Fortis Reveals Plans For LICH Site

Curbed reports that Fortis Property Group, purchasers of the Long Island College Hospital site, yesterday evening revealed their plans for development of the site at a meeting of the Cobble Hill Association. The plan calls for four residential towers, of 40, 30, 20, and 16 stories. There will also be a medical center, townhouses, retail spaces, a small park, and “potential for a public school.” The proposed residential development would produce approximately 600 market rate and 200 affordable units. Implementation of the plan is contingent upon approval under the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure; failing approval, Fortis has a back-up “as of right” plan that includes a 44 story structure. The image above, by FXFOWLE Architects, is of the preferred proposal.

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  • Jorale-man

    Wow. Nothing like 30- and 40-story high-rises to tower over a neighborhood of 3-story brownstones. Nothing like contextual development.

  • StoptheChop

    You should read the comments on curbed and gothamist. We’re all a bunch of elitist nimbys who don’t understand that NYC needs more housing, and if we don’t like change, we should leave. And there won’t be any negatives impacts on infrastructure or quality of life, and even if there were, we don’t deserve to have a low-rise, landmarked community, because New York City and because we’re a bunch of elitist nimbys. Funny how everyone is entitled to a voice on neighborhood development except for the people who actually live there! (I imagine deBlasio is ecstatic– after all, he recently bragged about how “choreographed” his arrest was when he “protested” to save LICH. I wonder if he would de-landmark Brownstone Brooklyn if he could figure out how to do it.) And yes, we all know that there’s a real housing crisis in NYC, but there has to be a balance of legitimate interests, too.

  • William Gilbert

    The neighborhood is doomed. These are not being built to help with the housing shortage – these are being built to make billionaires even richer and to hell with the rest of us. We are being told to just deal with it.

  • Remsen Street Dweller

    De Blasio and perhaps some other politicians would de-landmark Brownstone Brooklyn in a heartbeat, if they could.

  • A Neighbor

    Taking a slightly longer view, (1) I suggest we join with other groups in the city and loudly — and visibly — celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Landmarks law this year. A march over the BBridge from the Village to Brooklyn Heights, maybe?

    (2) And we should find a candidate for Mayor. DeB apparently imagines himself as president, plays to developers and unions, lacks vision and principles, and has no management experience. I think he is in way over his head. Perhaps what Hillary’s campaign concluded in marginalizing him.

  • MaryT

    Is there a proposal image on this page? I’m not seeing it.

  • MaryT

    Never mind, I see it. Ew, that’s ugly. Metrotech West?

  • pragmaticNYer

    yup, that’s pretty much a dead on balls accurate description of Brooklyn Heights!

  • Jorale-man

    Yes, I’d wager that the same group of pro-development types who comment on those websites are the same ones who complain that the subways are overcrowded (which they are) and roads and schools are straining under unchecked population growth.

  • pragmaticNYer

    Unchecked growth? Ask anyone who has ever tried to build ANYTHING in NYC and they will tell you growth is most certainly checked. The housing supply in NYC has barely grown over the last 10-15 years, not even close to enough to keep pace with population growth. NYC is a great place to live, despite the impression you’d get from the privileged residents of its nicest neighborhoods (who make it sound like Baghdad) and people are moving here in droves. We have to find ways to accommodate them, simple as that.

  • pragmaticNYer

    HAHAHA!!! The neighborhood is doomed!! I LOVE it!! Please send me your number/email address…I’d love to buy your apartment/brownstone from you as the ‘hood is “doomed.” I’m sure you’ll sell it at a cut rate super bargain price to get out of dodge before the doom descends, right?

  • MonroeOrange

    Traffic on atlantic ave will become a nightmare..not to mention, the blocks in cobble hill surrounding this idea. Which in turn will back up the BQE even more…and before someone says, get rid of your car…what about all the trucks delivering to Trader Joes, and every other place on atlantic and in the heights that uses that bqe exit onto atlantic…logistical nightmare for the rest of time.

  • pragmaticNYer

    Oh no! Traffic! The default fallback of every right wing 1% NIMBY in NYC!

    Lets not build housing, lets not create jobs, lets not tear down a dreary parking lot because it will take me 30-60 seconds longer to drive through the intersection of Atlantic and Hicks. What nightmare for you!!!

    as with the other dude I’d be more than happy to buy your brownstone/apartment from you at a rock bottom price so you can get out of your doomed neighborhood as quickly as possible.

  • ShinyNewHandle

    PragmaticNYer, I’m flagging your comments (and I encourage others to do so) because you seem intent on abusing everyone on this page whom you disagree with. Also, I suspect this new account & name is just one of many you have used here & elsewhere. Tell me I’m wrong.

  • William Gilbert

    Which real estate developer do you work for and how much are you paid to insert pro-developer comments into a neighborhood blog?

  • TeddyNYC

    And I thought the pier 6 development was bad, OMG!!! A development of this scale belongs downtown, not there! The traffic congestion there is bad enough now. This is a nightmare come true for all residents who live on/near Atlantic Ave. These buildings will cast shadows on a lot of people and the height of these towering monstrosities will diminish the quality of life for the residents of Cobble Hill & Brooklyn Heights for decades to come. I’m sure none of the rich developers live in the area so what do they care if they make our lives miserable. Just looking at that picture of the proposed development makes you want to laugh and cry at the same time. Are we to become Long Island City South?

