BROOKLYN HEIGHTS — A much-maligned plan to build two tall apartment buildings at Pier 6 in Brooklyn Bridge Park was approved Tuesday morning by the park corporation's board of directors.
In a 12 to 4 vote, the city-run board that's chaired by Alicia Glen, deputy mayor for housing and economic development, approved the proposal for the towers during a public meeting at NYU Dibner Pfizer Auditorium in Downtown Brooklyn. City Councilman Stephen Levin and a representative for State Senator Daniel Squadron voted against the plan.
The board voted on two separate motions for the Brooklyn Bridge Park Corporation to enter into leases for each proposed building at the Pier 6 development site. RAL Development Services was selected to build the project.
"By moving ahead with the final component of our funding model, we have ensured that a $400 million public investment enjoyed by millions and envied in cities across the globe will thrive long into the future," said Regina Myer, president of the Brooklyn Bridge Park Corporation in a statement.
"At the same time, we're bringing affordable housing to an area of the city that sorely needs it, and providing good union jobs in the process," she added.
According to modified plans released by Mayor Bill de Blasio last week, the project includes a 28-story building at roughly 275,000 square feet, with 126 residential condo units.
The second building would be 14 or 15 stories at 135,000 square feet. The building would include 40 market-rate residential units, 100 affordable rental units and 5,000 square feet of retail space.
The de Blasio administration pushed ahead with plans for the development despite opposition from other elected officials and community groups. Residents say the towers will take away precious park land and spoil panoramic views of the Brooklyn Bridge.
"This disregard for the community is unfathomable," said Judi Frances, of the Brooklyn Bridge Park Defense Fund, which has spent years fighting the proposed development.
Local residents, many of whom attended the Tuesday morning meeting, have repeatedly pushed back against the project. Following an independent analysis, the community groups have said the revenue from allowing the condos would not be financially necessary for the 1.3 mile waterfront park's operations and maintenance. Brooklyn Bridge Park leadership says the funds are indeed necessary.
The vote will likely result in legal action from neighborhood group the Brooklyn Heights Association, which is preparing to file lawsuit to fight the Pier 6 development, according to attorney Richard Zeigler.
Though the Empire State Development Corporation, a state agency, had earlier declined to vote on the project, a state official said in a letter Monday that the agency would not stand in the way of the development, according to reports and Deputy Mayor Glen.
Also Monday, City Comptroller Scott Stringer urged park leadership to delay the June 7 vote as the development lacked "any real consensus within the community on this important project."
"While I appreciate the City's efforts to create affordable housing throughout the five boroughs, now is not the time to rush forward," Stringer wrote in the letter to park president Myer.
The Brooklyn Bridge Park's condo towers are one of two controversial development projects that have been proposed for the area. The former Long Island College Hospital site — where then-mayoral hopeful Bill de Blasio got arrested while vowing to preserve it as a functioning hospital — is also slated to become another set of tall residential buildings.
