There’s a mystery surrounding a controversial development site in Crown Heights.
Will Yitzchok Schwartz, who just bought 962-972 Franklin Avenue from Ian Bruce Eichner, build the mixed-income rental project that Eichner fought so hard to get approved for that site?
Or will Schwartz build 100 percent market-rate condominiums, as he is doing next door at 960 Franklin Avenue?
Eichner once controlled both sites and sought to rezone them for a huge multifamily development with lots of affordable units, but was denied because it would have cast shadows on the Brooklyn Botanic Garden.
That killed his contract to buy 960 Franklin, which Schwartz later bought. Eichner did get a rezoning for the other half of the site, 962-972 Franklin, but the City Council shrank his project and attached some strings.
Upon selling the land to Schwartz, Eichner issued a cryptic statement:
“We sought approval for a project with height and density that should have been approved, namely, a union-built, union pension fund–financed rental project with substantial affordability. Instead, BBG is getting what it wanted: non-union built, 100 percent market-rate condominiums in an already gentrified neighborhood — a tragedy for Crown Heights.”
Does Eichner know what Schwartz would build at 972 Franklin? Or was he just venting? Neither man is talking. So I went to an impartial source to see what Schwartz’s options are.
“It was rezoned to MIH so there is an affordability requirement,” said Wilson Parry of PropertyScout, referring to Mandatory Inclusionary Housing. “Schwartz cannot evade this. He has to fulfill it either on-site or off-site.”
If Schwartz puts the affordable units somewhere else, they must be nearby (see map), and he must build more of them — say, 35 percent of total units must be affordable instead of 30 percent.
He can choose from MIH options 1, 2 or 4. Eichner was targeting Option 4, aka workforce housing. That would allow market-rate units on 70 percent of the floor area.
The other 30 percent would have to be affordable at a weighted average of 115 percent of area median income, including 5 percent affordable at 90 percent of AMI and 5 percent affordable at 70 percent of AMI. No affordable band can be above 135 percent of AMI.
Is your head spinning yet? There’s more: At least 65 percent of the floors must have affordable units, half of which must have two or more bedrooms, and no more than 25 percent can be studios.
The bedroom mix must be the same as for the market-rate units. Progressives often say the government should stay out of people’s bedrooms. But not when it comes to development, apparently.
Schwartz’s site offers 300,000 buildable square feet and a height limit of 125 feet. (City of Yes added 10 feet to the maximum height.)
Eichner clearly resents that the city fought his plans for the better part of a decade. But his statement’s implication that Schwartz would build only market-rate condos was misleading.
What we’re thinking about: How come shade from trees is nice, but from buildings is bad? The common argument that a proposed project would cast harmful shadows has never resonated with me. When I took my kids to parks and playgrounds, which was nearly every day, I tried to keep them out of the sun as much as possible. Sun or shade had no impact on their enjoyment, except on hot days, in which case they preferred shade. Send your thoughts to eengquist@therealdeal.com.
A thing we’ve learned: The Ahi Ezer project that overcame “member deference” was the first to benefit from the Adams administration’s Green Fast Track, which speeds up the administrative process before the public review for small and mid-size projects that use electricity for heat and hot water.
Elsewhere…
Buildings expert Henry Gifford has a theory about what caused the explosion and partial building collapse at NYCHA’s Mitchell Houses in the Bronx on the first day of heating season, Oct. 1.
He explained that if an oil boiler is not tuned up, soot can accumulate and burn if too much air is added to the flame. Some of the soot will burn off and some will turn into gas, mostly methane, and fill the chimney. If a burning ember from the soot makes its way into the shaft and ignites the gas … BOOM!
“The likelihood of an investigator figuring this out, or even pursuing this line of investigation, is, I think, very slim,” Gifford said.
One fact that may undercut his theory: the boilers in the building were gas, which burns more cleanly than oil.
The Housing Authority is not speculating on the cause, which is under investigation, but said in a statement, “NYCHA’s heating technicians check and monitor all heating plants daily and perform regular maintenance throughout the year.”
The ventilation shaft that fell apart at 205 Alexander Avenue was not part of the 59-year-old building’s structure, which is why the rest of the building appeared unaffected by the collapse, one observer noted in a YouTube video.
Closing time
Residential: The top residential deal recorded Thursday was $4.2 million for Unit 4C at 181 MacDougal Street in Greenwich Village. The unit, in a new condominium, is 1,300 square feet. Corcoran Sunshine Marketing Group’s James Weiss has the listing.
Commercial: The top commercial deal recorded was $3.7 million for 37-31 29th Street in Long Island City. The commercial building is 4,300 square feet.
New to the Market: The highest price for a residential property hitting the market was $28.5 million for 123 East 73rd Street. The Lenox Hill townhome is 11,100 square feet and listed by Sotheby’s International Realty’s Epo Manning and Florence Danforth-Meyer.
— Joseph Jungermann
