The tower that will replace the aging Brooklyn Heights Library will be quite a bit taller than expected if developer Hudson Companies has its way. The Daily News shared the first renderings of the planned building, which starts making its way through the Uniform Land Use Review Process this week, and outlined the details of what the developer wants to do. The wedge-shaped towerthe News likens it to the Flatiron Buildingwill be designed by Marvel Architects and rise 36 stories. It will hold 139 condos atop a retail base and a new 21,500-square-foot library on the ground floor. Previously reveal plans showed a 20-story, 130-unit building. Hudson's CEO says the new building will "be the best condominiums in Brooklyn," but before anything happens, they'll have to pass muster with the locals. At least one advocacy group is already gunning for a fight.
The Brooklyn Public Library is woefully underfunded, and the $52 million the organization will get from the sale of this site will go toward repairs at other branches (they need $300 million). Hudson promised to build 114 affordable apartments at two different sites in the neighborhood, 911-917 Atlantic Avenue and 1041-1047 Fulton Street.
Though the new library will be completely state-of-the-art, Citizens Defending Libraries is against the sale of the property and the redevelopment because it will create a smaller library. Currently, the library, located at 280 Cadman Plaza West near Tillary Street, measures 60,000 square feet, but officials say only half of it is usable. Even still, opponents don't want the library to shrink.
The updated plans and designs will be presented at a community board meeting this week, so it will be interesting to see if the building's newly increased height will evoke any outrage.
· EXCLUSIVE: Brooklyn to Get its Very Own Flatiron Building on Site of Public Library [NYDN]
· Brooklyn Heights Project [Brooklyn Library]
· All coverage of the Brooklyn Heights Library [Curbed]
Loading comments...