New information has been revealed about 80 Flatbush, in Downtown Brooklyn, by Alloy Development. The release brings new renderings, as well as a construction timeline and design revisions in response to a substantial voluntary review process. The proposal will begin the formal public review through ULURP, i.e. the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure, in early to mid-March. Architecture Research Office will be responsible for the design of the school, to be included in the base.
80 Flatbush Avenue ground view, rendering courtesy Alloy Development
The project will total five buildings, utilizing two old structures from the mid-late 19th Century, and creating three new ones. Nearly 900 apartments will be created, with 200 designated as affordable under the City’s Inclusionary Housing Program. 15,000 square feet will be dedicated to the cultural use, 200,000 square feet for office space, and 40,000 square feet to commercial-retail use.
Two schools will be created, including a replacement facility for the Khalil Gibran International Academy, the first New York City public school to focus on Arabic language and culture. A combined 700 seats will open up, nearly 78 per 100 households produced.
80 Flatbush Avenue Triangular Tower view, rendering courtesy Alloy Development
Alloy announced that it has received feedback from over 100 meetings with different community stakeholders to fine-tune the project’s appearance and interaction with the surrounding neighborhood.
80 Flatbush Avenue overlooking Manhattan, rendering courtesy Alloy Development
“We feel like we have a civic responsibility to leverage this transit-rich location in Downtown Brooklyn to address the housing crisis and provide essential infrastructure for the area,” said Jared Della Valle, Founder and CEO of Alloy Development.
80 Flatbush Avenue streetview, rendering courtesy Alloy Development
A redesign of the 38-story triangular tower, part of Phase One of Construction, was the most noticeable consequence of the review. The profile was slimmed, and a series of setbacks were included along State Street, to mimic the neighboring Williamsburgh Savings Bank.
With inspiration from the historic tower, an identically-colored masonry façade element will be included on the ground floor. For pedestrians, the project removed a loading dock and implemented a lower-scale street wall on State Street. The tower will include residential, office, and retail space.
80 Flatbush Avenue closeup of masonry facade, rendering courtesy Alloy Development
The taller tower remains unchanged. It will rise 74 floors, peaking at 986 feet above street level.
Construction is expected to start next year. Completion of Phase One, which includes the triangular tower and schools is expected to open in 2022. Completion of the second tower and redevelopment of the existing structures is expected by 2025.
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Please pardon me for using your space: Something on the site of progress.
Ever since Robert Moses, developers have done nothing but destroy beautiful historic building’s for nothing more than pure unadulterated greed. The clueless people moving into these ugly outrageous over priced structures don’t even think about much less Care about the people whose lives are destroyed, not to mention the buildings.
“We feel like we have a civic responsibility to leverage this transit-rich location in Downtown Brooklyn to address the housing crisis and provide essential infrastructure for the area,” said Jared Della Valle, Founder and CEO of Alloy Development.
That’s the claim.
But my question is how, in fact, this large development will “provide essential infrastructure for the area.”
Will it actually do anything to improve or maintain the transportation infrastructure?
– an infrastructure that it will further burden with thousand of new residents and users?
Are you proposing that all the people who want to live in the area and are driving the housing prices higher and higher just disappear, because the infrastructure happens to be “burdened” in your view?
There’s still plenty of room on Manhattan bridge bike path, minutes away, on the way to the jobs in the city. Plenty of room to accommodate those people by building more where it’s obviously needed.
The infrastructure IS burdened in fact, in volume of people using the subway, walking the streets, driving their cars. Not only people who live there, but also those drawn to the area for work or shopping, or events at Barclays. Have there been any studies about wind and litter? There happens to be a lot of wind on that part of flatbush, made worse by the funneling created by such tall buildings. Litter blows down State Street and collects there, and is a big problem—are they going to provide sanitation to clean up after the increase in people? Are they going to mitigate the increase in noise in an already noisy area? Are they going to offer no-fee apartments and 2 months free for all initial tenants, and then jack up the prices like all the other new constructions? This area does NOT need to accommodate more people, and there isn’t plenty of room, only pockets of stakeholders that need to be filled. Saturation of the housing market all in one area won’t fix this “housing crisis”. How many actual affordable units is has Alloy incorporated into their design? Do you not live in the immediate area, Sashok, or do you work for Alloy?
Your grievances are completely laughable in the face of statistics and numbers showing the demand for housing, the market prices of housing and the demographics of the area. I live blocks away, pay through the nose for my rental and want to see AS MUCH HOUSING AS POSSIBLE built where there’s demand for it, so that I don’t pay even more than I have to now for the “right” to live where I like living.
I ditto Debbie above This ugly , huge buildings are destroying Brooklyn. Greedy Politician & rich developers are destroying this beautiful historical city
The renderings show Flatbush Avenue without any vehicular traffic. They show two women strolling across diagonally from State Street, one of whom is looking at her phone. In the real world they would be dead. The area is so congested and it is so hard to get across Flatbush Avenue except at the Fourth Avenue intersection when the entire grid is shut down in all directions. As for improving the infrastructure, what a preposterous claim! Rather, the demands on existing infrastructure such as subways, sewage, utilities will be increased with no added benefit to the neighborhood. The project claims to add seats in schools but as the article explains not as many as the project will bring in in its new residential towers.
From an aesthetic standpoint, I actively welcome this architectural cleanliness/vision. The design shows assertive critical knowledge of contemporary aesthetic language and executes, a monolithic high density space very well: a) without being repetitive, and b) without being tryhard. It’s much more merited then that goofy SHoP boondoggle behind it. Of course the caveat is that I can only hope (but doubt) that accessions will be made here for affordable housing, for lower income folx, to minimize the destabilizing & colonial effects of luxury development. I do however believe that high-density development is a good thing, and helps contain America’s sordid issues with sprawl.
To the commenter above who thinks more units will bring rental prices down: this is a total fantasy. More high price units mean higher prices across the board in NYC. Your rent is not going down with new construction; it’s going up. To think anything else is to shill for real estate.
I am glad that some of the loading dock/street wall issues were addressed, and I think Alloy’s design is decent-ish, but I think it’s criminal that the city is selling land resources like this and getting so little in return. De Blasio owes us full transparency on what the site was sold for, and why we are getting so little public benefit in terms of schools, infrastructure improvements, transit improvements, etc. for permission to construct so densely – permission which will cost the city and the state. The EDC – under the purview of the mayor – is selling us short. I am waiting for journalists to pick up on this.
The oldest game in town: overcharge for a civic give-back (like a few classrooms) and then say you need carte blanche on the density. The site should be developed but no to exceed current zoning at FAR of 6. Alloy is saying that the new schools will cost hundreds of millions of dollars and therefore need the FAR of 18. This is pure fantasy and a scam.
This is a neighborhood-This is not Downtown Brooklyn,per se.This is Boerum Hill.This project will take 8-9 years to complete-The noise,mess,rats and garbage brought to us will cause people now living here to move-More low housing will be sold and disappear.Our neighbors help us live in friendly,mixed neighborhoods-The neighborhood feeling will disappear
Commercial rents have skyrocketed causing small businesses to leave on an almost daily basis-One can hardly find a coffee shop or cafe around to grab a sandwich and meet friends-
Visualize State Street-Now a small one way albeit congested street-Now see it with a loading dock,garbage dumpsters,and possibly an entrance for one of the schools-This has got to be one of the most unplanned plans being offered
Who is looking out for our communities? We are-At least we are trying-Developers have giant teeth and they are eating us up-
NO More-Leave the greed and listen to us