  • TeddyNYC

    LIC South, Hoboken/Jersey City East, take your pick.

  • StoptheChop

    Williamsburg– I’m sure the Mayor will start pushing for high rise development all down Columbia Street.

  • TeddyNYC

    Whenever I walk on Joralemon St. toward Boro Hall, I see the hi-rises downtown and think I’m glad I don’t have those buildings towering over me here in the Heights. Now, this happens.

  • MonroeOrange

    ok…you seem to have missed what i was saying…are you aware of how many trucks use that exit off the bqe for deliverers everyday….more trucks in traffic means more air pollution, means a decrease in quality of life…trucks will be waiting tens of minutes…not 30 -60 seconds…and also…how does it make sense to build 4 buidlings of 20 plus floors in a space that can’t accommodate that amount of foot or car traffic?

    Lets knock down hospitals and add 100’s of more people..that idea can’t miss….

    And spare me with your ill buy your brownstone/apt crap….our neighborhood, which i was born and raised is a symbol of a community that is being erased due to big real estate…most people i know that have lived here their whole lives can barely make rent…we aren’t all rich as you seem to be applying and therefore our complaints aren’t justified.

    A neighborhood is doomed when the population out grows the police/fire/hospitals/schools that serve it….that’s a quite simple philosophy that even you should be able to understand.

  • DCS

    I’m surprised more people are not shocked by a 40 story tower proposed at the corner
    of Hicks and Atlantic in Cobble Hill? This monstrosity will destroy the
    scale of the neighborhood, block views and cast a long shadow over
    Hicks St, Willow Place, and Garden Place in the winter. As far as I’m
    concerned Cobble Hill and Brooklyn Heights are the same neighborhoods,
    just separated by Atlantic. The residents of Brooklyn Heights should
    speak out against these new towers, not only the two towers proposed at
    Pier 6. Just wait until the city sells off the land just south of Pier
    6. We will end up with a wall of towers like Long Island City/ Jersey
    City. If we allow these new towers it will only set the stage for more. The architectural design of all the new towers in Brooklyn are hideous. Is there a single new tower in Brooklyn one admires?

  • AnonyMom

    Might I suggest that ALL the groups combine together to fight these monolithic developments that are out of scale with the neighborhood? It’s not just this ONE plan (and this one is HUGE), it’s the aggregate impact of massive complexes going up all over Downtown Brooklyn that makes every new project so horrendous. There is ZERO thought given to the impact on infrastructure (schools, subway system, hospitals, etc). Downtown Brooklyn School Solutions (www.dobroschools.org), Save Lich, Save the View, Save Pier 6, Cobble Hill Association, Brooklyn Heights Association, Community Boards, EVERYONE needs to join together to fight these things. We need to lean on our electeds to bring everyone to the table.

  • Sen. Bob Forehead

    Great Great Great. Could they at least put in a decent grocery store, or all we all going to cram in to crappy old Key Foods? Really looking forward to years of heavy construction, start stocking up on glue traps now.

  • TeddyNYC

    I wouldn’t mind if they cut down the buildings to 10 or 15 floors with the addition of a good supermarket/medical center. Of course the greedy developers would mind.

  • skunky

    why would you flag his comments, because he is disagreeing with you? that’s not really in the interest of open discussion. He’s not being abusive.

  • skunky

    Always fun to see how NIMBYs get upset at new development. We’ve got one commenter flagging comments by one dissenter, basically for dissenting from the standard BHB commenter NIBY line, which is extra classy. The developer is trying to engage the community to make the development more palatable than if they build an as-of-right 40+ story tower. Cobble Hill is completely unaffordable, and this will being 200 units of affordable housing to the neighborhood. Atlantic Ave will have more pedestrian shoppers as people walk back and forth to the trains. If people actually engaged with the developers and got a school built, it could alleviate the crowding at PS 29 and PS 8. But no, we’d all rather scream about the size of the buildings that the developer has every right to build under the law. You don’t like it? Get the law changed.

  • Remsen Street Dweller

    You truly are a skunk.

  • Remsen Street Dweller

    You truly are a skunk. What this community really needs is the hospital that was stolen from us.

  • skunky

    How was that going to be paid for? No one ever answered that question to my satisfaction during the debate that is now long over.

    That hospital was in decline for decades, and I know that from personal experience when they did their best to kill me post-surgery with inadequate care twenty years ago.

    So now we have a vacant property that this group would only allow three story townhouses to be built on or some such nonsense. Maybe you guys can recruit Joe Lhota to be your spokesperson.

  • ldny

    You’re not getting tae hospital back on that site. Period. That ship has sailed. Would’ve been nice to have a full hospital again, but crying over the deal that’s already been done won’t make it so. You fought the good fight, I’m sure (i did too), but we lost that bet. So now you can choose to be part of the problem or part of the solution. I choose to be part of the solution. I’d rather have some input than no input at all.