As expected, Council Member Stephen Levin voted to approve the proposed development at 77 Commercial St yesterday (12/19) . That means that the city can officially sell the “air rights” of 65 Commercial St to the developers to build higher towers at 77 Commercial.
The good news is that, as a result, 65 Commercial St will become Box Street Park, which will be open to the public. It is currently an MTA parking lot. The construction will be funded by the city at $9.5 million. In addition, the developer will provide land for a landscaped walkway to enter the park from the East.
The towers at 77 Commerical Street will include 200 units of affordable housing. However, the affordable units will be located in the lower floors of the building, because the upper units will have a higher market value. The lobby and amenities will be shared between affordable and regular tenants.
“I have heard from many Greenpointers expressing their opposition to the height and density of project,” Levin said in a press statement. “But the open space and affordable housing needs of our community that have persisted for years also go without question.”
We’ll have more updates soon! Feel free to post your questions/comments below. We know all too well that this development and land use information can be extremely confusing/frustrating.
How do you impeach a councilman?
There was no reason 77 could not be 15 stories, saying we would not get box st part is BS, the city was bluffing they would not have pulled the park if he voted no. There already started to relocate the MTA, the city did not do that because they won’t make a park. This was a poor negotiation or an outright lie and he is in bed with the developers.
Perhaps if Levin showed up at the first community board meeting he would have seen just how outraged the community was about these towers. Quick recap, the room was full people, screaming over each other, one person was even kicked as she was so angry. The over arching theam was we don’t want these towers. Not we want these towers in exchange for open space and affordable housing. Coming soon we will have less open space per person, subways you have to wait to get on to. Resturants you can’t get etc…
I am interested in one of the apartments one bedroom