NEW YORK | Greenpoint Landing | 10+ Towers | 400 FT+

[NYguy]

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New park to blossom on Greenpoint waterfront
Long-promised green space will replace an Metropolitan Transportation Authority parking lot in a complex deal involving the two developers of a big waterfront residential property nearby and the $8 million sale of air rights. Proceeds will help fund park construction.





By Matt Chaban
May 6, 2013

It took years, but the Bloomberg administration is finally delivering on more of the open space it promised in connection with the massive 2005 rezoning of the Williamsburg-Greenpoint waterfront. The city has selected developers David Bistricer and Joseph Chetrit to help develop a 3-acre park at the mouth of Newtown Creek, bringing desperately needed waterfront open space to northern Greenpoint, Brooklyn. The city is expected to announce the agreement at a community board meeting in the neighborhood Monday night.

In addition to paving the way for 30- and 40-story towers all along the East River waterfront, the 2005 rezoning was meant to bring a few parks along the water as well. The community has often grumbled that what little waterfront open space has been created has mostly been built by developers. Meanwhile, plans for major public projects like Bushwick Inlet Park and the Box Street park have languished.

The Box Street park can now move forward, thanks to a deal with Messrs. Bistricer and Chetrit. The developers—who have worked on such high profile projects as the Bossert Hotel in Brooklyn Heights, midtown's Flatotel and the Sony Building—bought a site at 77 Commercial St. last year for $25 million, with plans to build the kind of soaring luxury apartment complex that has become the signature of the new Brooklyn waterfront.

.....The city Parks Department issued a request for proposals from landscape architects and designers in April and expects to unveil plans in the fall. Those architects are also working on expanding nearby Newtown Barge Park, an effort being funded by an even bigger development, Greenpoint Landing, a 22-acre development being undertaken by the Park Tower Group. They paid $2.5 million to the city for the park.

Both projects are expected to enter public review together some time this summer, to facilitate a more cohesive plan for this more than half-mile stretch of the Brooklyn waterfront.

Park Tower was also interested in including the MTA site in its development, but the Bistricer-Chetrit team ultimately won out. In addition to the $8 million, Messrs. Bistricer and Chetrit have agreed to make 200 units of their roughly 700-unit project affordable. (The exact number of units is still being determined for the Cetra/Ruddy-designed project.)

"The city insisted on affordable, so there's going to be affordable housing," David Bistricer said. The project was not going to include any, but now it will, and can take advantage of programs like 421-a tax credits, which provide tax breaks for building affordable housing.

Mr. Bistricer said he is looking forward to developing his project. "It's a very good neighborhood with new construction on the waterfront, and it's the right time for it," Mr. Bistricer said. "Especially with this new park, it's going to be very nice."

The site had been home to the boardwalk set from Boardwalk Empire, though it has since been relocated now that construction is set to commence.