High-Rise Proposal Next to Brownstone Brooklyn Sparks Debate

New York City development debates have come to a head this spring around a 986-foot-tall mixed-use tower complex to be sited between downtown Brooklyn and Boerum Hill. Joe Anuta writes, "arguments in favor of respecting the low-rise environment are colliding into a central tenet of the city's planning strategy: build housing near public transit. In this case, there are few mass-transit hubs in the city more vital and connected than the Atlantic Avenue–Barclays Center station a block away."

The project's critics expected a more modest form of development on the site. "Opponents of Alloy's project have said that the site—a trapezoidal block between Flatbush and Third avenues and State and Schermerhorn streets—was mapped within the footprint of the Boerum Hill Association and envisioned as a medium-density buffer around the skyscrapers farther north." Those skyscrapers already include the 1,066-foot-tall 9 DeKalb Avenue, currently under construction.

In early May, Brooklyn Community Board 2 voiced its opposition to the proposed rezoning in a resounding vote, as Norman Oder reports in an in-depth look at the issue. That vote was an advisory one, and the debate continues. Oder writes, "it's unclear how much the vote will influence Borough President Eric Adams, whose recommendation is also advisory but represents a broader constituency, and Council Member Stephen Levin (District 33), who holds the key voice on the City Council."