Two Trees Talks Middle School to P.S. 8 Parents

By on June 3, 2008 2:37 pm in Brooklyn Heights

BHB reader Rob Foley shot this presentation to P.S. 8 parents by Two Trees Jed Walentas regarding the dock Street Middle School.  Brownstoner sat through the video and offers this synopsis:

Browstoner: Two Tress Talks: In the clip, Jed Walentas gestures at renderings, describing where the project would be (“my mom’s carousel is up in the building over here,” etc.) and says it would result in more than 400 parking spots after the 200 currently on the site are done away. Walentas also says it’s Two Trees’ “hope” that the DOE will want to operate a public middle-school on the property. All told, the hotly contested development would have three buildings, one rising to 17 stories, one at 8 stories, and one built to 2 stories, with 400 apartments and 10,000-square-feet of retail. In order for the proposal to move forward, the site’s zoning needs to be changed from manufacturing to mixed-use.

Two Trees Presentation [DumboNYC]

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  • nabeguy

    The only ones getting the brass ring on this merry-go-round will be Walentas and Two Trees. I can’t wait to see what they have up their sleeves if that variance is approved.

  • Beavis

    Jed’s got to upgrade his wardrobe. He’s coming off like a shlub in those torn jeans.

  • Troubled Reader

    For a sense of what this buiding will actually look like, one can visit the developer’s Web site, which has a nice rendering. I think it is a nice looking building, as far as I can tell from the drawing, but the tower part is way too tall at 17 floors. Probably 7 to 9 floors would be better. As far as filling the pressing need for a middle school classor space for the community, there are probably other options involving conversion of existing structures that could be done much sooner to deal with the problem. An example is the conversion of the old family court building at Adams and Johnson Streets (Tech Place).

  • Troubled Reader

    Oops, I forgot the link:
    http://www.dockstreetdumbo.com/

  • No One Of Consequence

    From the Brooklyn Heights Parents Yahoo! Group
    —
    Maybe someone can clarify this for me – I thought that there were no more “zoned” middle schools. I was under the impression that instead you could apply to whichever Middle Schools you wanted, wherever they were located.

    If this is true, wouldn’t it mean that this proposed school wouldn’t necessarily serve the neighborhood? If it would be restricted to the neighborhood, I have a feeling that 300 seats would not be enough.
    —

    The other side of the coin is presented at http://www.savethebrooklynbridge.org

    As far as the “affordable housing” component of the project, aren’t Walentas largely responsible for the “unaffordable” prices in DUMBO? Is this some sort of penitence?

  • anon

    9:22: There are no more zoned middle schools, at least in this part of Brooklyn. But my understanding is that you can only apply to middle schools in the district where you live or attend school, or to the very few selective schools that have citywide admissions. P.S. 8 (as well as Brooklyn Heights, DUMBO, Vinegar Hill, Fort Greene, and Clinton Hill) are in District 13, which is desperately short on good middle schools. And obviously Walentas knows this. 300 seats isn’t much, given the crying need for middle schools in this part of the district. It’s a start, only. David Yassky is to be commended for staying on top of the issue while pointing out the real flaws with the Two Trees project.

  • Troubled Reader

    I could not agree more with the anonymous poster’s comments (9:26 p.m.) about David Yassky’s leadership in dealing with this important issue. And while it is not surprising that Two Trees would promote this too-large development (17 floors!) by playing to the community’s need for school space and affordable housing, I think ultimately people will see the deal for what it really is: a developer overreaching and throwing a sop to the community in an effort to get away with building a luxury high-rise. I wonder whether a comparable amount of floor space could be achieved on the site by reducing the tower portion of the building and coming up a little with part of the low-rise wing? Would that be a solution acceptable to those members of the community who oppose the tower?