Brooklyn Heights City Councilman Stephen Levin, who is in the catbird seat on deciding whether a $52 million dollar sale of a Brooklyn Public Library Branch to a private developer will get the green light, said this past weekend he is fully expecting to have multiple meetings with the developer before he makes up his mind.
Levin’s take on the sale of the Cadman Plaza Branch is crucial to how the city council ultimately votes on the project, because tradition holds that they vote with the council member that represents the district (Levin) where the project is located.
“I’m in the process of looking at the project,” said Levin. “I want to make sure the public has a fair deal in all of it, whether that’s an appropriate-sized library, whether it meets the educational needs in the neighborhood, or whether that’s realizing the full value of the property. Ultimately, this is a sale of a public asset and so first and foremost, protecting public interest is most important to me. That’s the mindset I’m approaching it with.
The project calls for developer Hudson Companies to buy both the site and air rights of library at 280 Cadman Plaza West for $52 million and build a new, 36-story tower, which would house a 21,500-square-foot library – a little more than 10,000-square feet less than the current library – retail space and 139 market-rate condos.
The project also includes 114 units of affordable housing to be built on Atlantic Avenue offsite, but Levin said he has problems with that as well.
“I’m expecting fully to have multiple conversations with the developer. Right now the public, including me, needs a better understanding what is this deal. For example, the affordable housing component, how does it affect the rest of the deal?”
Levin noted the affordable housing is tiered with some of it being reserved for families making 165 percent of the Area Median Income (AMI) for the greater New York area, which would make it unaffordable for even middle class families.
“He (Hudson Companies Principle David Kramer) has to do a certain amount of affordable housing because he gets an inclusionary bonus. He’ll get an additional 80,000-square-feet to develop and that’s a lot of money when you factor everything in,” said Levin.
While Levin studies the project, a strong contingent of grassroots constituents from the organization Citizens Defending Libraries continue to ramp up the pressure to halt the deal.
“Our position is it should not be sold based on what’s happened to date,” said Citizens Defending Libraries Co-Founder Michael D.D. White. “There hasn’t been a proper public process to explore what the public does want and we think there should be a moratorium on library sales and shrinkage until libraries are properly funded so that there is not deliberate underfunding of the libraries as an excuse to sell and shrink them. And we need a change a the management and mindset from the board level down at the libraries.”
