Civic group abandons fight against Brooklyn Bridge Park’s Pier 6 housing

The onslaught of litigation against the apartment buildings rising at Brooklyn Bridge Park’s Pier 6 appears to be drawing to a close. The Brooklyn Heights Association, the civic group who sued to stop the two buildings from rising, says it won’t appeal the most recent legal ruling that dismissed the group’s lawsuit against the Brooklyn Bridge Park Corporation, along with the state and the developers behind the project.

“We will not pursue an appeal, and our legal challenge to the Pier 6 development has ended,” Brooklyn Heights Association executive director Peter Bray told Brooklyn Paper. “We hope that the Brooklyn Bridge Park Corporation will be more respectful of its commitments to the community in the future.”

The civic group has long alleged that the towers now rising at Pier 6 were on track to provide too much housing within the waterfront park, thus violating the BBPC’s agreement to develop “only the amount [of housing] necessary to fund the park’s financial needs.”

The plan, as it currently stands, is to build two apartment towers on Pier 6: The mixed-income 15 Bridge Park Drive, which will have 100 affordable apartments and 40 market-rate apartments, and 50 Bridge Park Drive, which will be entirely market-rate and go by the name Quay Tower.

In its most recent lawsuit, BHA alleged that BBPC was in violation of the initial agreement to build as little housing as necessary and that the group already has plenty of money from other park developments like the ritzy Pierhouse. BBPC maintained they needed the funds the additional housing at Pier 6 would provide to keep up the timber piles supporting the East River pier, which are being “devoured by wood eating crustaceans.”

New York state Supreme Court justice Carmen Victoria St. George dismissed the lawsuit against the Brooklyn Bridge Park Corporation in mid-February.

“We are pleased to put the litigation behind us and move ahead with this essential project, which will provide critical long-term funding for Brooklyn Bridge Park,” corporation president Eric Landau said in a prepared statement. “We look forward to working closely with the community not only throughout construction, but beyond, as we continue to make Brooklyn Bridge Park one of NYC’s most popular public open spaces.”

Construction on the 15- and 28-story towers started in July 2017 and has made significant progress in recent months. Brooklyn Paper reports that the 15-story building at 15 Bridge Park Drive has now topped out and is expected to open in spring 2019, and Quay Tower at 50 Bridge Park Drive has reached the 16th floor and is expected to top out later this spring.

The condos at Quay Tower will go on sale in the coming months, with prices starting from $1.9 million for a two-bedroom.

• Done arguing: Civic group will not appeal court’s decision to allow Pier 6 towers in Bridge Park [Brooklyn Paper]
• Lawsuit over Brooklyn Bridge Park’s Pier 6 housing is dismissed [Curbed]
• All Pier 6 coverage [Curbed]