Former Assemblymember and current director of Governor Andrew Cuomo‘s Office of Faith-Based Community Development Services Karim Camara said this weekend he has a lot of concerns about the Bedford-Union Armory deal as it now stands.
The $196 million dollar redevelopment project of the City-owned property currently calls for the City to grant a 99-year lease to BFC Developers to repurpose the armory into 330 rental units of housing, 50% of which will be affordable to low- and middle-income residents; and 56 condominium units, 20% of which will be affordable to middle-income.
The redevelopment will also include a new 67,000-square-foot recreational space featuring basketball courts, multi-sport courts and a competitive-length swimming pool to serve local youth sports leagues, senior programs and others. New commercial office space will be offered at discounted rates for local small businesses and non-profits in need of affordable rents.
Camara’s comments came as a local faith leader and Pastor of the Abundant Life Church, 650 Washington Avenue in Crown Heights, and not as a government official. It also comes as Crown Heights is increasingly becoming gentrified and displacing longtime working-class residents – many of whom are people of color.
“In terms of what I heard thus far, this project is very alarming, particularly because this land is owned by the City. We’re not talking about financing in terms of affordable housing,” said Camara. “This is a last beacon of hope. If we can’t protect low- and middle-income people who’ve been vulnerable over the past years in property owned by municipalities then what chance to do we have to protect them with other properties? Are we just throwing up our hands and saying everyone is on their own? We should just be there to protect these people.”
Meanwhile, Assemblymember Walter Mosley (Fort Greene, Clinton Hill, Prospect Heights, Crown Heights), in whose district the armory sits, took a more nuanced position then his colleagues Assemblywoman Diana Richardson, State Sen. Jesse Hamilton and Congresswomany Yvette Clarke – all of whom are demanding the housing component be 100 percent affordable.
“This [armory] project came through the mind of [former Congressman and the late] Major Owens and I want to stay true to that,” said Mosley. “Some people just want to kill it. I’m for development, but at the same time, I want responsible developement. We’ve not had any type of recreation facility since the Empire Rolling Rink was torn down some years ago. We need recreational facilities where the kids and the seniors have a place to go. At the same time, we need to be responsible and feel like the project is adding to the community and not pushing out people.”
Mosley said the best strategy is you negotiate from extremes and meet somewhere in the middle. A hundred percent affordable housing is surely not sustainable, but at the same time you can’t have the affordability model based on the entire New York City metropolitan AMI (area median income). It should be the neighborhood AMI, which is about $38,000 for a family of four, he said.
Mosley also disputed how much Governor Andrew Cuomo would get involved in the project, and said that Cuomo’s $1.4 billion Vital Brooklyn initiative will have nothing to do with the armory.
“I was at the meeting with the governor and I shot it down [Cuomo getting involved with the issue]. There is no state jurisdiction here. I have a meeting coming up with the state housing commissioner and perhaps we can influence it [armory project] through whatever tax abatements the state is considering,” said Mosley.
But several sources maintain that Cuomo is very concerned about the project and that several people are exploring possible ways to get the state more involved in it. The armory property was transferred from former Governor David Patterson to former Mayor Michael Bloomberg several years ago without the knowledge of then State Sen. Eric Adams, Assemblymembers Camara and Hakeem Jeffries, City Council member Letitia James and Congresswoman Clarke, who were actively looking for the state to repurpose it.
“When you look at the state budget there’s always something we can do,” said one source. “Withholding money very well could be a possibility. All is fair in love, basketball and budget negotiations.”
