Community board members, representing a traditionally Dominican neighborhood with six- to 10-story buildings, recently rejected one developer's plans for a mixed-income project of 800+ apartments, fearing gentrification and non-contextual development
But, reports Joseph Berger, Quadriad Realty Partners needs to balance economics with good intentions, and that's where the project is perceived to have fallen short:
"Without the revenue produced by taller buildings, virtually all of the apartments would have to be rented at market rate - over $2,900 for two-bedroom homes. Despite the community board's opposition, the developer said it planned to apply to the city's Planning Commission for a zoning modification in the next few weeks. But if the change is not granted, the firm says it will then build two stouter, market-rate buildings, 28 and 24 stories tall, which it has the legal right to do under existing zoning.
Quadriad's chief executive, Henry Wollman, argued that unless he could rent a majority of the apartments to such well-heeled tenants he could not afford to offer less expensive apartments. 'We're taking advantage of gentrification to some degree to allow, through market rates, for the cost subsidization of the middle-income units,' he said in an interview."
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