http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/28/nyregi...ts-roadblock-new-mayor.html?ref=nyregion
Plan to Redevelop Brooklyn Sugar Factory Hits Snag: De Blasio
By CHARLES V. BAGLI
FEB. 27, 2014
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For years, the plan to redevelop the Domino Sugar refinery in Williamsburg was viewed in the neighborhood with dread, roundly derided as a line of bulky new buildings that would clog the Brooklyn waterfront.
But when a new developer took over the property two years ago, he completely redesigned the buildings, expanded the park space, added office space for tech firms and kept the previous owner’s promise that 660 of the 2,300 apartments, an unusually large proportion by New York standards, would be set aside for low- and middle-income tenants.
With these moves — and smaller ones like adding tables for domino games — the developer, Jed Walentas, won over virtually all of the neighborhood groups and elected officials.
But despite all that, Mr. Walentas’s $1.5 billion proposal is now in jeopardy with the new mayor, Bill de Blasio.
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The former Domino Sugar refinery, seen from the Williamsburg Bridge. The refinery would be converted into offices as part of a planned $1.5 billion development.
The mayor’s administration is insisting that the developer add even more space for affordable housing and, as a result, fewer market-rate apartments, in exchange for the zoning changes that Mr. Walentas needs to build his towers with spectacular views of Midtown Manhattan.
Mr. Walentas is balking, and has even threatened to revert to the older, unpopular plan.
“I’d very much like to work this out with them,” Mr. Walentas said on Thursday. “But what they’re currently asking for is not workable.”
With the New York Planning Commission set to vote on the project on Wednesday, Domino Sugar has become a test of the mayor’s resolve to “reset” the city’s relationship with developers and extract more concessions from them, with a goal of building or preserving 200,000 units of affordable housing.
.....The issues came to a head on Monday and Wednesday, when Mr. Walentas met with Carl Weisbrod, the new city planning commissioner, and Alicia Glen, the deputy mayor for housing and economic development.
“The administration has been very clear: When the city creates significant additional value for developers through the zoning process, the public should receive its fair share of affordable housing,” Ms. Glen said on Thursday.
.....Many community activists worried that the new developer would renege on the promise to build 660 affordable apartments, especially after it was discovered that under the old owner’s plan, the one Mr. Walentas has threatened to revert to, only 440 were actually required.
Mr. Walentas overhauled the plans for the project. He repositioned the buildings so that they were perpendicular to the waterfront, eliminating the previous plan’s wall of towers parallel to the shoreline that created a separate, almost private, enclave. He restored the street grid, expanded the park and planned for more office space in the old refinery building.
He also agreed to keep the promise to build 660 units of affordable housing, but in exchange he wanted city approval to build four towers taller than the older plan envisioned, ranging roughly 40 to 50 stories.
.....Under city guidelines for this project, a family of four with a combined income of up to $51,540 would be considered low income; up to $68,720 would be considered moderate; and up to $107,375 would be considered middle income.
At the meetings this week, the city officials laid out their demands, asking Mr. Walentas to dedicate more space — 50,000 square feet, the equivalent of about 60 apartments — for affordable housing, in exchange for allowing him to build taller towers. But the developer argued that if he did that he would have fewer market-rate apartments, whose profitability makes the park, the affordable housing and a school possible.
City officials, however, argued that they were not necessarily looking for more units; they wanted more two- and three-bedroom apartments and fewer small one-bedroom units and studios.
Mr. Walentas countered that his plans indicated that 30 percent of the affordable apartments would be two- and three-bedroom units.
Like most developers, Mr. Walentas is expecting to get subsidies and tax breaks from city and state housing programs for providing affordable housing, and the availability of those incentives could become an issue in talks between the two sides.
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“Office buildings are our factories – whether for tech, creative or traditional industries we must continue to grow our modern factories to create new jobs,” said United States Senator Chuck Schumer.
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