360 Smith: Almost There

I can barely stand the wait any longer.  It's been what, 18, 19 months since we lost our primary access point to the Carroll Street subway station?

The plaza work is complete.  I'm pretty pleased with the aesthetics of the renovated plaza space, especially happy that we succeeded in preserving the mature plaza trees.

The Smith Street exposure has received a couple of new street trees as well as all new sidewalk.

 

I'm wondering what will occupy the new commercial space on the corner.  I like the Subway Entrance 24 hour globe lamp on the left, positioned out toward the edge of the sidewalk to maximize visibility down 2nd Place.

We fought a long hard battle to reduce the height of the building.  We ultimately won the fight for contextual zoning for all of Carroll Gardens . . . but lost the battle on 360 Smith.  The BSA granted the original developer a variance.

So, 360 Smith ended up bigger than we would have liked.  But the Plaza space and mature trees were largely preserved, and the ugly fence and surface parking area has been replaced with a new planted courtyard on 2nd Place.  I dare say that the street level experience on this corner will be a great improvement over what was there previously - and not just because of the new plaza treatments and courtyard plantings.  Add in the new street trees on either side of Smith Street and the Transit Garden across 2nd Place and this intersection will have gone from a relatively barren area to one of the greenest spots in the 'hood.  It's going to take a while for all those trees to grow up, but the end product is going to be a much improved crossroads.

Bonus shot: new street plantings courtesy of Parks in front of Frank's, where you can get a heart-stoppingly delicious stack of pancakes any day of the week.  Since I took the pictures I noticed someone has added some flowers to the tree beds.  Nice touch.

Anxiously Awaiting The Carroll Street Station Grand Entrance Re-Opening

With a title like that, this post will probably disappoint:  I don't have the answer yet on when the 2nd Place entrance will be thrown open for the community.  The construction has seemed to last forever, but there is finally a light at the end of the tunnel.  And yesterday, an opening in the construction fence.

I took a closer look and snapped a couple shots of the once and future entranceway.  Note the steel beam above the entrance which presumably will support the entrance signage.

On closer inspection, it looks like the entranceway will be partly glass on the Smith Street side, providing a little extra visibility into the entryway when the commercial space is open.

Finally, I took a longer shot from the stoop of the derelict property across the street.

This was a hard-fought and amazingly long battle.  Despite the contextual re-zoning and a valiant effort by the community the developers were granted a variance by the Board of Standards and Appeals to build to the full extent of the old zoning law.  It's hard not to be bitter about an outcome that, in my opinion, was unsupported by the facts or the law.  But it's more productive (and healthier) to look on the bright side, since we can no longer change the outcome.  The mature trees on 2nd Place survived.  The original "Heavy Metal" Scarano facade was scrapped (graphic originally from Curbed).

The Quadrini design certainly isn't perfect, but it's a measured improvement over that.

Lastly, the old gravel parking lot which encroached on a substantial portion of the block's courtyards and was, frankly, a blight on the corner, is gone.  The 24-hour residential presence over the subway entrance will improve security in the late night hours.  And it won't be long before the construction fences will be down, the subway entrance re-opened, and the next battle for neighborhood preservation is joined.

Scarano Banned; Good People Everywhere Rejoice

The NYT reports (via Brownstoner) that Robert Scarano, Architect and posterboy for everything that is wrong with self-certication, has been banned from filing construction plans with DOB.

Scarano of course is best known to Carroll Gardeners as the scurrilous fiend responsible for 333 Carroll Street (aka The Carroll Gardens Hell Building), the Satori (aka The Gowanus Bunker), and for the original Heavy Metal design of 360 Smith. Reviled by contextual development afficinados, people of good taste, and those who believe in complying with our building laws, Scarano was specifically targeted by then-Councilman Bill deBlasio for his flagrant, repeated and unrepentant abuse of the zoning code.

Scarano could conceivably be described as an honorary founding member of CORD, as his 360 Smith design proved to be a rallying point that the group coalesced to oppose. (I kid, I kid . . . sort of.)

His comeuppance was long past due.

http://www.brownstoner.com/brownstoner/archives/2010/03/scarano_barred.php
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/04/nyregion/04scarano.html

Quick Hits - 65 Hour Workweek Edition

Posting has been light due to many hours in the salt mines of legal work.

A few interesting bits:

- The MTA informs us that the closing of Carroll Street subway station main entrance has been delayed indefinitely, until developer Billy Stein is ready to do the work that requires closure. That's good! But 90% of the plaza including the news stand is still closed. That's bad.

