BREAKING: Hudson Companies / Marvel Architects Announced as Brooklyn Heights Library Developer:

By on September 16, 2014 4:48 pm in Brooklyn Heights, Development, Real Estate

In the only air conditioned space in the Brooklyn Heights Library building, Brooklyn Public Library president Linda E. Johnson and BPL staff presented the future of the much-debated library branch that has been serving Brooklyn Heights since 1962.

The Hudson Companies and Marvel Architects (designers of the Pierhouse and 1 Hotel at Brooklyn Bridge Park) have been identified as the development team of choice for a new residential tower on the library site that will include a new branch for BPL. The developer’s proposed bid of approximately $60 million would not only allow BPL to invest $10 million in outfitting a 21,000 square foot library but will allow for $40 million in capital funding for other needy branches in BPL’s system as well as an 8,000 square foot temporary library to be located at Our Lady of Lebanon Church (113 Remsen Street).

A final vote on the proposal is scheduled for BPL’s board meeting to be held at 5:30 tonight at the Library’s Grand Army Plaza location.

The project, following expected approval by the full BPL board, will then go through thorough public review, including ULURP (Universal Land Use Review Process)—the City’s process for reviewing the sale of public land, which the Brooklyn Heights Library branch sits on—as well as a number of key political decision-makers, including Council Member Steve Levin, Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, Mayor Bill de Blasio and the New York City Council.

Here Are The Proposals For the Planned Redevelopment of the Brooklyn Heights Library

An interesting twist presented today by Ms. Johnson is that as part of the proposal The Hudson Companies will build 114 units of affordable housing in Community Board 2. The BPL president explained that the housing will not be located in the new tower—which will comprise market-rate housing in one of the most exclusive communities in Brooklyn—but will be simultaneously built at a location different from that of the new tower.

Johnson stressed a linkage between the two construction projects, insisting that the luxury housing on the library site will not be occupied until the affordable housing units—which will be new construction—is completed.

“We’ve thought about this thing form every angle,” said Johnson, “and the Mayor has made it very clear that the number of affordable housing units [in the city] is shamefully low… so this was an important consideration” in the proposal by The Hudson Companies.

Ms. Johnson clarified that developer must have identified and have control of a specific site for the specified affordable housing by the time that the project is ready for ULURP.

“What we are doing is building a new, exciting library here in the Heights that the community will actually like,” said Ms. Johnson.

PHOTO CAPTION: Renderings of new Brooklyn Heights Library Branch. Image courtesy BerlinRosen.

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  • “Us and Them”

    Despicable! Not only it is horrible to deplete the public library’s funds and force them to sell but to build a luxury high rise and not meet the requirement percentage for the affordable housing apartments? To be able to rent those affordable housing apartments one needs to earn at least over 50k per year and that is a teacher’s salary. What a shame that not even these earners are good enough to live amongst the finance douchebags that will be living in luxury on what were once public lands. Legal corruption is the worst type of corruption because no one can stop it. Disgusting and depressing.

  • heights res

    Exactly right. More public space being sold for wealthy private development. What a disgrace……

  • marshasrimler

    this will be stopped by judicial action.. it is far far from a done deal
    do not let bullies like Guttmen, askonosky and borowitz play with your heads.. they will be defeated

  • bethman14

    Actually the proposed project has far more affordable housing than is required by law. The library isn’t depleting its funds its making $52M, which is more than 3 times what it gets from the pathetic elected officials who are whining about this project. Please try and learn the facts about the project! They are in black and white in dozens of news sources.

  • bethman14

    Who on earth is Askonsky? If the threatened legal action to prevent a new library being built and to stop affordable housing is organized with your usual attention to detail, than I am thankful that library lovers and people in need of affordable housing will have nothing to worry about and this project will be built as quickly as possible!

  • bethman14

    Following the money is excellent advice. In this project the money is going to build an exceptional new library that will be the envy of communities throughout Brooklyn. It will go to help restore historic libraries like the Walt Whitman Branch that serves the low income Whitman Ingersoll houses in Ft. Greene. It will go to help dozens of other communities in Brooklyn have the temples of literacy they deserve. Following the money is EXACTLY what we should be doing!

  • notonmywatch

    Whoa there, beth.

    First of all, no signed (or unsigned) agreement has ever materialized that says that that 52,000,000 will be in addition to regular funding currently in place.

    Also, there are costs for the $52,000,000. Lets see.

