone else have it.
Brooklyn is much more unique and varied than people think.
Posted by: Montrose Morris at September 24, 2009 2:22 PM
So true Montrose. I can recall the first time I drove up the very steep Miller Ave to reach Highland Blvd specifically to see those fine homes. I never knew they existed until I was told about them some years back. There used to be a spot where from the sidewalk on Highland , you could see an incredible view of surrounding area. You are so right, the many peeked Victorians seen below were a sight to behold.
Cypress Hills has some amazing homes, especially up on Highland Blvd, I love going up there on those rare occasions I have a car, and am in the neighborhood. Even down below, you can see a classic Victorian small town in the way the streets and homes are laid out. Brooklyn is much more unique and varied than people think.
Thanks ENY- I am sure you are familiar with the few remaining large homes on one side of Highland Blvd. close to the park from whose backyards, due to elevation, are available some of the best views in all of Bklyn. These were the true mansion properties of ENY, but Arlington Ave as well as Jamaica Ave, in this section, ran a close second. Also, did you ever get a chance to visit the Public Library on Arlington Ave , I think it’s near Barbey St. Ever notice the details outside and inside the building. It dates to the Arlington sections heyday, when nothing less than a grand structure would have been permitted there. Funny thing is that many Brooklynites who have never been to , or have certain perceptions about ENY dwellings , would never think that these large “true” Victorian , (many with unique and individual detail) homes would be there and at one time many more of them were.
Thanks for your post, Crescent Hill. I grew up in a section of ENY (“Spring Creek”) that’s not too far from the Cypress Hill area, which I’m definitely familiar with. As you said, some of the great old Victorian mansions are still there, and parts of Cypress near Highland Park are quite nice. I’m not surprised to learn from you that it was a pretty prestigious area.
FYI, this picture might interest you: http://bit.ly/1Y8unC
Anyway, like you, I am glad to see this project come to fruition in ENY, and wish it nothing but success.
“The parking seems weird to me because of how astronomically expensive it is to live in this city – I flat out don’t understand how someone owns and maintains a car at $16-$46K a yr.”
For one, not everyone buys a new car. There are plenty of cheap used cars available. Secondly, a significant percentage of these folks are union people (working in hospitals, schools, for the city, etc.), with access to credit unions that can provide low-rate car loans. They may not have the highest salaries, but they often have good benefits and enough economic stability to own a car. Thirdly, a lot of NYers save on insurance by registering cars in other states, places where they have family or close friends. Those are just some of the ways low to middle income folks can afford a car. This is NYC – folks are normally very resourceful here, and where there’s a will, there’s a way. You just have to use a little imagination.
“(called the Elder Lane development)”
Probably the ELDERT Lane development…name of a local street.
Posted by: East New York at September 24, 2009 11:17 AM
I was thinking the same thing ENY. I have heard of Eldert’s Lane. My Mom, b. 1942, as well her father ( b. 1912) were both born & raised on Arlington Avenue near Barbey & Jerome St. ( formerly called “Arlington Section”) , I believe the area is now referred to as Cypress Hill, it’s near Jamaica Ave/ Miller Hill ( Ave) / Highland Blvd. Big old Victorians still found up there…my grandparent’s ( now both deceased) sold the then 80 or so year old house, in 1969 and retired to Daytona Beach, Fla. The house still stands, having changed hands several times since then. It has been in a state of disrepair for some time having been chopped up into some sort of boarding house in the late 1970’s. My Grandfather’s parents, who were Italian immigrants, purchased the house shortly after 1900. Apparently , an Arlington Ave address was fairly prestigious in those days because they had to sell two small building’s they owned, one on Vermont Street and the other on New Jersey Ave to afford the Arlington Ave house, where few with similar surnames to their’s resided, (at that time.) Back to topic, I am always pleased to read about positive development like this in ENY and hope this project is a real success.
Good point CP! Are these legitimate working poor or are they driving Mommy’s 2000 Lexus? Who would ever trust our corrupt gov’t to decide who’s for real and who’s not?
The parking seems weird to me because of how astronomically expensive it is to live in this city – I flat out don’t understand how someone owns and maintains a car at $16-$46K a yr.
Ok, at $40K+, after rent and food, you can probably squeak by having a car, but anything less seems impossible.
Unless I missed it, we don’t know the size of the units, so maybe they’re for single people.