Pols Push Dermot on 29 Flatbush
On Tuesday Councilwoman Letitia James, State Senator Velmanette Montgomery, State Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries and District Leader Lincoln Restler sent a letter to the Dermot Company, which is developing the 42-story tower at 29 Flatbush, requesting that Dermot “provide a comprehensive presentation on plans for 29 Flatbush at an upcoming meeting of Community Board 2.” The…
On Tuesday Councilwoman Letitia James, State Senator Velmanette Montgomery, State Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries and District Leader Lincoln Restler sent a letter to the Dermot Company, which is developing the 42-story tower at 29 Flatbush, requesting that Dermot “provide a comprehensive presentation on plans for 29 Flatbush at an upcoming meeting of Community Board 2.” The electeds are also angling for a few other things from the developer:
• Increasing the density of affordable housing
• Designating space for a community facility
• Setting benchmarks for awarding % of total contractor dollar value to MWBEs
• Setting benchmarks for awarding % of total contracts to MWBEs
• Setting benchmarks for hiring individuals who live in the surrounding area
“We recognize that this tower can be built ‘as of right’ and would comply with the existing zoning regulations,” the letter continues. “Yet we believe that for Dermot and 29 Flatbush to be embraced by our community, there must be an open dialogue with our constituents about shared objectives for this site.” Click through to read the full text.
More Details on 29 Flatbush [Brownstoner]
Ground Broken at 29 Flatbush Avenue [Brownstoner]
29 Flatbush Finally Coming Together? [Brownstoner] GMAP DOB
Signs of Life at Dermot’s 29 Flatbush? [Brownstoner]
Dermot Plans High-Rise Rental Near BAM [Brownstoner]
“We recognize that this tower can be built ‘as of right’ and would comply with the existing zoning regulations. Yet we believe that for Dermot and 29 Flatbush to be embraced by our community, there must be an open dialogue with our constituents about shared objectives for this site.”
Soft extortion – classy!
“…we request that representatives from your firm provide a comprehensive presentation on plans for 29 Flatbush at an upcoming meeting of Community Board 2 this spring (March 9).”
— and then they don’t copy the community board on the letter. If the community board wanted a presentation, wouldn’t they have signed on to this letter?
Hey Brooklyn72, you alluded to some problems with the (density of) affordable housing at 80 Dekalb. What exactly happened over there?
WTF? This ship has sailed. Who in their right mind would want to stall construction while the pols pick it over – the ridiculous list of requests will get even more so once they have seen a “comprehensive presentation.” Are they too lazy to go to DOB and just look at the plans?
If they were really serious about improving the effect of this building on the community, their demands would include reducing the ridiculous amount of parking — it’ll just bring more cars, more traffic, and more congestion to this already congested area.
I usually like Tish and Lincoln, but this is ridiculous. They have the right to build this building, having bought up pretty much all the air rights for the block. They have absolutely no incentive to give away their profits, and using political pressure (the polite term for “veiled threats”) to make them do it is totally inappropriate.
Presumably Dermot does not have to do ANY of this. If I were them, I would just ignore it.
Tish and dem is little late to the party (as usual).
Way too late, financing is together. No incentive to change it now.
Why change. The building is beautiful and is already embraced by its neighbors. Increasing the density of affordable housing may not be a great idea for the place given the experiences encountered at 80 dekalb. This is a high end building and should remain as such.