- The wide streets text amendment sailed through the City Council this week, passed unanimously. Great work CGNA, CORD, Bill deBlasio and everyone else. Thank yous as well to Marty Markowitz, CB6, Marty Connors office, Joan Millman's office, and the countless individuals who fought for this. Maria Pagano, Glenn & Katia Kelly, John Hatheway, Rita Miller, Lucy deCarlo, Triada Samaras, Vince Favorito, Maryann Young, the list goes on and on. But this was the easy part! Downzoning and landmarking are going to be longer, tougher fights, but we CAN make it happen.

- From the Inbox:
"a local site called stoopsales.com . (www.stoopsales.com) It's a place where people can list and find stoopsales all over Brooklyn. The site features:
- mapping
- Browsing sales by neighborhood
- Advanced searching
- RSS feeds
- Email alerts for neighborhood sales
- Sale "bookmarking"
- and more..."

No postings for Carroll Gardens yet . . . but this looks like a great neighborhood tool. My cousin Dave will love it.

360 Smith: Stein Digs In

Ah, to be at the right place at the right time. The gate to the 360 Smith construction site was open when I walked by this morning. I snapped a couple of pictures, and the gate was unceremoniously slammed shut . . . but not before I got some (camera-phone) quality shots for you, dear reader.

Looks like Stein is motivated to beat the text change on wide streets. Speaking of which, deBlasio's office, CGNA and CORD are all encouraging people to support the text amendment at CB6 Thursday night, April 24th:

Presentation and review of proposed Zoning Resolution Text Amendment (#N080345ZRK), known as the Carroll Gardens Places Text Amendment, submitted by the Department of City Planning that would define 1st Place, 2nd Place, 3rd Place and 4th Place between Henry Street and Smith Street; and 2nd Street, Carroll Street and President Street between Smith Street and Hoyt Street, in the Carroll Gardens neighborhood of Brooklyn Community Board 6 as 'Narrow Streets' for zoning calculation purposes.
Brooklyn Community Board 6
250 Baltic Street
(Court/Clinton Streets)
Auditorium
6:00 p.m.
April 24, 2008

Subway Plaza Trees In Peril

Katia and Barbara report that the developer Stein has applied for a permit to cut down the trees on the subway plaza.

It will be a shame to see the trees that are located o private property be removed. It is absolutely vital, however, that he not be allowed to remove the trees which are public property, on the public portion of the plaza.

For a sense of what portion of the plaza will be lost to the 360 Smith project, see Barbara's blog here. On the other hand, the portion of the currently empty, fenced in parking lot that corresponds to the courtyards on 2nd Place will become more open when the lot is developed. Not open to the public, but open in the sense that the fence obstructing the view down 2nd Place will be gone.

CGNA Meeting Roundup: 360 Smith Edition

Last night's Carroll Gardens Neighborhood Association (our first at St. mary's Residences at 41 1st Street) was dominated by the looming edifice of 360 Smith Street. Developer Billy Stein came packing last night, with a new architect (no more Scarano!) and a multimedia presentation for the large crowd that turned out. Before I get into my thoughts, the meeting has already been ably covered by:
The Gowanus Lounge
Pardon Me For Asking
CORD
Brownstoner

Longtime readers will know that my biggest issue with the 360 Smith developent is that the courtyard be preserved (it will be). Second is the look and scale of the building, and that is more of a mixed bag. The planned development (pictured above) will rise 6 stories, with a setback and an additional level on top, for a total of seven stories (plus parapet & mechanics) . . . the bulk height will be 70', with an effective height more like 75'-80'. This is disappointingly large, but within the current zoning - which is why our efforts to downzone the neighborhood and eliminate the wide streets loophole are so vital. This proposed height is perfectly legal and requires no zoning variances.

The architect (KSQ Architects) brought 3D computer models which he showed on an overhead screen. Interestingly, the building seems to blend a lot better on the 2nd Place side than on Smith Street.

While I think the design over all could use some work (I would go with a limestone color in the glass area and overtop, limit the color scheme to two colors, and setback the corner top level like the rest of the top level). In addition, the corner piece over all could use a reworking, possibly even rounding the corner to soften the edge. The good news is that Stein has indicated a willingness to work with the community on the facade appearance, if not on density.

