Friday, May 2, 2014

Brooklyn BP Eric Adams: Upzone Broadway

An interesting proposal.  While I haven't looked at all the details yet, this is a legitimately blighted area with access to transit.  In other words, just the place for an upzoning:
Adams envisions 10 story buildings with 50 percent market rate apartments, 30 percent middle income and 20 percent low income. The upzoned area would stretch for four miles from where the BQE crosses Broadway at Marcy in South Williamsburg to Broadway Junction in East New York, cutting through Bushwick, Bed Stuy, and Ocean Hill along the way. The stretch through Bushwick, Bed Stuy and Ocean Hill is dotted with empty lots from arson fires, looting and blackouts of the 1970s.
Cate at Brownstoner notes that the noise from the J/M/Z would militate against residential development.  But there is no place noisier in Brooklyn than DUMBO near the Manhattan Bridge, and people are forking over a million bucks for apartments there.

Anyway, an idea worth exploring.  Urban infill development is far better than greenfield development for a host of reasons.

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