New School for Williamsburg?
We hadn’t heard a peep out of the Domino folks since the massive mixed-use project on the Williamsburg waterfront finally gained approval from the city council last July after a six-year (!) process. Over that time we’ve blogged about the 2,200-unit project enough to be pretty familiar with the plans, so we were interested to…
We hadn’t heard a peep out of the Domino folks since the massive mixed-use project on the Williamsburg waterfront finally gained approval from the city council last July after a six-year (!) process. Over that time we’ve blogged about the 2,200-unit project enough to be pretty familiar with the plans, so we were interested to hear Susan Pollock, one of the execs at developer CPC, mention at the Brooklyn Real Estate Roundtable luncheon yesterday that there would likely be a new school built into the complex. You see, the developer is on the hook for 150,000 square feet of community-use space (currently planned for the 2nd, 3rd and 4th floors of the now-landmarked refinery building) and, according to Pollock, the current thinking is that this will be a school. If we were doing the marketing at The Edge or Northside Piers we’d be incorporating that into our promotional materials pronto! Of course, they wouldn’t be installing the chalkboards for some time: Ground won’t be broken on the first phase on the empty lot on the east side of Kent until the middle of the next year, with the southernmost waterfront building to follow some time in 2012.
Domino Gains Full Approval [Brownstoner]
New Domino Clears Council Hurdles [Brownstoner]
Last Minute Deal to Save Domino Development [Brownstoner]
Details on the Domino Public Hearing [Brownstoner]
Domino Public Hearing Held This Morning [Brownstoner]
City Planning Approves Domino [Brownstoner]
Like I said, I hope you are right, WL. The parents who tried very hard a few years ago to make changes to PS84 were, by and large, local property owners with young children and many of them were long-time residents, not newcomers to the neighborhood. Still, they were met with tremendous resistance and all sorts of race and class antagonism. I wasn’t involved, but as a fairly close observer, I don’t think either side did a good job managing that situation.
Wber – yup, know the history too, and agree that there were conflicts. Why is now different? Well, gentrification because of significantly more housing has brought more people with children into WB than even a couple of years ago. And, I’m guessing that owners of property vs. renters of property may be more motivated to have a successful local school because they have a more long term outlook. obviously, housing prices are tied to the perception of the local school, so the better the school, the more you can make when you cash out. Also, the dual language program didn’t even exist before, and now there’s 2 kindergarten classes for it, and it has a 1st and 2nd grade too. there’s lots of families coming simply for that program alone. Once those kids hit 3rd/4th grade imagine they will bring up the test scores.
They told the Borough President it would be 94,000 sf, 665 seats.
i don’t think she said all 150k will be a school….
You’re right about 17, WL – I forgot about the middle school. Not sure if that fills it up, but it is close.
I’ll reserve judgement on 84 and see what happens. They’ve been down that road before – new principal, energized “outsider” parents, etc., and it was a fiasco. Poorly handled For a variety of reasons, 84 has never been able to the leverage the success of their K and pre-K into the upper grades. I really hope you’re right, though.
I’d assume that no buyer in their right mind would spend a million plus for an apt at the Domino if there were a couple of hundred NYC school children in their building for 9 months out of the year – w/ the attendant faculty; drop-off/pick-up chaos; loud kids screaming at recess; scary teens; scary parents; idling buses; no Parking from 7am-4pm on School days, etc.
Schools are awesome, but there’s a reason most people will avoid living next to one – can’t imagine having one in your actual building.
WBER – follow 84. the next two years it will change dramatically because of effective leadership and way more parents with time and money to donate to get the new programs in place, but i understand your post. and, thought 17 was a full building because the middle school moved in? i toured it a couple of years ago and it seemed packed.
some of the new buildings feature a lot of single/couple type apts so it’s not like all the new inventory will be housing families.
This has been part of Domino’s pitch for ages now.
Right now, the most local schools are undersubscribed (PS84 is at less than 50%; PS17 isn’t much better). But the projections from the 2005 rezoning call for a shortage seats, and that’s before you add in the impact of Domino and all the other smaller rezonings. So 10 years out, there could be a huge shortage of classroom space.
Were it not for the school, I don’t the developer would know what to do with this space – huge floor plates at the lower floors of the building.
I don’t agree with WL that PS84 has come close to turning the corner (which is why they STILL have 500 seat available), but I hope they are closer. It is an amazing facility, and should be put to much better use.
it’ll be interesting to see if it’s needed. right now, PS84 which is at grand and berry could handle another 500+ students. there’s a new very effective principal and a growing successful dual language program. would think that this school could serve quite a few children before we’d need a new school. 84 could use money and volunteers to help struggling kids in the upper grades. perhaps the domino developers or other developers would be wise to donate to 84.