NEW YORK | Herkimer-Williams Development | 4 Towers | 445,400,335,330 FT | FLOORS

[NYguy]

A pretty significant development for this neighborhood…


https://citylimits.org/2022/01/05/brookl...dd-400-foot-towers-to-broadway-junction/


Brooklyn Developer’s Rezoning Proposal Would Add 400-Foot Towers to Broadway Junction





David Brand
Jan 5, 2022

A Brooklyn-based real estate developer has submitted a proposal to rezone a four-block area at bustling Broadway Junction and surround the transit hub’s elevated subway tracks with mixed-use towers reaching up to 455 feet.

The firm Totem Group submitted preliminary materials to the Department of City Planning (DCP) in October, a first step in the rezoning process before a formal land use application. In the filing, which DCP shared with City Limits, Totem said the project would create about 664 housing units, two commercial towers and a new park in place of vehicle lots and low-rise buildings home to small manufacturing firms. Several lots currently sit vacant.

Their plan would significantly increase manufacturing, commercial and residential densities across the four-block span—an area that city officials have been eyeing for years for potential economic and real estate development.

Broadway Junction features stops along the A, C, L, J and Z subway lines and neighbors the Atlantic Avenue Long Island Rail Road station. Developers and city officials have long sought to redevelop the area, with plans picking up steam in the wake of a controversial 2016 rezoning of nearby East New York.

In the submission, Totem said they would “explore” financing to make 100 percent of the new units affordable to New Yorkers earning a percentage of area median income (AMI)—a formula used to determine appropriate housing costs (roughly 30 percent of household income) for low- and middle-income renters. The “affordable” designation is relative: An apartment priced for a three-family household earning $85,920 (80 percent of AMI) would remain well out of reach for the average East New York resident, where the median household income is $44,234.

On one parcel, an 18-story senior housing facility with 416 units would rise next to an existing church and hotel at Herkimer Street and Van Sinderen Avenue.

On a second site, the developers propose removing a block-long stretch of Herkimer Street, uniting two triangular lots and paving the way for a large mixed-use complex between Fulton Street, East New York Avenue and Williams Place. That development would feature three towers up to 24 stories tall—with a maximum height of 455 feet—each attached to a three-story commercial complex. One tower would have 248 residential units and the other two would include a combined 850,000 square feet of office space. The third parcel would feature a park.

A spokesperson for Totem said the firm is still at least a year away from submitting an actual ULURP application for what it calls the “Herkimer-Williams” project.

“In the meantime, we look forward to engaging with the community, including residents, leaders, and local partners to ensure this project, which aims to deliver 100 percent affordable housing and much needed jobs at a critical transit hub, is best suited to elevate and support East New York,” the spokesperson said.

Whatever the timeline, the proposal may have a key supporter in City Hall.

Totem’s principal, Tucker Reed, recently served on Mayor Eric Adams’ economic development transition team, and as Brooklyn borough president, Adams has long backed plans to redevelop the area around Broadway Junction. In