Rendering of the Toll Brothers/Starwood Capital Group's controversial 159-apartment, 200-room hotel project to be built in Brooklyn Bridge Park. For years community and park advocates have fought to prevent housing developments from being built inside the park.
The city's elected officials refuse to allocate the necessary funds required to maintain the park so the Bloomberg administration launched a funding scheme to allow this developement they say will raise $3.3 million towards the park's annual maintenance budget they claim is a massive $16 million.
Brooklyn
These guys want to put their Brooklyn Bridge Park plans on a pedestal.
The developers tapped to bring a hotel and residential complex to Pier 1 near Old Fulton St are planning for a future Hurricane Sandy by raising both buildings up at least three feet to avoid the massive flood damage that devastated the surrounding DUMBO neighborhood during last October’s super-storm, according to the New York Post.
David Von Spreckelsen, a senior vice president at developer Toll Brothers, said the 159-apartment, 200-room hotel project — which would raise a $3.3 million chunk of the park’s $16 million annual maintenance budget — will now include additional steps and ramps leading to the main lobby and more masonry to ensure the building is above the site’s flood plain set by the feds.
Mechanical systems that normally are in basements will be moved to the roof. A basement will still be built but will be primarily used for parking.
“We want to make our building a structure that can survive any kind of storm,” said Von Spreckelsen, whose company is partnering with Starwood Capital Group in the development.
The development was supposed to break ground in February but is on hold until both Toll Brothers and Starwood complete the redesign.
Regina Myer, president of the city development corporation overseeing the 85-acre park’s construction, said she’s “comfortable” with the developers’ progress and confident that – despite the wrath of Sandy - the park would eventually be able to select a developer and move forward with other high-rise condo complexes planned for Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn Heights and John Street in DUMBO.
Myer said the park suffered about $1 million in damage from Sandy – mostly lighting and other electrical work – that is nearly fixed, adding “the park did very well” considering parks citywide suffered a total of $750 million in damage.
However, Cobble Hill activist Judi Francis said the storm proved just how bad a spot the waterfront park is to build more housing.
“The lesson of Sandy is it will happen again, and when it happens, it will be really bad for those residents who wind up buying condos there,” she said.
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New York Post - February 22, 2013 - By Rich Calder
Oh right. Condos inside a public park - a first in the nation - and now they need to make accomodations to the condo developers who will have trouble getting insurance for this folly. Has anyone thought that maybe this is a terrible idea - having condos inside a public park - in the first place? Who's land it is anyway? Has the public gotten any "accomodations" like maybe a pool or an indoor recreational center in this so called park?
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