Some meeting attendees pleaded for some architectural details in the corner area, with one suggesting even gargoyles. Which leads me to this thought: crown the building entrance with a gargoyle, cast in the likeness of Robert Scarano.
Photo credit: Pardon Me For Asking

Smith and 9th Subway StationTo Close for 12 Months

Wow. This is the first I've heard of this . . . although in a way it's not surprising, given the scope of the Viaduct rehabilitation and the total rehabilitation of the Smith and 9th Station that is scheduled.

According to the Metro article that broke the news, the MTA has made the community "well aware" of this development. However, when an MTA spokesman came to speak to CGNA in late August, he mentioned only that Smith and 9th Street was in line for a total overhaul (and the station is in dire need of one). But there was no mention of closing the entire station down for any length of time, as I recall it.

12 months is a long time. If this happens at the same time that MTA closes the stairs at the Carroll Street Station's 2nd Place entrance for Billy Stein's 360 Smith, all hell's gonna break loose.

UPDATES:

How the hell did I miss the last paragraph?

There is another silver lining: The G will be extended to Church Avenue throughout the project, and one express track will be rehabilitated — potentially opening the door to a permanent F express in years to come.

And Jen at KensingtonBrooklyn noted earlier this week that an MTA spokesman would be at the Albemarle Neighborhood Association meeting tonight at 6:30. Details HERE.

Carroll Gardens Town Hall Zoning Meeting

Fortunately, last night's meeting has been amply documented . . . I was not looking forward to transcribing three pages of scribbled notes. Miraculously, the Gowanus Lounge found the time, sources, and somehow, the inclination to post about this meeting FROM HAWAII. Mr. Guskind provides a rundown that covers the gist of the meeting, ostensibly from sources at CORD, which has also blogged about last night's meeting and was out in force. Curbed also has a post authored by Lost City.

It was a packed house last night, and a number of issues were raised.

The points that I wanted to get out at the meeting was to pursue a three track process:

1) Pursue down-zoning of Carroll gardens to R6B, with a 50' height limit.
2) Explore landmarking at the same time, to protect the character of the neighborhood. Landmarking overlays may end up taking different shape than the overall zoning area. i.e., pockets of the neighborhood may end up being landmarked, other parts not. But we should get the ball rolling.
3) And most urgent in my view, pursuing a technical determination from DOB that the side streets in Carroll Gardens, specifically including the "Place" streets: 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Place, are not "wide streets" for city planning purposes. "Wide Streets" allow greater building rights than a typical street, and this is a justification for building higher at, e.g., 360 Smith Street.

Two particular bits of information stood out dramatically for me from last night's meeting:

First, the ILA site located at 340 Court Street has been sold for what I believe was an astonishing $24MM. The site is enormous - go to Google maps and use the satellite view to get a sense of the parcel size, which stretches from Union to Sackett and halfway up the block from Court towards Clinton. The jaw dropping news was under the current zoning, a builder could go up to 21 stories on this site. That makes 360 Smith look like a grass hut in comparison.

Second, Rita Miller from CORD stated that both Bill de Blasio's office and Joan Millman's office had told CORD that a moratorium would basically be illegal, which was corroborated by Bill and Joan. She then stated that Amanda Burden had sent a letter to CORD saying that a moratorium WAS possible, which sent a stir through the crowd. This caused some backpedaling by de Blasio, and a good deal of consternation in the crowd. I was stunned myself. Unfortunately, the letter from Amanda Burden, which is available in full at the CORD website, does not actually say that.

The relevant quote is here:

"Please note that any moratorium, whether temporary or permanent, is required by law to go through the Uniform Land Use Public Review Process, as well as an environmental review."

I'll have to do some research on this, but my understanding is that you can't simply put a moratorium on building that conforms to the lawful zoning of a given parcel, let alone an entire neighborhood. I don't wish to rain on any one's parade, but I believe that a judge would slap that down in short order as an arbitrary violation of property rights. I am an attorney, though I have not practiced real estate law, so before I can say that my belief is correct, I'll have to do some research.

Anyway, Ms. Miller's presentation was nonetheless impassioned and impressive. At the very least, we will get a definitive answer as to the legality of a building moratorium.

There was a ton more from last night, including a few tangential references to the once and future F-Express, but I'll have to do another post to cover it all.

360 Smith Plaza Non-news Post

Via Streetsblog, I found this post on the McBrooklyn blog about our well-loved local subway plaza.

In other forums I've gotten into heated arguments with posters on the merits of the plaza, which I found hard to believe. I guess if you never get out of your SUV and actually ride the subway, you wouldn't appreciate how nice it is to stand outside in the sun (or shade of a tree) while waiting for your train.

