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One of the conditions for the expansion of Brooklyn Bridge Park into a sexy mass of multi-modal green space stretching along the Brooklyn coast from Dumbo to Atlantic Avenue is that the park must, eventually, be able to pay for itself, hence several plots of parkland have been set aside for future condo developments and a hotel. On Tuesday night the first details of what those buildings might look like were revealed at a public meeting, with another slated for December 9. The Brooklyn Eagle was there, and reports that construction on the first of three sites set aside for real estate development, at John Street and Pearl Street (currently a parking lot, part of which is fenced off) could begin as early as July 2011.
That site, about a block east of the Manhattan Bridge, could rise to 16 stories and include as many as 130 housing units, all market-rate (because only the rich enjoy waterfront real estate). Over on Furman Street, on a site that sits just below the BQE and within the newly-opened section of the park, there are plans for a ten-story hotel with 175 rooms. Just to the south, alongside the existing condo building One Brooklyn Bridge Park (which isn’t technically inside the park, but contributes revenue to it), two other building sites could go up to 15 and 31 stories with 140 and 290 units respectively.
All of which amounts to 560 new condos in a public park, none of which will be available at affordable rates. None of those other projects could begin before July 2013, although if other major Brooklyn developments are anything to go by, we’re probably looking at something much longer than a three year time-line on this one. (Brownstoner, illustration by Vigilism Sketchpad)