NEW YORK | 80 Flatbush (2 Towers) | 840 FT / 510 FT | 74 & 38 FLOORS
http://ny.curbed.com/2017/4/3/151693...oy-80-flatbush
Massive Downtown Brooklyn project will include 900 apartments, schools, cultural space
The two-tower development will pierce the skyline but bring needed public infrastructure to the neighborhood
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BY ZOE ROSENBERG
APR 3, 2017
Quote:
Alloy Development has revealed a plan to bring two schools, a cultural institution, office space, retail, and 900 mixed-income apartments to a full-block site at the confluence of Boerum Hill, Downtown Brooklyn, and Fort Greene. The project, known as 80 Flatbush, was conceived of by the development company as a response to a critical need for new public infrastructure in the area, and is also a reaction to the booming local real estate market. “Downtown Brooklyn has been growing quickly but there hasn’t been a lot of public infrastructure,” Jared Della Valle, CEO of Alloy, told Curbed. “This is an opportunity to be critical of what’s built and its specific context.”
The triangular site that’s bound by Third, State, and Schermerhorn streets and Flatbush Avenue will be built out over two phases. In addition to a 38-story residential building, the first phase will include two schools—a 350-seat elementary school and a new 350-seat location for the site’s existing Khalil Gibran International Academy, which currently holds 260 seats in a building constructed in 1860 as a Civil War infirmary. The schools are expected to welcome students by 2022.
The former Civil War infirmary, however, will not be razed for the new development. “The idea that we would start fresh and wipe out the whole block was not a good proposition,” Della Valle told Curbed. He says that Alloy has been quietly approaching neighbors of the site for months, gathering intel on what kind of change they would, and would not, like to see in the neighborhood. “In order to build to this scale, there needs to be a public benefit that comes with that,” Della Valle says.
One of the biggest expressions from neighbors the firm noted is preservation of the site’s historic structures. To that end, Alloy plans to convert the existing Khalil Gibran Academy—the former Civil War infirmary—into a 15,000-square-foot cultural facility that Alloy hopes will act as an extension of the BAM Cultural District across Flatbush Avenue. An RFP will determine what will eventually come to the site, but Della Valle notes that what will be chosen will be “nothing that’s competitive with, but something that’s synergistic to” the surrounding cultural institutions.
The second of the site’s buildings that will be preserved in the new complex is at the corner of Third Avenue and Schermerhorn Street. The late 19th-century building will give way to retail space for the neighborhood and amenity space for the residential occupants. “It's rare for a developer to come to us for feedback in the earliest stages of a project,” Peg Breen, president of the New York Landmarks Conservancy, said in a statement. “This project shows that development and preservation can work together and that investing in historic buildings makes economic sense.”
To bring 900 mixed-income apartments and 200,000-square-feet of Class A office space to the neighborhood, Alloy will have to build up. In addition to the 38-story, 480-foot tower of phase one, the plan calls for a 74-story, 920-foot tower that will be home to market rate apartments, the complex’s 200 below-market rate apartments, and office space. This will be part of the project’s second phase, which is expected to be complete by 2025.
Alloy is working with the Educational Construction Fund, a state-run entity that helps fund the development of new schools in New York City, to develop the properties. Della Valle notes that the city will not be funding this project. Instead, revenue created by the non-school portions of the project will pay for the bonds floated by the state to build the schools.
“This is a meaningful investment for our students, their families and the entire school community,” Khalil Gibran’s principal Winston Hamann said in a statement. “The new state-of-the-art facilities will provide an incredible opportunity for students to learn, grow and thrive, and allow us to remain devoted to serving this wonderful community for many years to come."
Similarly, the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership is on board with the development. “This is exactly the type of project Downtown Brooklyn needs: one that delivers critically needed schools, along with cultural facilities, affordable housing and Class A office space," Regina Myer, President of the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership, said in a statement. "Downtown Brooklyn should grow intelligently, and I hope this project sets a template for the future.”
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