DumboNYC Guest Post: Dock Street Building Plans
Over the next few weeks, we’re going to be inviting some neighborhoods bloggers from around the borough to write guest posts on Brownstoner. Today, DumboNYC kicks it off: Remember the previous post by Brownstoner on the proposed Dock Street building? Two Trees Management is formally presenting their proposal to the Dumbo Neighborhood Association (DNA) this…
Over the next few weeks, we’re going to be inviting some neighborhoods bloggers from around the borough to write guest posts on Brownstoner. Today, DumboNYC kicks it off:
Remember the previous post by Brownstoner on the proposed Dock Street building? Two Trees Management is formally presenting their proposal to the Dumbo Neighborhood Association (DNA) this week and have started an advertising campaign with mailers and a website, but some residents have responded with their own photo renderings and will begin lobbying against the structure citing its proximity to the Brooklyn Bridge and the skepticism of having a dual purpose school and residential tower in the same building. It’s reported that the campaign against the Dock Street building is underway, organized by residents of three Two Trees buildings; 30 Main Street, 70 Washington Street, and 1 Main Street, and 57 Front Street.
Ultimately this campaign should not be about ‘anti-developer’ or ‘not-in-my-backyard because it blocks my views’. The real issue is the need to preserve Brooklyn’s most iconic bridge view without a building next to it that stands taller than it does. Expect a full effort campaigning from both Two Trees and Dumbo residents this summer before, during, and after the formal submission of documents to the city. -Hideyoshi, DumboNYC.com
Alas if both sides of Water Street had been included in the Fulton Ferry Historic District, Rudy’s arguments would have some legal basis. But the east side of Water Street is not in the historic district and therefore it is solely the Planning Commission who must decide, based on what the residential comparables are to the area’s manufacturing zoning, how tall or bulky the building can be. The fact that it is across the street from a historic district has no bearing. A miss is as good as a mile as they say. There is no magic halo that surrounds historic districts. One is either in or out. Period.
Perhaps after it is built, the new building can be included in a DUMBO historic district some day.
Fortunately, the borough president gets it. His words summarize the situation exactly.
Of course it is legitimate to change the zoning from commercial to residential in that Brooklyn made the decision to allow rezoning to residential in DUMBO 10 years ago. That’s how Walentas got rich, buying up all the commercially zoned properties then convincing the city that DUMBO would better serve everyone going residental.
The zoning for height has nothing to do with the use of the structure and much more to do with the issues named by the Borough President. And those are the issues that should not be for sale to the developer with the “largest school” to offer.
Hey 3:32, you hold onto the offering plans for condos that you’ve looked at from years past for fun, or did you pull it out of the filing cabinet at of your office at 45 Main (in the 2Trees office). Thats what I thought. Have fun this year at the retreat on the Polo Farm out in the Hamptons. Asshole.
Rudy, I think you need some meds, and I think you should not delay getting them.
In a free and open society adults can have varying opinions without being trolls of your perceived nemesis.
No wall for 50 feet of the block. Everything else is still there, troll.
luckily this building is completely shifted and does not have the problems marty described above. there is not a wall on water street anymore, thank goodness.
Its so obvious that all those in favor of the building are Walentas trolls -but thats neither here nor there – I think the Boro Pres summed it up nicely back in 2004 when he disapproved of the previous incarnation of this project to the CPC, which didn’t have the bells and whistles of a space for a school if the city decides to put one there, but was as high, and only 50 feet closer to the bridge, so I’ll give you his words, keeping in mind that he may not feel the same way this time around (he was pretty chummy with Jed at the TJ opening)…
The Brooklyn Borough President further believes that the proposed development of 38 Water Street as a residential building with a public parking garage and Water Street retail is an appropriate land use in context with the development of the DUMBO area, however, the project, as proposed by Two Trees, should reflect the lower-density scale of this part of DUMBO and the Fulton Ferry neighborhood to the West.
The area proposed for rezoning is framed by the context of the four-to-six story buildings located at 64-72 Water Street and the Civil-War era Empire Stores and Tobacco Warehouse in Brooklyn Bridge Park located directly across the street from the subject site. This area serves as a transition zone between the taller concrete industrial buildings found along Main Street to the 2-to-3 story buildings in Fulton Landing which are in character with an R6B contextual zoning designation.
The appropriate building height is one that respects this transition as one enters DUMBO from Fulton Ferry. In addition, the height of the building must not create a canyon effect on Water Street opposite the Empire Stores, as this route is the prime pedestrian link from DUMBO into neighboring Fulton Landing. The historic character of the Tobacco Warehouse and Empire Stores should not be flanked by building massing that would distract from their significance.
The Brooklyn Borough President also believes that as an architectural and engineering icon of the world, the significance of the Brooklyn Bridge is represented by more than just the towers and the span between them. Views of the span, representing the whole of the bridge, must be protected as well. A large massive building like the one the applicant proposes would mar the view of the span by superimposing its façade over the bridge span.
The Borough president is also equally concerned that the appropriate maximum height of the proposed building not impede significant views from the Brooklyn Bridge pedestrian walkway. As proposed, the applicant’s proposal obscures the span of the Manhattan Bridge and the sweeping views one enjoys of the river and Manhattan from the Brooklyn Bridge.
To mitigate these concerns and accomplish the objective of creating sound development complimentary to the sensitive historic environment of the Brooklyn Bridge and the DUMBO neighborhood, the Borough President believes that it would have been more appropriate to propose the building rise no higher than approximately 80 feet.
Suck on that argument, troll.
I reitirate, this would be a fine project with or without the middle school. If the Board of Ed decides to open a school somewhere else nearby, fine. It’s all good for the community.
If the building does not house a school, then maybe it can house a Whole Foods or a Best Buys or something like that. What’s the prob?
I had someone read me what the mailer says about Community Board 2 and, sorry bklyn20, I think anyone who reads that as an implied endorsement of the project needs some remedial reading comprehension classes. Community Board 2 has taken a position on the need for a middle school in the area, which is all that the mailer seems to say, IMO.