I'll have some more substantive stuff up about the F train petition later (3561 signatures).

I wonder if the McBrooklyn blogger knows that the plaza is currently threatened with extinction by a developer and designated villain Robert Scarano's to cut down the trees and build there?

Check out the CORD blog which is run by neighborhood activists fighting the development.

360 Smith Street: Who Has Plaza Rights?

From a Carroll Gardens Neighborhood Association member, I received a pdf file with a 1999 memorandum from the NYC Law Department on responsibility for the 2nd Place entranceway to the Carroll Street station.

To view the pdf yourself (and it should go without saying, pdf warning for any remaining dial-up users out there), click the hyperlink above. Click the "download file" box on the right side of the page. Click the download box that appears. type in the 4-digit code, and the pdf will open in your browser. Sounds annoying, but takes about 5 seconds.

360 Smith Update: DOB Disapproves Plan

Per the DOB website, the most recent plan for the 360 Smith site was disapproved as of yesterday. The disapproved plan called for six stories with a height of 70 feet, encompassing 46 dwelling units.

Yesterday was not a good day for Robert Scarano Architects; Bill DeBlasio also held a rally against not only the project, but the architect in front of the 360 Smith site. While DeBlasio may have his own agenda, the rally yesterday should bring some positive attention both to this site and to Scarano's other egregious abuses of the zoning laws.

I'm looking forward to the CGNA meeting at Scotto's funeral home (1st and Court!) on Monday 6/11 at 7:30pm.

Everybody needs to make a living, I understand that. What I don't get is someone putting their thumb in the eye of an entire neighborhood to squeeze out extra profits. At some point, the greed becomes repulsive.

UPDATE:
Ahh, a link from Brownstoner! I've finally arrived. Don't know how I missed this article from the Brooklyn Paper (h/t Brownstoner commenter ActionJackson) on the brouhaha. Also added above, a picture from the Brooklyn Paper / Greg Mango.

360 Smith Updates

Well. I leave town for a few days and things get interesting around here!

Via Gowanus Lounge, Councilman Bill DeBlasio is leading a rally against the Scarano project (and it seems, against Scarano in general) Wednesday June 6, 12:30 at the proposed building site.

Via the CGNA mailing list, here's a NYT article on Scarano from April 2006.

And here's a snippet from another email on the CGNA listserve:

> hi
>
> received some information last night from the
> developer
>
> -mta has approved plan
> -the building will not look at all like the
> drawing on the website, but the actual rendering is
> not yet finalized & not available for viewing yet
>
> -the 2 place portion is set back to line up with
> the neighboring houses and most of the subway plaza
> is open--the bldg does not come out as far as the
> parking lot "line" as the orig drawing suggests
>
> - it is still quite tall (the highest point is at
> 70') but the height is graduated rising as the
> structure goes toward and around smith st
>
> -the finish on the 2 place side will look more
> like a brownstone--the tallest portion's finish,
> which will be where the 2 pl and smith st sides
> meet (around the area of the present
> newsstand) ,is still undetermined
>
> -the developer seems open to reasonable
> suggestions

Moving in the right direction, at least. More to come on this. But seriously, in a neighborhood where brownstones are fetching $2MM and more, there is simply no justification for building out of scale.

Brownstoner on 360 Smith

A lively comment thread on the Scarano rendering for 360 Smith. Yours truly representing.

A Scarano Building At Smith and 2nd Place?

Photo illustration borrowed from Curbed.

At the Carroll Garden Neighborhood Association (CGNA) meeting on May 14th, someone announced that a building was proposed to straddle the Carroll Street subway entrance at Smith and 2nd Place. Ominous statements were made that the developer was seeking a building out of scale with the height of surrounding structures, and worse, sought to build over the public space in front of the subway entrance. Even more ominously, the architect was none other than Scarano, of Gowanus Thumb and Gowanus Bunker infamy. An architect who is synonymous with abuse of self-certification.

The fenced parking lot behind the subway entrance is of course, perfect for residential development. And the proposed design for the site is perfectly awful. In a perfect world, a limestone and brick building with a concave, curving base and an improved plaza out front would be proposed for the site, with some ground floor retail (at least, space for the news stand) and a bicycle rack. I'd settle for a design that preserves the open plaza and fits in the scale and character of the neighborhood.

I expect neighborhood opposition to the current design to be high, and I don't think it has a prayer of an approval in its current form. Contact Community Board 6 and let them know what you think of this naked grab for the Carroll Street subway plaza.