    –$10,000,000 to “outfit” the new, smaller, by more than 50%, library. That means they are spending more than even the proposed renovation costs on 1/2 of the library. And they get to wait 4 years for it. Also it looks like the Donnell replacement is running at $20,000,000 for a similar sized new library. So in the end there will be spent about $20,000,000 to replace less than half a building it would take no more than $3,000,000 to renovate. That would leave millions for the techno-crap (and I am in favor of tech when possible, but this is ridiculous).

    –The proposal does not describe the buildable square feet being transferred so no analysis of price to value to market price can occur.

    –The subsidized housing” will be, wait for it, subsidized. More monies that could have been spent elsewhere.

    –Add to it that the majority (56 of 60) of users in the computer lab at the Main Library the night of the trustee vote were minority despite the ritzy neighborhood and glass apartment building across the street. That tells you that the new library will be heavily used by people (eligible for subsidized units) who wont be able to live there because there isn’t even a poor door for them in this fiasco.

    –And this we can find monies for Pacific Street only if we sell the Brooklyn Heights Building is the same crap that got roundly trashed when the the BPL tried to play off books and computers for Red Hook only if 1/2 of the Library disappears.

    –Add to it the buying off of St Anns School Alumni with a Gym and you see just how profitable this will be for anyone but the Library.

    –And don’t forget to add in how much wit will cost to retrofit the Business Library in the GAP Library.

    –In the end there will be almost nothing except new sheetrock and less library.

    –Can’t wait for this board to dissipate before they have to comply with the new conflict of interest law.

  • marshasrimler

    I think Bethman has been paid by BPL or a pr firm to monitor this blog

  • Reggie

    EDC works as the city’s real estate broker with a wide variety of partners; nothing unusual here. I have heard a range of estimates for repairing the A/C, none as low as 100K. There is a linkage between developer profit and the infusion of capital into the library system; you focus exclusively on side of the equation.

  • marshasrimler

    I agree .. let the crony capitalism and the conflicts of interests out
    lets start with Alice Fisher Rubin (sister of Kenneth Fisher R.E .Lawyer ), sister of Andrew Fisher
    Of Fisher and Fisher. Ms

    Fisher rubin made the motion to approve the plan. Former no show job, former judge Dughter of the late Harold Fisher

  • cindy s

    Listen everybody, My father was with
    DEWEY’S office. There was a time in
    This town that every street kid, and
    The public at large believed that no-
    Thing was ever or could ever be done
    about mob influence. Then Dewey
    with many brave others began. Pol-
    Tical figures large, small and the
    Carefully hidden from public view,
    Major figures from business and fin-
    Ance, and an army of mob guys big
    And small were hunted down. And
    Finally Lepke absolute boss of his
    Time fell. In the early 60’s every
    one basically felt nothing would ever
    Be done about LCN. Same thing here
    Guys,…cause the opening of a major
    Prosecution effort both on a State AND
    FEDERAL level. Don’t get caught up
    In the complexities now. Make major
    Noise for a major prosecution to be
    Established. Things have gone far
    Enough. You’ll NEVER get any kind of
    A straight deal from the guys you got
    Now……

  • Andrew Porter

    Renderings can lie. If you show the building adjacent to the low-rise ones just across Clinton, you’ll be able to see how it towers over everything to the west of it—affording million dollar views of BH and Manhattan from the apartments above the 6th floor or so.

  • Andrew Porter

    Hey, Doug, ever heard of “Tiny URL”?

  • marshasrimler

    true.. want to join our coalition. email me

  • notonmywatch

    This ^

  • bethman14

    More ad hominem attacks! When you don’t have any legitimate critiques of the project, its always smart politics to attack personalities instead.

  • bethman14

    So anyone who disagrees with you must be definition be part of the vast pro-library, pro-affordable housing conspiracy?

  • johnny cakes

    bethman14, do you run on batteries?

  • johnny cakes

    stuart, you are a fool.

  • johnny cakes

    So, we know your game…. take the money from real estate liars.

  • johnny cakes

    Are your batteries about to poop-out. Why the rush to fund corruption?

    Affordable housing is a farce. It is nothing but a pork-chop treat for phools.

  • johnny cakes

    You sound very tired, like you are about to lose your funding. Change batteries, you need more energy. Or just retire. You are beat.

  • johnny cakes
  • notonmywatch

    Your definition of free may not actually be free, but hey, we trust them to do the right thing, right?

    In the end will be a net loss but friends of the board will get rich and you, the taxpayer, will get soaked again.

    Lather, rinse, repeat.

    Can’t wait till Michael exposes the air conditioning contractor with the five year contract to maintain working air conditioners who let them all collapse in affluent/gentrifying areas. wonder who that companies other clients are.

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