[NYguy]

http://gothamist.com/2019/02/21/crow...nt_shadows.php

'Monster' Crown Heights Development Reignites Fears Of Shadows Over Brooklyn Botanic Garden

BY ELIZABETH KIM
FEB 21, 2019

Earlier this month, Continuum Company and Lincoln Equities filed applications with the city Department of Planning for zoning amendments that would allow them to build a 1.4 million square feet development containing 1,578 units of housing, half of which would be affordable, at 960 Franklin Avenue. One tower would rise to 421 feet, while the other would top off at 424 feet.

The Garden and community activists have long been expecting the developers to roll out a mega-project. As early as 2017, Eichner had talked about building a complex of four buildings between 20 and 30 stories on the site.

Buildings on that particular block are currently not permitted to be greater than 80 feet, or seven stories in height, according to Reina-Longoria.

Alicia Boyd, one of the founders of Movement to Protect the People, a grassroots organization which has fought the spread of large developments in the neighborhood, called the project a "monster."

"This is a neighborhood where we have an average of four-stories," she said. "This is an unprecedented leap that this developer is taking."

In June, Boyd’s group commissioned a shadow analysis that showed that a 441-foot building, slightly taller than what the developers have planned, would cast shadows on portions of the Botanic Garden for significant durations of time in the morning and afternoon.

Should the 960 Franklin Avenue plan be approved, it would be one of the largest residential complexes in Crown Heights, a neighborhood that has faced increasing development pressures. Amenity-laden rental buildings have been popping up in recent years, with brokers attributing the growth to developers trying to lure the Williamsburg crowd in advance of the now-canceled L-train shutdown. The monthly median asking rent in January was $2,400, up 4.3 percent over last year, according to Streeteasy.

Continuum would not be the sole developer to capitalize on a development site near the Garden. In December, the City Council approved a rezoning that will allow developers Cornell Realty Management and Carmel Partners to erect two 16-story rental towers near Franklin Avenue at 40 Crown Street and 931 Carroll Street. The project, which will sit across the street from the proposed 960 Franklin Avenue plan, will be comprised of 518 rentals, 140 of which would be below-market-rate. As part of a last-minute deal with Crown Heights’ City Councilmember Laurie Cumbo, the developers agreed to give a roughly 1,000-square-foot parcel of land to an affordable housing developer, who will build 118 units on the site.

In a move that raised eyebrows among some Garden members, officials at Brooklyn Botanical Gardens elected to not take a position on the Cornell project, saying that it was farther away and would have less impact on its green space.