Map: Brooklyn Bridge Park Corporation via McBrooklyn

Mayor Bloomberg has announced a joint Toll Brothers City Living/Starwood Capital Group development project along Furman St next to Brooklyn Bridge Park’s Pier 1.

The development complex will include a 200-room luxury hotel and 159-residential units. The hotel will boast nearly 16,000 square feet of restaurant space, 16,000 square feet of banquet and meeting space, 2,000 square feet of retail space, a 6,000 square foot fitness center and 300 parking spaces.

The hotel will be 10 stories and the condo-complex five stories high – designed by Rogers Marvel Architects.

Promenade perspective. photo NYC Mayor’s Office flickr

The hotel-condo complex will be developed on a 100,000-square-foot (currently unoccupied) lot, and is expected to finance the maintenance of the new 85-acre Brooklyn Bridge Park. The estimated operations and maintenance budget for Brooklyn Bridge Park is $15.2 million ($188K/acre).

From NYC.gov: The development is expected to generate approximately 210 permanent jobs and 300 construction jobs. The project, which is located immediately south of Old Fulton Street and the Brooklyn Bridge adjacent to the park’s major entrance at Pier 1, will benefit from its high visibility and proximity to the Brooklyn Bridge Park East River Ferry landing. The joint venture will enter into two 97-year ground leases of the site.

Over the course of the lease term, the development is projected to result in $119.7 million in net present value of revenue from a variety of sources to help fund the maintenance and operations of sections of the park that are built or underway. 

Upon completion, the project will generate a projected total of $3.3 million annually in rent and payments in lieu of taxes from residential unit owners and the hotel operator to maintain the park.

This huge development is just one of several planned. There are three more private buildings in the works, two next to Pier 6 and another at John Street.

Harbor view lawn perspective. photo NYC Mayor’s Office flickr

Not everyone is on board with the new development plans, that private commercial and residential properties do not belong in the middle of a public park.

From The New York Daily News: The park’s board approved the development plan 13 to 1, with two abstentions. The lone opposition, City Councilman Steve Levin (D-Greenpoint) cited his longstanding position against private housing in city parks.

“Condominiums in the middle of the park insert a propriety interest into a public park. You don’t have housing in the middle of Central Park or Prospect Park,” he said.

Aerial view. photo NYC Mayor’s Office flickr

Construction on the mega-development is slated to begin next year. Given the projected revenue-earnings of the planned complex, it will more than likely be finished years before the park.

by Mai Armstrong for Working Harbor Committee

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