The Bedford Union Armory Redevelopment Plan officially received the city’s approval during the City Council’s stated meeting yesterday.
The approval came just a week after City Council Member Laurie Cumbo (D-Clinton Hill, Fort Greene, Prospect Heights, Crown Heights) announced that the proposed condos in the plan were taken out in favor of an increased affordable housing component.
The approved plan will now include 400 rental apartments, of which 250 will be considered affordable with rents ranging from about $521 to $1,166 for a two bedroom. In addition, 10% of the apartment will be reserved for formerly homeless individuals. The plan will also include a 138,000-foot recreational center, office space for nonprofits and a medical facility.
The final plan, amended under negotiations with Cumbo, will now require that the mixed-use space be accessible to all members of the Crown Heights community. At least 50% of memberships for the recreational center will be reserved for community members at discounted rates of just $10 a month for adults and $8 for a child under 16. Affordable office space will be available to nonprofits at just $6 per square foot and rent increases will be capped at 3% annually.
“I feel very moved to be able to create an opportunity for a family to have a home. When you bring to life what that means for a family who is languishing in our shelter system is powerful. When you think about the world-class recreational facility that has rates lower than any we have seen in the city and the access that residents and children are going to have to that is game changing in the way it’s going to be able to change the lives of children. The recreational center is going to see the next generation of Olympians, the next generation of young people that are going to be able to realize their dreams and have mentors and safe spaces to go. How that is going to change the lives and the course for so many young people,” said Cumbo.
According to Cumbo the recreational facility will be completed first and available for use by the community before the housing component.
However, some from the Crown Heights community continue to push back against the proposal. This includes New York City Communities for Change Crown Heights Leader Vaughn Armour, who believes that the project is going to increase gentrification in the neighborhood already grappling with rising rents.
“Today’s vote by Laurie Cumbo and the City Council is nothing short of betrayal. They have decided to green-light the mayor’s plan to further gentrify my neighborhood by building hundreds of luxury housing units on the public’s land. Despite campaign promises, Cumbo approved a project that turns a public resource over for private profit, and in exchange she is giving us a recreation center that no one will be able to use because they will have been pushed out. This is an insult,” said Armour.
Additionally, The Legal Aid Society filed a lawsuit in New York County Supreme Court contesting the City’s development plans for the Armory. The lawsuit challenges the methodology the City uses to evaluate the potential for residential displacement in land use decisions.
Crown Heights Tenants Union founding member and lifelong Crown Heights resident Donna Mossman noted there is a new homeless shelter a block away from the Armory.
“Instead of housing us like cattle, 100% affordable housing for working-class Crown Heights tenants must be built in our community. This plan, and the decision-making process that created it, screams of unfairness: it’s a plan to continue to build housing for the rich, and to speed up the displacement of long-standing tenants who are the heart and soul of Crown Heights,” said Mossman.
But Mayor Bill de Blasio supported the vote and defended both the armory redevelopment and Cumbo, saying the project mean jobs for local residents, community spaces for learning, growing and gathering.
“As we plan for the future, we protect the core values of our city and our neighborhoods – and most importantly the very residents who built these communities, ” said de Blasio.
De Blasio also noted he is working with Cumbo for the city to study the feasibility of redeveloping 516 Bergen Street, a City-owned parking lot, into more than 30 affordable homes for seniors.
